Hi folks:

With the temperature drop I am hearing some increased valve noise recently when cold.

I understand the adjustment is supposed to do be done around 110k - I'm at 95k.

I am not sure how often my independent shop does these. (They seem pretty good - I just don't see a ton of Hondas in the lot). Is this a dealer service?

(I watched the how to videos and do not trust myself to have the right feel for this job).

Thanks....

If you are over 80K miles on your K24 I suggest having your valves adjusted.
There is nothing special about Honda valves; any competent mechanic can do this.

I love to adjust valves. I use a go - no go gauge.
I wathced my older brother perform a valve adjustment many years ago on my old 22RE Toyota 4WD Pickup.
He simply turned the adjuster a tiny amount until perfection. Easy peasey.

Get 'er done!

Too tight worse than too loose

You should be able to adjust all twenty four valves on the Honda V6 by searching the internet for directions on starting the lash adjustment with crank pulley set at TDC where several valves can be adjusted and then repositioning the crank pulley to bring more valves to the fully closed position. Find TDC timing mark on pulley and mark with chalk.You can feel the lash of valves fully closed. I remember on my 06 Civic I4, it took two moves after the initial TDC to adjust all sixteen valves. You have to turn engine in direction of normal operation by rotating crank pulley. A Go/NoGo set of feeler gauges will help.Do not over tighten the rocker arm adjustment lock nuts.

I was a technician at a Honda dealer before becoming a semi mechanic. The senior techs got first dibs on all non warranty work as it paid more. Valve adjustments was one of those tickets a good tech could make bank on.

Normally valves get tighter with age. Not looser. As the valve recesses into the head it takes up the clearance at the rocker..The only way for them to get looser would be cam or rocker wear.

There's a certain feel to valve adjustment - as a general rule of thumb, the next size up should not go in. If properly adjusted, the selected size of feeler gauge will have a drag when inserted.

IMO, the exhaust valves should be adjusted to the loose end of spec and the intakes should be adjusted to the tighter end of the spec.

did this on my CRV. took me a couple of hours as i had to read the instructions. its pretty straight forward. most of mine were tight . i think a dealer charges about $150 for this service. A good mech that does them all the time can knock it out pretty quick

Most important part is to do the job when the engine is cold. I think Honda says a ECT <100F is acceptable, but cold is best.

Honda dealer in Florida quoted me four hundred dollars to inspect and adjust valves at 110,000 miles about six months ago.

If you decide to tackle it yourself (Its not that hard, really) go ahead and order up new spark plug tube seals, valve cover gasket, and valve cover bushings. Those are your 'might as well since I'm here' things to replace. Stick with Honda OEM for them. I've had really bad luck with aftermarket VC gaskets in my J Series cars for some reason, so the cost savings isn't worth doing the job twice. Its pretty evident in the quality as well. I had a Felpro and a Honda gasket side by side, the Honda was thicker and had ribs cast into it to expand out into the VC groove.

As far as the actual adjustment, most of it has been covered here. There is a special tool you can buy if you want that lets you hold the adjuster and tighten the jam nut, but on the K24 where everything is on top you could probably just as easily do it with a 10mm wrench and flat head screwdriver. The tool isn't expensive, I think I paid $10 for mine off Ebay if I recall.

Go No Go Guage
Check clearance with guage; if it is within speck leave it alone.
Put wrench on lock nut and good screwdriver into adjuster slot.
Crack nut while holding screwdriver.
Turn screwdriver a tiny amount; snug lock nut and recheck clearance.
Repeat until clearance is within spec and snug down adjuster nut.
Recheck clearance.

You will be a pro in no time. She will purr like a kitten.

Easy peasey.
Have The Critic come over if you screw it up. No biggie.
Good luck and have fun with it.

Thanks for all the help folks - appreciate it.

I'm going to talk with my shop and see what they say. Anything near $400- I may tackle it myself.

chatty valves are happy valves!

Holy sh...

I have to check/adjust the valve clearance each ~15k mls on my engine.
Nobody paid even close to 400 bucks for that back in the day.

It does not require any special tools, just a wrench and a screwdriver and takes ~30 mins. It is an 8 valve engine, though I am also not a trained mechanic.
Even for a 24 valve engine, the whole job should not take longer than two hours unless you have to get tons of stuff out of the way to disassemble the valve cover.

Probably it’s like with carburetors, very few people know what to do at all and therefore they charge premium prices.