I've been doing VJ's (teehee) around town and still haven't been able to tell if a car needs it or not just by listening. Maybe if it's really bad, it would make some kind of noise but so far, every car has been tight.

I gave up on checking how tight. Seems this should be done every 30k. Still curious if a brand new car is at spec in the first place.

 

I was going to make a new thread, but I feel like this could be useful for anyone who is curious about a valve adjustment. I am wondering if my car could use one, Ive got ~125k on the odometer and for at least the last 70k miles or so I know it hasn't had one, probably never in it's life.

The reason for my worry is I had a Mustang behind me that was making weird noises at a light, got me paranoid about my car and when I got back home I was really listening to the engine, I kind of know what the sound of noisy valves is like, but its all from just watching videos, no actual experience.

Heres the video I took about 30 minutes ago after I was driving around for about 20 mins, fully warmed up.

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...t=IMG_0350.mp4

Anyone want to chime in?

 

Most people agree the recommended interval is way too long to wait. Just had mine done at 41,000 miles and I should have done it earlier.

 

yup, every 30k is a good number. Depends on how you drive it. I find that the cars that are run at the track, end up with the forward 2 cyls looser than the back 2.
I did mine at 2k.. brand new s2k. And they were all over the place.
So yeah it never hurts to do them. 125k... its too late. stuffs prob a mess in there. lol.
Hard to say till you open it up and check.

 

It's impossible to tell from a video clip, especially since recorded sounds aren't perfect. There's a slight hint of a slight tapping of one valve, but there's no way of telling if that's due to needing a valve adjustment. It could also be an injector.

You're better off taking your head cover off and measuring the clearances.

 

Someone said if the engine starts sounding like bicycle chain it needs it. I found a NSX/S2000 only shop that is going to do a VA for $ 85.00 which is dirt cheap. Just need to get a valve-cover gasket as well and InlinePro TCT as well.

 

I just got mine done. I bought the car with 65k on it. Not bad for an 01. I had some that were too loose and others that were too tight. I'm glad I did it b/c my ride does seem smoother.

 

Do we need to buy any new gaskets to do a VA? That sh!t can be expensive..

 

It just depends on the condition of your current valve cover/spark plug tube gaskets. I adjusted the valves on my 05 s2k w/ 41k miles recently and the original gaskets were still in very good condition so I reused them without a problem. My s2k is not my daily driver, so if I found that the gaskets needed replacing I would have just ordered them and put everything back together when they arrived. If your s2k is your only car and you don't want to be stuck in a situation where you can't drive it for a few days while you wait on parts, just go ahead and order a new valve cover gasket before starting the job.

 

The valve cover gasket kit is ~$20 so might as well. If yours has dried out, it may tear during the job.