Valve clearance adjustment procedure Honda BSeries

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Audi Junkie

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I admit it, I have dial-up. Searching around the web amd waiting for new pages to load is super-slow, plus the best advice is right here.

Anyway, 1998 CRV, 125k. new TB at 80k by PO. Unknown of they did ANY valve adjustment at that time. Engine runs and sounds fine, but a trusted friend told me to definately do it. Someone also said the valves tighten, not loosen in this engine.

My previous cars were all hydrolic lifters, so this is my 1st time. Advice or even just good links are requested. TIA.


(signing off until tomorrow)
 
B20 engine without VTEC can use a feeler gauge, a wrench, and a screw driver to do the adjustment. Make sure you have some gasket maker to seal the cam loop on the valve cover gasket or else it will leak. Very easy to do (15 mins).
 
Most Hondas will show an mpg improvement if any tight valves are adjusted correctly; please let us know if this is the case for you.
 
Here is a walkthrough:
http://home.earthlink.net/~michaelpkeefe/HowTo_ValveAdj.htm

When I did mine I really didn't need use of a special tool to adjust the clearances. I just used an open ended 12 mm and a screwdriver.

Very easy to do the job the second time around but when its your first time your going to want to double check your work and get a feel for using the feeler gauge.

Good luck!
 
Great. I wanted to pick up a feeler guage today, but was too busy. Gonna look it over later. Thanks again.
 
Do it when the engine is stone cold. Why? Because that is the only time when you know the parts are stable, and will get consistent results from cyl to cyl.
I set each cyl separately, even though some shop manuals give only 2 positions to check all. Each cyl on TDC of the firing stroke is best. If you make a mistake, be looser, not tighter. A slight drag shoulf be felt, not requiring force to pull the gauge through. You may have good results by pre bending the specific feeler gauge blades to fit around corners an obstructions.
But nothing to it, and well worth it. See you in another 60,000 miles.
 
Went to work today. I found traces of the white (oe?) sealant under the red RTV that was on for the timing belt, and I assume valve adjustment, at 80k. Cleaned everything on and off the mating surfaces and hand washed the old rubber gasket. When cleaned, it felt like it had some life in it, so I'll reuse it. It turns out the black high-temp sealant I got is not OXY sensor friendly, and I have a new one going in soon. So I have to grab some RTV, plain blue, I guess.

As a side note, I will do the gasket, drive a week, drain the oil and then put the OXY sensor in a week later. Is that advisable to wash out the silicone?

A few questions-

How are the cylinders numbered, right to left?

It seem like for each possible 90 degrees of crankshaft, one cyl will have all 4 valves not "loaded" by the cam (loose to the touch), one cyl with all loaded and the other two will have two of each exhaust and intake "loaded". So, I guess you could adjust half of all the valves at once. I'll only do it on which ever cyl is at TDC... at a time. I'm confused about the positions, but think it's ok to procede. "TDC" means the valves are loose to the touch and not "loaded" by the cam and CAN be adjusted???

As for feeler sizes, here's the specs and what gauges I have...

Intake calls for 0.003" to 0.005" and I have .006", is that ok?
They are so tight now I can't get the feeler in at all. I was thinking to re-adjust them all at .006". (.001" out- loose)

Exhaust calls for 0.006" to 0.008" and I plan on using the .008" feeler...on the loose end of the scale. They all vary a hair in tightness with that gauge, and none of them currently allow the .010" gauge in.

So, my understanding is that the valves tend to tighten over time. Should I adjust them as described, loose to .006" and .008"?

Where and what do I use the torque wrench on? The posted directions say I need one on the list of tools, but don't give specs???

btw- my heads were cleaner than the ones in the instruction link pics, at 130k almost silver. Light stains around the pcv intake were soft and wiped away. PO was a 3k guy, a sprint racer who kept it for his wife.


This was the f/s pic 2 years, 40k ago...

1868975417.jpg


1868975423.jpg
 
The order you need to adjust them in for the B18 is 1,3,4,2 and the order for the wires I believe is (from driver's side to passenger side) 1, 2, 3, 4. I believe it's the same for the B20 that you have. I disagree that the valves tighten though, I've never heard of that happening. I've only heard of them loosening over time.
 
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Seriously? Wow, first time I've ever heard that. I know a lot of B20 owners, too. Weird how that would happen on the B20 and not the B18, when they're almost identical engines.
 
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
... and the order for the wires I believe is (from driver's side to passenger side) 1, 2, 3, 4.


Does that mean that cylinder #1 is on the far right as you're standing in front of the car facing the windshield?
 
Only way I could think for the valve gap to decrease would be for varnish deposits to build in the rocker arm/valve stem gap(where you adjust gap). This might be possible, but never heard of this anywhere else.

What was the TSB number on this issue?

I've operated several Accords and Acuras for at least 200K miles and never found a valve gap that had changed significantly, perhaps .001-.002 > spec. I tend to leave them on the loose side also. Better a little rattle than a burnt valve.

regards
 
Looking good and thanks. I'll go with .006" and .008". The intake valves are all too tight for the .006" gauge now, so I'll adjust them all out. The exhaust all fit .008" but not the .010". I could leave them alone, but will re-do for consistancy, ha ha.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
... and the order for the wires I believe is (from driver's side to passenger side) 1, 2, 3, 4.


Does that mean that cylinder #1 is on the far right as you're standing in front of the car facing the windshield?


Yes, that's correct. Cylinder 1 would be the closest to the driver's side front wheel.
 
Cyls are numbered 4-3-2-1. Any valve loose to the touch can be adjusted, half of them at any given time. I did the whole job twice for accuracy. Each cylinder at a time. Did not use special tool, hand tightened and then semi-tight with open wrench. I waited till all were done to tighten down hard so I can correct and recalibrate. I dunno the torque, so I made them tight. The .006" gauge is a pita to work with.
 
From what I've seen, the engines that have been well maintained with oil changes seem to not need much, if any adjustment when it comes time to check them.

And yes, valves can and do tighten on some cars. Early MDX seemed to have a problem with this on occasion. But on MDX it was ONLY the exhaust valves that would tighten for whatever reason. On occasion it would get bad enough that the car would idle poorly and stall out. Adjust them back to spec, and it runs like new.

I worked on an MDX once that had sat for at least a year without being started (sheriff repo) and it barely ran at all. Adjusted the valves and it ran fine. Not exactly sure what sitting for a long time had to do with it.
 
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Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
Cyls are numbered 4-3-2-1. Any valve loose to the touch can be adjusted, half of them at any given time. I did the whole job twice for accuracy. Each cylinder at a time. Did not use special tool, hand tightened and then semi-tight with open wrench. I waited till all were done to tighten down hard so I can correct and recalibrate. I dunno the torque, so I made them tight. The .006" gauge is a pita to work with.

The dealership that did my last valve adjustment put the locking nuts way too tight and I couldn't get them loose, no matter how hard I tugged and tried. I'd like to just do it myself next time, but I can't get those things loose.
frown.gif
I don't think they're supposed to be very tight, if I remember right.
 
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