I was an idiot and did not measure them before... was in the process of upgrading my valve retainers and keepers and did not think to do that

 

 

I assumed that when i took the camshafts/covers/rockerarms off that it would no longer be the same measurement and wasn't really paying attention to the original measurements when i checked.

in general were much looser than what i was tightening it to though

 

 

Managed to finish the valve adjustment. Keeping in mind that intake .007 should be free (intake)/.009 should be free (exhaust) I only had two of sixteen valves adjusted correctly (they were too tight).

While putting the valve cover back on I managed to accidentally cut the spark plug stem seal on cylinder 2 (didn't make sure they were properly pushed in) so i'm going to have to pick up a new one tomorrow before testing the newly adjusted valves... will report back after that

 

Keen to see if the new VA helps at all.

 

HUGE sigh of relief... after adjusting the valves, clearing the codes, and testing it out the car is fine! no more issues, can hold vtec all day and power up through the gears!
Currently the valves are a bit too loose, the engine is making a ton of noise (sounds like a diesel engine lol) so i'm going to readjust a little tighter tomorrow

Thanks for the troubleshooting help Billman


And just to reiterate a fact that has been thrown around quite a few times it seems that it is better to be on the looser side than the tighter side. my valves are definitely too loose right now (very noisy, lots of engine rattling and clicking sounds) but im not getting any vtec issues/limp mode/CELs. it definitely feels about 10% weaker than usual (and again i think this is because i went too loose on the valves)

 

Take your time, go over them twice. Once your are sure they are set correctly report back. Personally, I'm not convinced this is the cause of your problem. Hopefully it is.
How far out of adjustment were they? Its probably a good idea whenever you adjust valves to make a note of the clearance for each valve before you change it. I can't tell from your reports if your valves are way out or just a tiny bit out. If they are just a little bit out then I doubt this was the cause. Folks run overly tight valves all the time without all those symptoms. That is why there have been so many troubles with burning too tight valves. It takes time to burn them, and that happens because you don't get any dramatic symptoms that tip you off that there is a problem.

 

Don't freak the guy out. If he no longer is getting misfires after doing that one modification it's probably safe to say that was the issue...as long as he didn't change anything else in between tests.

 

Haha yeah I am of this mindset, I'm pretty sure that it was my valves and based on the fact that it was the only thing I changed since my last unsuccessful test I'm going to assume, with confidence, that it was indeed because of my valve adjustment.


I am a complete novice to working on my car (I could barely knock out an oil change 9 months ago) and this is my first time doing a valve adjustment. Unfortunately I wasn't very bright and didn't measure the clearances before retainer/keeper upgrading&re-adjusting. That being said, @rpg51, my valves were definitely too tight - .007 only moved freely in 1 of 8 intake valves and .009 only moved freely in 1 of 8 exhaust valves.


Again I have zero feeler gauge proficiency, this is my second time adjusting the valves and I didn't really have a good "reference" to use as a starting point since I didn't really pay attention to the original clearances. While attempting to loosen everything up my dad and i bickered back and forth - he said that the valves were too loose (and he was right, he has some feeler gauge experience from valve adjusting lawnmower engines 40 years ago) but i told him id rather be on the loose side than tight...


again the only difference between the last failed test and last night's successful test was the completion of the valve adjustment. i did not do anything else (ignored spark plugs, replaced all coil packs where they were, etc).