Valve adjustment, 2004 Accord.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 4, 2007
Messages
2,097
Location
kansastan
I had some time to kill today. Classes are over for the semester. The wife is sick, and therefore no fun to be around. So I spent some time with the Accord.

If I remember right, the manual says to adjust the valves at 120k, but I've heard the occasional horror story about these K24 engines burning a valve if people waited that long to get the valves adjusted- although I think that mostly applies to the Element... heavier vehicle I guess. Anyway I figured now was a good time to get it done... and I also wanted to antiseize the plugs. I'm kinda paranoid about spark plugs in aluminum heads... known too many people to have problems with seized plugs.

The maintenance history of this vehicle is unknown. I got it at 85,000 miles. I've been running cheap dino oil in it, changing it at 5000 miles. I have about 3000 miles on the current oil. I'm happy to see that the innards are nice and clean:

051401_195000.jpg


051401_194900.jpg


The valves were definitely due for an adjustment. None were far enough out of adjustment to cause a real problem yet- but about half of the intake valves were too loose, and about half of the exhaust valves were too tight. Not the easiest valves to get to, but I guess I've dealt with worse. I used the same feeler gauges that I use on heavy truck engines- had to bend them a little to make them work.

I also pulled the plugs and had a look. Two of the four were NOT happy to come out. The threads were crunchy and binding, and they put up a bit of a fight. The other two weren't too bad. The plugs themselves looked fine. From what I've seen and read about irridium plugs, I expected that they would be ok. The threads in that aluminum head were my main concern... and seeings how money doesn't grow on trees, I just checked the old plugs over, put antiseize on them, and put the old plugs back in. The gap was still at .040", and there wasn't much wear on the electrodes. I expect that they'll be fine for at least another 50K. I have a Honda manual for this car (I've bought an OEM manual for the past three vehicles I've owned... a [censored] good investment IMO). And here's what Honda says about antiseize on plugs. I would have used it whether or not they recommend it, but it's nice to see that they have good sense about this sort of thing.

051401_202500.jpg


Overall I'm pretty impressed with this car. It's my first Japanese vehicle, and I had my doubts when buying it... but so far it's proven to be well-built and in some ways EASIER to work on than the GM's that I'm used to. Taking this valve cover off and adjusting the valves, every single bolt had a 10mm head. The engine was easy to turn over by using a ratchet on the p/s pump. The valve cover design and valve adjustment was really a LOT like the Detroit Diesel Series 60 engines that I work on regularly... just smaller of course. The timing marks were easy to find and align... nothing complicated about the procedure (unlike some shimmed cam followers that I've heard of). Granted, you don't have to adjust valves with a GM engine... but you don't have to worry about collapsed lifters with this Honda. I guess it's an ok trade-off.
 
I did the valves every 30k on my Hondas (Integra GS-R and S2000). Probably not necessary but with redlines over 8 grand I figured it was better safe than sorry.

I agree, the Honda motors are easy on oil. I ran Mobil 1 5w20 in both and they had near-perfect compression with no consumption when I sold them, despite being redlined every day.
 
looking good inside, I would suggest swapping to a HM oil or a synthetic if you plan to drive it till it drops..
 
Originally Posted By: onion

If I remember right, the manual says to adjust the valves at 120k, but I've heard the occasional horror story about these K24 engines burning a valve if people waited that long to get the valves adjusted- although I think that mostly applies to the Element... heavier vehicle I guess.


Interesting, most of the valve issues I have read about have been on the B20 in the first gen CR-V. I have the K24 in my 2002 and was not aware it was a weak point. AC compressors on the other hand ..

Nice looking engine, should serve you well.
 
I haven't heard about the AC compressors on these vehicles. What's the failure mode?

And I said it was the engines in the Element that I read about burning valves once in a while. Actually it might have been the CR-V... don't remember for sure. One of those little SUV-things.

I don't know how common it is- just something I read in passing. My main motivation was that I was anxious about those spark plug threads, and I wanted to take a look at this VTC system and see how it works.

As for oil, I ran the cheapest SM-rated 5W20 that money could buy during the winter. The first two oil changes were Mobil Clean 5000 and Quaker State- basically whatever I could find a good deal on.

For the most recent oil change, the weather was getting warmer, so I switched to something a little thicker. I'm a greasy hick who has always driven old junk... the "thicker is better" mentality is deeply ingrained in my psyche- even though I know it's [censored]. But more importantly- I'm a cheap [censored]. And I have a massive stash of 15W40 sitting in the garage. I really want to just dump a gallon of 15W40 into this engine, but I know it's probably not a good idea.

I had about a quart of QS 5w20 left. So I bought 2 quarts of supertech 5w20. I dumped those in with the left-over QS along with 2 quarts of 15W40. By my calculations, that comes to a home-brew viscosity of 9W28. I've read that some of the more powerful Acura versions of this engine specify 5W30, so I think a 30wt will work fine as long as the weather isn't cold. And it's cheaper. And I really like HDEO's.

I still think that when I was first researching this car, I ran across an oil viscosity chart for the Mexico version of this engine... that specified a range of oil viscosities depending on ambient temperature. But google as I might, I just can't find that chart now... and I know that I AM a prone to wishful thinking. So I just can't bring myself to dump straight 15W40 into this engine until I see Honda's blessing in writing. Or at least something close to it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom