Club 80-90 Forums

Evening all, i have just checked the valve clearances, only one seems ok [checked with the engine cold].
ex .35mm
in .15mm
ex 35mm
in .10mm this one is the one im worried about!
in .20mm
ex .40mm
in .15mm
ex.35mm
This is 10,000 since a complete re-build,advice welcome!.
Ta.

Did you shim the valve settings your self on the rebuild and all was correct .Or was it done by a rebuild shop/mechanic.

What is spec for cold?

Think hot is .25 and .45

Camper, the workshop set the clearence/s by grinding/milling the shims!! on the new cylinder head.
Lloyd, yes .25 and .45 hot.
cold.15-.25 and .35-.45

I had a recon 1.6 jx engine fitted by a well known south london reconditioner.When driven home after collection i noticed the tappets where a bit noisy.I tried to take no notice of the noise and thinking to my self its got a warrenty it goes wrong it will be fixed.I returned the van for its first service to them and told them about the tappet noise.The mechanic doing the service found some of the valve stems a diffrent hight to each other. This required new valves fitted. You said the work shop set the clearence/s by grinding milling the shims.I may stand corrected but the valves fitted to a 1.6 JX have the tappets adjusted by shims of various standard sizes.

True camper.

I don't understand Dave. .15-.25 cold, but .25 hot doesn't make sense. Seems that if .10 difference is acceptable cold, should be about same hot. Been a long time sense I did a golf head and don't remember shim thickness difference, but guessing they are in .02-.05 steps. and valve clearance is .25+- something... like .02. I still have the tool for changing shims.

Indeed, 0.20-0.30 inlet.......0.40-0.50 exhaust warm/hot.
I've got all the shims and hazet follower plus down tools and shim extractor pliers. from the 80's when I work at a main VAG dealership.
Yes the small gaps are a worry...you really don't want to be burning any valves out.
Can do them for a small fee.
Martin

Thanks all im in Spain so cant use your offer Red,ta, as i dont have the VW tools ill have to lift the camshaft to remove the shims, i do have the" Bentley "book and a vernier gauge,was kinda hopeing someone would say .1mm was ok but have re-checked and found one ex clearance is .3mm [tight!] so will have to sort it out,
Ta.

Seek and thee shal find, or summat.

I have a selection of shims and I noticed in one of my suppliers books the other day they still sell the shims.
A lot of places have stopped selling the shims now, VW are £5 a pop!
You set the clearances with the engine stinking hot, so I would expect that narrow one to close up even more.
It's not unusual for them to be on the p!ss, thats why they should be checked/set every now and again, 90% of the customers through the door say they didn't know or havn't had them done.
People think the JX is slow, it's only because they have driven ones so far out of tune it's unreal.

Oh, and I now ship to all countries in the EU.

Hi Simon,i didnt set the clearences,the machine shop that i bought the new cylinder head off did!.And i bought some cv joints of you so i know that you deliver to Spain,hows the move going?.
Best regards Barry.

To be fair, when these engines have done a few miles the clearances don't change much between services (one or two shims just one size up or down is the usual) The most dramatic changes, as you have experienced yourself, are usually a result of bedding in after a head or an engine change.
I don't mean to go on like this but as Simon has pointed out, because modern vehicles use hydraulic tappets many owners just don't realise these engines have shim adjusted clearances, and as nearly all your back street so called experts DON'T have the necessary shims and tools they never inform the customer that they have been unable to do them during the service (it wouldn't make them look very professional)
So what we have are lots of owners who THINK that their vans are being properly serviced when is reality one of the most important service items is not being done.
Tappet check and adjustment should be carried out every 12,000 miles according to VAG's own service sheet.
Martin

My daughter use to set the valve clearences [on skodas] and says after two services they settled down [push rod engines] and the two air cooled vans we had didnt vary much [after the first 1000 miles].