“Inspect valve clearance”

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dan765

Joined
Jun 17, 2014
Messages
148
Location
Charleston, South Carolina
Hello

I’ve got a 2016 Genesis, about to hit 60,000 miles. The manual says that I have to do a valve clearance inspection which costs about $600 at the dealership. Is this a necessary service? Can an independent shop do this?
 
I thought these engines were shim/bucket style adjustment. The buckets should last 3-4x that mileage before having any appreciable wear, which if you had to have buckets changed, would be a lot more than $600 I'd think.
 
Anyone that can operate a feeler gauge can check the valve clearance. If the valves need to be adjusted then it gets much more complicated. Removal of the camshafts and replacement of the camshaft followers is required. The valve clearance is adjusted by changing the buckets with different thickness shims.

This is best left to a shop with experience in this technique.

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dan765 said:
Hello

I’ve got a 2016 Genesis, about to hit 60,000 miles. The manual says that I have to do a valve clearance inspection which costs about $600 at the dealership. Is this a necessary service? Can an independent shop do this?
Click to expand...
Hopefully the bucket wear matches the valve recession. Clearance/wear Should not be an issue with AL heads with hardened seat inserts and buckets
The only other possible issue would be valve tuliping - ala early Coyote. But you would know something is off.

Do you have one or two valve(s) that is/are clacking loudly after fully warmed up?

If your hot Idle is smooth and you have good, even, "electric motor" low end torque you are fine and good. Assuming the engine provided this drive quality when worn in/new.

I would not let anyone dig into a good running motor - just because. Its a deep dig.
 
Passport1 said:
Why does everything today have to be so complicated? Air cooled VW engine valves could be adjusted in an hour with just a feeler gauge, 10mm box end wrench and a screwdriver. My 1970 BMW also was easily adjusted.

View attachment 274495
youtube
Click to expand...
This Hyundai/Genie engine has a very reliable old motorbike DOHC-style VT. Pretty much full engine service life good to go.

That 100km check is a meaty bone thrown to the dealer and a way to possibly wiggle out of the 160km warranty when you skip it and the engine drops a valve - for some OTHER reason.

I do like easy jam nut valvetrains myself. The last one I did was my snow blower with a LONCIN chonda type engine one-lunger after about 10 hours and the exhaust clearance had closed up. I knew something was off as it was spitting and popping and shooting flames out of the exhaust under lead when HOT.

Cheapie bean counters said NO! to a reusable rubber VC gasket and went with a glued on cardboard instead. Oh, thanks a lot TORO/ Loncin. Glad I ponied up $1450 for a premium unit. NOT!
 
Assuming these engines do have a direct acting shim/bucket valvetrain, you really don't get any simpler than that. No rocker shafts, no rollers, no hydraulics, etc.

With regular oil changes and care, it should last the life of the engine.
 
dan765 said:
Hello

I’ve got a 2016 Genesis, about to hit 60,000 miles. The manual says that I have to do a valve clearance inspection which costs about $600 at the dealership. Is this a necessary service? Can an independent shop do this?
Click to expand...
Yes, it’s necessary. The manual says so! No, it’s not hard.

But I have found valves that were out of spec, a tiny bit, but out of spec - left uncorrected - you burn a valve and are looking at major repairs.

What’s a set of replacement heads going to cost on that car?
 
Passport1 said:
Why does everything today have to be so complicated?
Air cooled VW engine valves could be adjusted in an hour with just a feeler gauge, 10mm box end wrench and a screwdriver.
My 1970 BMW also was easily adjusted.
Click to expand...

Bucket operated valves came out in the 1960's, so this valve tech is old enough to negate your complaint.
You get to go many more miles without ever needing to make valve adjustments.
You pop the valve cover off, stick a pair of feeler gauges into the gap to see if it's in spec or not, and if all goes well, you close up the cover, and move on with your life.

