Hi,

I hear valve lash on my car. It comes on and is very very audible on cold startup, and when the engine is warm, it stays.

After driving for a bit, it goes away. And then comes back. It's not the type that is just on idle. When it comes, it starts as the car accelerates, gettting louder if i give more throttle of course.
Then goes away sometimes.

It's not knocking, I even switched to 91 octane because i first thought it was knocking/pinging. Although it helped engine slightly in driveability, it of course didn't stop the valve lash/tap noise.

What confuses me is i always thought the engine usually taps when it's hotter..
but then again, I don't know if the valves are too tight, or too loose.

I know a valve adjustment is not that difficult. Just take off valve cover, turn over till 6 of the valves are able to adjusted, then turn over again till you can adjust the rest.. valves adjusted with feeler gauge by tightening and loosening the bolt.. etc etc..
put valve cover back on.

But there are some questions I have..

Everywhere I've searched valve adjustments, I get something about "hydraulic lifters". Now I know that hydraulic lifters basically don't need to be adjusted, but can be adjusted..

And some people mention something "special".. Adjuster shims.

And when I read through this chilton's (yes i know they suck), it doesn't mention any adjuster shims, and in the procedure for the KA24E, it's just like a normal valve adjustment.


Questions:
Are adjuster shims just another name for a feeler gauge?

Do I need anything special (besides the regular tools) to be able to adjust the valves on this hydraulic lifter-equipped engine? Or is there any special method I have to go through ?

This is for a 1990 Nissan 240SX.. KA24E SOHC of course.
with about 160K miles.


Now, I realize that it may or may not be my lifters tapping, and I might have to get those replaced instead pf or in addition to adjusting the valves.

I'm trying this adjustment out anyway.

Please help out with the questions..

Thanks a lot guys.

 

hrm.. kinda figured it out.

after much reading, asking for help.
somebody said, dual cam's are hydraulic.
singles are mechanical..

but both are adjustable.

it says, you can CHECK the valve clearance between camshaft lobe and valve seat like any other car.. with a feeler gauge.

but to adjust, you basically have to calculate how much clearance is left between the valve and how much clearance there is supposed to be.
You then use those two amounts to calculate how much space you're supposed to have.

After that, you have to actually take out the shims of the valves that are out of adjustment. (These shims/adjustment shims look like little circles).

Using the calculation from above, you go buy specific shims (they come in 37 sizes) and buy the ones that will give you the correct amount of clearance.

Then you take out the old shims, while holding the camshaft, and then insert the new shims.

Heh.. at least that's what it says for the dual cam. I think, but am not sure if the single cam shim replacement is the same way.
It might be, I'll have to take my cover off and check.

Thanks alot to Raine/Jay on this board and the other 2 people he asked that asked others for help with this issue.

Hopefully this thread can stay on the board for future searches for others experiencing the same problems.

thanks again guys.

 

Haha, so you were the one asking about the cams.

 

hahaha.. yeah.. that was me.

except i was asking about "CAM" not cams =P

and not cams.. valves lol
mine are TAPPING! WHEEEH!!

i hope the engine doesn't seize on my drive (35 min) to TAB tuesday in a few min. lol

 

geeez... you guys actually thought i had a dual cam!??!
LOL!!

shiet.. and then you tell me at TAB tuesday, that i'm scr00d if i have single and have that problem.. doh..

<-- new lifters PWN m3 on $$$

doh.. :*(

thanks for the help anyways jay, edgar, david, and whoever else tried.

 

I feel a swap coming.

 

bleh.. i'd rather not swap out a good motor.

if i had to swap out this motor, it would be for another single cam block.

and i don't have a problem paying whatever the amount is for new lifters (as long as it's not over $350) because this engine has a lot of work done from the previous owner already.

timing chain is good on this one, compression's good, headgasket, front crank seal, and valve cover gasket (of course) was replaced by the previous owner.
there aren't even any leaks on it.

if i was to buy another single cam, i wouldn't know how good it would be, so it doesn't bother me to invest in prolonging the life of this single cam, given the amount of work that it has done to it and how well it's been performing for these 5000 miles i've had it.

heh.. a REAL swap isn't comin for a while