My MY00 has 62k on the clock. It's making an audible ticking at idle, which I suspect is the valves letting me know they'd like to be put back into their proper positions.

I'm planning on doing the valves this summer (I've got no garage, and after paying for a new clutch, I don't really want to dump money on a valve adjustment).
In the interim, is any harm going to come from driving the car as is (and by driving, I mean the usual tooling around town as well as a mountain flog or two)?

 

Almost impossible to answer this via remote inference - if the ticking is not too loud, I would conditionally say yes, but don't over do it. Why wait so long? Considering the price of a cylinder head, either do it sooner or pay someone.

 

What's your hourly rate, RR?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bigpurp

 

road rage, why would you say considering the price of a new cylinder head? Ive always been told the valves would have to get REALLLLY loose in order to do damage, what is your take on it?

 

For what it's worth, I'm not terribly concerned. I drove a Mitsubishi Mity Max for well over two years (which my step dad paid $50 for). The thing ate a quart of oil every week or two, and it sounded like all the valves wanted to jump out and strangle someone. I still ran, and reasonably well... hell, we even sold it for $200.

The S by comparison exhibits a very minor tapping. I'll do the valves once the weather warms up.

 

I had mine just done at 15K miles and I'm planning to do every 15K. It wasn't overly expensive, it was about $150 at the dealer.

 

My point was (is?) that there is no way to tell how badly his car is running, or perhaps it even has had a botched valve adjustment previous to his ownership. I tend to offer the worst case scenario when i give advice so that everything below that is just reduced risk. See where I am coming from?

 

You wouldn't need a new head, just some new valve guides, if even that.

If you adjust your lash, just remember to leave room for the fockers to expand with the heat.

But if you do tear down your top end, before reinstalling your valve springs, be sure to check freelength and squareness, and check the cam lobes for excessive wear. It also wouldn't hurt to have some new seats and guides pressed in. Heck, you can even go for a 5-angle valve job and some oversize-stem valves.

 

road rage, i totally understand, its hard to give online help without seeing/hearing to diagnose.