It really depends on the company who built the head.
Did they use good quality metal that will prevent large gap changes for both the valve and the valve seat?
Did they set the valve gap in the center of the range, or closer to the min/max spec?
How hard is it to get the valve cover off in order to check the clearances?
Is there only one head on the engine, or do you have two banks to check?

You want to complain about valve adjustments, let me loan you my 3 Ducati's.
Pull the seat,
drain the gas tank,
drain the coolant,
pull the gas tank,
pull the front radiator,
pull the timing belt covers,
put the bike in gear and rotate the rear tire until the timing mark is set for the cylinder you want to check,
pull the valve cover,
check the intake opener clearances,
check the intake closer clearances,
check the exhaust opener clearances,
check the exhaust closer clearances,
make sure you wrote down all the clearances you took, start doing the math,
pull the intake and exhaust camshafts,
remove the shims, and read their sizes,
do more math to determine shim size needed,
order said shim sizes if you don't have them already,
put parts back in and reassemble that cylinder,
rotate engine so that the OTHER cylinder can now be opened up and measured,
repeat all the steps above to get those measurements,
then put the bike back together because you need to order parts,
wait for the parts to arrive if you can't get them locally,
then tear the bike back apart,
remeasure the clearances after you install the new parts to make sure your clearances are where you thought they would be,
and then, FINALLY, put the bike back together and go riding once more.

Granted, the air cooled Scrambler in the picture is easier than the 848 and the SuperSport, and is 2 valve SOHC vs 4 valve DOHC, and has ports in the head to allow you to access the valves, but it's still a task.
 
Did mine on my Triumph Thruxton motorcycle a couple of years ago. Easy access, and not too difficult. Used a micrometer to check shims and verify thickness. Depending on the vehicle, access will be the challenge if you have to remove half the engine to get to it....and then put it all back correctly.
 
Bucket valve actuation is super stable and reliable. There is a lot of cam wear surface area, and no side load on the valve guides. My favorite type are motorcycles with shim on top of bucket. There is virtually no wear on these setups, so you only need to adjust to account for valve recession into the head, which is typically minimal. 60k seems right, and I wouldn't skip the check. You can check yourself, assuming there isn't too much junk to move out of the way. Chances are good, that all will be fine. If not, you can make the judgment on doing the actual adjustment yourself, or farm it out.
 
Astro14 said:
Yes, it’s necessary. The manual says so! No, it’s not hard.

But I have found valves that were out of spec, a tiny bit, but out of spec - left uncorrected - you burn a valve and are looking at major repairs. ... .
Click to expand...
Agree I would not want to be 2 mils tight on any exhaust valve given it reduces seat time.

You would think that would show up on a cylinder balance (crank dynamic velocity) test that would not require a deep dig.
It hard to get VC off on most modern engines. I could have the VC off on my wife's Dodge Colt VG15 1.5 L in 5 mins. It even had a nice reusable gasket. 100+k miles I was surprised all clearances were in spec - never was touched AFAIK.
Now her next car a 93 Honda Civic D15B2 hatch the SOHC valve train was literally falling apart when I checked the valves at 30K miles. Rockers worn on the rocker shaft flopping all around. that car was Junk in many ways but the chassis a was great driver (minus excessive rear toe wear).

- Arco
 
JTK said:
I thought these engines were shim/bucket style adjustment. The buckets should last 3-4x that mileage before having any appreciable wear, which if you had to have buckets changed, would be a lot more than $600 I'd think.
Click to expand...

It’s not just wear on the buckets that necessitates a valve adjustment…it’s the valve faces and seats too.

To answer the OP question, yes it’s necessary and yes an independent shop can do this.

Correct valve clearance is critically important.
 
RobbyDawg said:
It’s not just wear on the buckets that necessitates a valve adjustment…it’s the valve faces and seats too.

To answer the OP question, yes it’s necessary and yes an independent shop can do this.

Correct valve clearance is critically important.
Click to expand...
I hear you, but if that scope of work was required, the cost could exceed the vehicle's value.
 
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