Odd Problem

[Toneloc5145]

The car is an 89 LX. I started the car up this morning and it ran like it normally runs, which is quite good! Anyways, I backed the car into the driveway and me and my dad removed ONE of the intake valve adjusters (the nut and the screw) because a few weeks prior, that nut and screw had backed out completely and was the cause of a loud tapping noise; We fixed that probelm by temporarily retightening it, and the car ran fine until now.

For some reason, when I started up the car after changing that one screw and nut, the car runs like a subaru. It sounds BAD. All 4 spark plugs were fouled. How could changing one valve adjustment screw cause the car to run shitty when it ran fine 30 minutes before?!?! I have no idea?!?

[Toneloc5145]

Alright, just to clear any confusion.

1. Car starts fine
2. Car runs like shit
3. Sounds like 1 or 2 cylinders are not firing
4. Engine is shaking like it has parkinson's
5. All 4 Plugs were fouled; cleaned all 4 the best I could and saw some improvement
5. Only thing touched was illustration No. 10 and No. 20 (shown below) for cylinder 1, for one of the intake valve, and those parts were replaced with brand new, OEM Honda parts. We also tightened the powere steering belt, but I don't see how that would affect the performace of the engine.

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/catimgs/13se00_a04.gif

[moonjaw2002]

When you adjusted that valve did you have the piston at tdc,if not you have a misadjusted valve.Mark

[Oldblueaccord]

Yeah I would lash all the vavles again cold like you should.

Also when you removed the screw? did you loosen all the bolts to the rocker arms assembly. It needs to be torqued down properly or it will mess up your valve adjustment.


wp

[Dr_Snooz]

Valve clearance adjustment. You mention that you started the car prior to performing the repair, so I'm guessing this didn't get done and is way, way off. Valve clearance should be adjusted with engine dead cold, after sitting overnight (ie: no starting). It requires a feeler gauge & steady hands. Don't drive it like this, cause you can burn up the engine. Valve clearance should be checked every 15,000 miles according to the maintenance schedule. The shop manual outlines the procedure. I'd guess your plugs were already fouled. Check timing or compression for that (assuming you use good gas). Are you getting any smoking?

[2oodoor]

hopefully the cam is not broke or lobe worn off

[Toneloc5145]

Thanks for the quick reply's guys. I had not driven the car at all before working on it; however I did start it up and immediately back it up into the garage. The car was running for no more than 1 minute, because I knew that the valves needed to be cold in order to adjust the clearance. Maybe i should mention that the car was still in high idle when I turned it off. I know that this car runs kinda rich on a cold start, which may have fouled the plugs.

We did not touch any of the other valves besides the one intake valve on cylinder 1. The car was NOT properly put in TDC (which will be explained later). A valve adjustment was given to this car in the summer of 2007, so not too long ago. I also changed the timing belt in 2007, so the valves should be within spec.

I originally wanted to take off the timing belt cover and put the car in TDC the CORRECT way (watch the angle of the cam sprocket), but my dad insisted that just spinning the crank until the valve reached its top most point was good enough (I guess his mind was on the redskins/seahawks game). It may have been in TDC or not, but I know that we did not follow the guidelines given on this site.

When we readjusted the valve lash for the one valve, instead of using the gauge, we adjusted the valve so that the height of valve matched the height of the other intake valve for that particular cylinder. (Again, ghetto-rigging).

Again, nothing was touched internally besides this one "tappet adjuster" nut and screw.

[Toneloc5145]

Also, it is near 35 F here, so the engine does not take that long to cool down. I may wait another hour or so before I go and work on it again. I figure that sitting 5 hours in this degree weather should be sufficient, especially since the engine never reached full operating temperature.

[Oldblueaccord]

Actually dont sweat the cold part to much there s very little differance in the settings IME. Get it lashed correctly. There will be some lash with the adjustment

This is 4 your dad:


Remember its not a Chevy V-8 your not taking up the lash on a hydrualic lifter. its a solid cam set up. :huh:


wp

[A20A1]

hope this helps
http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39319

[Toneloc5145]

Alright, I just finished adjusting the valve lash for that valve, and I found that the valve had virtually no "gap". I couldnt even fit the feeler gauge in between it. I adjusted that the proper way, and I also adjusted the other intake valve for that cylinder. I found 2 disconnected vacuum hoses as well. We'll see in the morning how this thing runs. I still can't believe that messing up the clearance on one valve can upset the whole engine.

[russiankid]

Alright, I just finished adjusting the valve lash for that valve, and I found that the valve had virtually no "gap". I couldnt even fit the feeler gauge in between it. I adjusted that the proper way, and I also adjusted the other intake valve for that cylinder. I found 2 disconnected vacuum hoses as well. We'll see in the morning how this thing runs. I still can't believe that messing up the clearance on one valve can upset the whole engine.

Considering this is a 4 cylinder engine, one cylinder running improperly will make note of itself.:wave:

[Toneloc5145]

Problem solved! The car runs great now.