All I know from what I've read, once they get worn beyond tolerance, you have to replace the whole lifter itself for a larger one, available in 3 sizes in different micrometers I believe.

 

Anyone on here done a valve clearance check themselves?

 

On a car? Never ever heard of it being done. Never done on cars I've put 312000 KMS an 255000 KMS on..... no problems at all.

 

I asked the dealer about this. They said the manual says to inspect for excessive tappet noise and/or engine vibration and adjust if necessary. They do any audible check...unless it sounds out of adjustment they don't mess with it.

 

you cant hear a tight valve

I have a 2011 3.5L with 135'000 kms, and after replacing the water pump, oil pump,timing gear parts, CVVT and intake cams (for startup noise) I measured the valve clearances, just like motorcycles! And I found 5 tight valves with almost zero clearance, I had to wait over 10 days up here in Canada to get the buckets/shims that I needed. The sad thing is, it's a bit of work to get the covers off, but you can do it in under 2 hours if you have the right tools etc just to measure.

But if you have tight valves, then you can either pull the motor like the manual says or you can do in the body, but some care is required and about 4+ hours of time and the tools to take it apart, putting back together correctly should take 6+ hours.



When you hear a dealer say they do audio check, just run! you cant hear a tight valve

 

That's surprising, I thought the more wear on an engine, the looser the valve clearance would get, not tighter? That's why the had different parts available to take up the slack.

 

thats if the cams & bucket wear out, it happens but most times, its the valves wear out & the stems get stretched out over time, and when they tighten up the valve gets left open during combustion

 

Wow! I've had just the opposite, many yrs. ago on an old Chevy V8 with hydraulic lifters. It was a used car I bought that ran worse after a tune up then before? I took of the valve covers, started it up for a minute, and noticed a few valves were hardly moving with no slack in the rocker arms! Needless to say the cam was shot (lobes rounded off). So, of course I put a GM factory 327/350hp cam in it A 262V8 2bbl. that couldn't reach 4k rpm previously, but afterward it ran like a clock, and did 7k rpm (the max on the tach, anyway?) with the 2bbl? I loved the syncopated cammy idle, but lost some low end torque for sure! It was a 5spd 75' Chevy Monza Sport Coupe 2+2, with desert gears. No longer a sporty economy car! I should have used the milder 327/300hp hydraulic cam. I sold it to a young guy, not long afterwards. Live, and learn!

 

Did those 327 have cast iron heads? most overhead cams engines thats I've built with aluminum heads tend to tighten up after a few miles on them. Those big V8s just wear the cams out all the time! I used to run a set of very lumpy sticks (272 dur.) in my car the engine that could barely idle, but it would rev to 9'500