Hi, I have been researching on the best way to adjust valves, I was thinking would it be better to warm up the engine and adjust the intake at .007 and the exhaust at .011? Because the engine is already cooled down the time you start adjusting the valves. Have any of you guys done this or reccomened this? Or should I just stick with the .008 and .012? Thanks.

 

I'm having trouble with this too, because it took me too long to get the valve cover off, it was cool outside, and I felt like the motor had cooled down because I couldn't even fit a .012 on the exhaust side prior to my adjustment. I was going to try to refine the process a bit to make things more efficient, and go after it on a warmer day after thorough warm-up.

THIS is a good thread on cold vs hot valve adjustment, but it's just another reference data point with no definitive answer. Since the FSM says to adjust them hot, that's how most folks say you need to do it.

 

On further research, I think I was doing it fine. I thought the motor might not have been hot enough since I found an exhaust valve was less than .012", but that's not terribly uncommon according to the video below. He didn't have to race the clock to make sure his motor was still at operating temp when he started the procedure either, so I was probably overthinking that a bit. I'll still try again to get my feeler gauges in there while it's as hot as possible, but other than that I need to just get er done.

[YOUTUBE] [/YOUTUBE]

 

I do the 7/11 when assembling a motor and 8/12 if it is a warm day and I can get the cover off fairly fast. It helps to make sure the acorn nut seals are loosened ahead of time and then warm the motor up. They can get stuck on there pretty tight.

On a running motor, I take a mechanics stethoscope and try to get an idea of which ones could be loose or other issues by just sitting it on top of the valve cover over each set of lifters. It helps some when you are adjusting your valves. I use the stethoscope before starting on the valves or while letting the motor warm up.

 

As another point of reference, 22REperformance just told me they always set their valves cold to .007 / .010

Of course you can use this at your own risk, but I'm giving this a try since it's easier to get in there and slowly take my time when I'm not racing the "how hot is it" clock.

 

I would stick to the hot adjustment it is more accurate . I had adjusted my valve cold 2 times they were perfect both times but I had a rough idle . Then I adjusted them hot now it idles perfectly smooth . Talked to a tech at the Toyota dealership he told me cold adjustment should only be used to get a fresh engine up and running.