96’ 3.4...4wd. A month ago it broke down. Realized the right side/passenger head had partially locked up for a second and the belt skipped like 10 teeth and toning was off. Took the cam caps off and the one closest to the sprocket had bad wear and scores and materials from the cam on it. So I bought a used head, took it to the machine shop to get it all redone and resurfaced. He said he did the valve adjustment blah blah. Got it all back together and that right head rattles like a quiet diesel now. Also when I hit the throttle it makes what sounds like hi pitched exhaust fart/exhaust leak the pitch it close to a rattle. Kinda hard to describe. Almost like a post fire. Also I put a new timing belt on it and all marks on the belt and motor line up. I think this guy messed something up with the head because it sounds horrid.

 

So I check the clearance of the exhaust valves and each one is different. I argued with my machine shop guy and he believes the exhaust side should be tight. My exhaust side is at .009 and the range is .011-.014 and I keep hearing that .015 is best on the exhaust side.

 

Your machine shop guy must have bumped his head.

With puck adjustment, you can't expect every clearance to be the same, but it's always best for exhaust clearances to be near maximum allowed.