I got my car valve adjusted today by a friend's shop who said they knew what they were doing with this car... got the car back and it sounds like a diesel! I cracked open the valve cover myself to check the clearances, and after just checking Cyl 1 I was able to put in a .20 thousandths inch feeler in both sides...

Do I need to take it back and have them redo it / redo it myself or can I drive it like that until I have time to fix it?

I took it to a shop because I am just too busy to do it, but if its that hard for a shop to do right -- I will do it myself.

Anyway, is it okay to drive this clearance to and from work tomorrow and then redo the valves?

 

Let it cool down as recommended before doing valve lash overnight would be good.
get up early and do it yourself,or get a taxi to work and do it on your return,could be some tight ones also

 

I'd ask for my money back.

 

Absolutely. I'm assuming that means this is not a good clearance to drive about 25 miles on?

 

Loose valves make a racket, if they're too loose(rocker to valve clearance) they start hammering the valve stem tip. Too tight and the valve won't fully close. It's worse to have them too tight, you could probably drive it, wouldn't push it though.

 

If they didn't know how to do it the first time, how can you trust them to do it right the second time? It's not like you can confirm they did it right without pulling the head cover off.

You paid for a valve adjustment and you didn't get it. They are obligated to give you your money back. Any small claims court would side with you on this. Just take a video of the sound and valve clearance measurements.

 

I did the clearances myself, and got them right and car is fantastic sounding now. Shop offered me a refund after I took it to them and let them hear the sound after I fixed it. They swore it was to spec until I brought it back the correct way. I got my money back as well.

 

When in doubt it tells you the valve clearance under the hood on the emissions sticker. It also says to check it cold.

 

How do shops that awful survive?

robert

 

Murica