Rocker Arm Adjustment questions
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 492
Likes: 19
Rocker Arm Adjustment questions
Now I understand this isn't rocket science and according to the service manual not something that is supposed to be done. However I had a little bit of an oil leak and some valve train noise that I wanted to look into so I figured I'm already going to be there why not just look into it. However its something I've never done and the manuals I have just seem to skim through it and I want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly.
TDC #1 cylinder, mark at 12 O'clock position, piston in compression stroke. Adjust 1,2,5,7 on the intake and 1,3,4,8 on the exhaust to zero lash and than tighten 1/2 to 1 turn
TDC #6 cylinder, mark at 12 O'clock position, piston in compression stroke. Adjust 3,4,6,8 on the intake and 2,5,6,7 on the exhaust to zero lash and than tighten 1/2 to 1 turn
(this order may be incorrect as its just a quick google search while at work, I will be following my service manuals order to confirm)
And to just clarify TDC if I cannot verify the pistons stoke, and my marking may be off (who knows after 29 years what its seen) both cylinder #1 valves should be up (closed) and the pushrod/lifter should be down.
TDC #1 cylinder, mark at 12 O'clock position, piston in compression stroke. Adjust 1,2,5,7 on the intake and 1,3,4,8 on the exhaust to zero lash and than tighten 1/2 to 1 turn
TDC #6 cylinder, mark at 12 O'clock position, piston in compression stroke. Adjust 3,4,6,8 on the intake and 2,5,6,7 on the exhaust to zero lash and than tighten 1/2 to 1 turn
(this order may be incorrect as its just a quick google search while at work, I will be following my service manuals order to confirm)
And to just clarify TDC if I cannot verify the pistons stoke, and my marking may be off (who knows after 29 years what its seen) both cylinder #1 valves should be up (closed) and the pushrod/lifter should be down.
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,500
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From: Saratoga Springs NY
2024 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2022 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
If you've never done it then do it arm by arm. Assuming you start on cylinder 1 , rotate engine until arm next to it begins to open, and watch for the one your adjusting to fully close. Adjust that one and continue down the line.
You can get easily confused doing it the way the book describes. I've been doing it for over 30 years and I always do them cylinder by cylinder.
You can get easily confused doing it the way the book describes. I've been doing it for over 30 years and I always do them cylinder by cylinder.
Last edited by FostersPerformance; Feb 3, 2021 at 05:44 PM.
Racer
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 390
Likes: 126
From: Franklin, TN
Just did this job. The absolute easiest way to do it is to simply adjust everyone of them to zero lash, then rotate the engine 90 degrees, adjust all that are not tight to zero lash, rotate again, repeat zero last adjustment on all that are not still tight. Repeat this cycle until all are tight then give each one 1/2 to 3/4 turn and you are done. No need to count cylinders, look for opening valves, etc,, etc. There are a number of vids on youtube that explain this method in detail. I can say it works great.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 492
Likes: 19
Great information and it pretty much sums up everything I’ve gathered. Along with a million ways to adjust valves 😬.
So it looks like my balancer is off about 20°. When the marks like up #1 still has not completed its compression cycle as verified with a screwdriver.
Hopefully I’ve completed it right, I remarked my balancer, turned the motor till I saw several cycles of intake and exhaust. After the last cycle of Exhaust before intake my alignment and #1 cylinder was TDC. I than spun it 360° to #1 firing position. I looked down the row of lifters and verified all were down that could be set with #1 at TDC, rotated 360° And all were down that can be adjusted with #6 at TDC...
Is this what you were getting at?
So it looks like my balancer is off about 20°. When the marks like up #1 still has not completed its compression cycle as verified with a screwdriver.
Hopefully I’ve completed it right, I remarked my balancer, turned the motor till I saw several cycles of intake and exhaust. After the last cycle of Exhaust before intake my alignment and #1 cylinder was TDC. I than spun it 360° to #1 firing position. I looked down the row of lifters and verified all were down that could be set with #1 at TDC, rotated 360° And all were down that can be adjusted with #6 at TDC...
Is this what you were getting at?
