Club 80-90 Forums

Anyone checked valve clearances on a 1.6 TD engine ?? Any advise would be welcome.
Ta.

Setting with a warm/hot engine.......0.20 - 0.30 inlet and 0.40 - 0.50 exhaust.....so for example on an inlet valve the 0.20mm feeler goes into the gap between the cam and follower but a 0.30mm feeler does not..if you get my drift (set the cam lobes 180 degrees, straight up, when checking)
You need: set of metric feeler gauges
follower push down tool
Shim extracting pliers (although you can mess with snipe nose pliers)
An extendable pen magnet or magnetic screw driver is useful if you loose the shim
And of course...some replacement shims.
Power bar and socket to turn the crank between cam positions.
New cork cam cover gasket and end seals.
The tools I have if you are local to Nottingham.
Takes about 20minutes, 30 if you are doing them for the first time.
Any 1.6TD/1.6/1.7 diesel owners reading this, are you sure that your garage are checking and adjusting clearances? because most will not posses the required tools and shims to carry out this adjustment and it DOES need doing at least every 20K (VW was 12,000 intervals)Martin

Red Westie wrote:Setting with a warm/hot engine.......0.20 - 0.30 inlet and 0.40 - 0.50 exhaust.....so for example on an inlet valve the 0.20mm feeler goes into the gap between the cam and follower but a 0.30mm feeler does not..if you get my drift (set the cam lobes 180 degrees, straight up, when checking)
You need: set of metric feeler gauges
follower push down tool
Shim extracting pliers (although you can mess with snipe nose pliers)
An extendable pen magnet or magnetic screw driver is useful if you loose the shim
And of course...some replacement shims.
Power bar and socket to turn the crank between cam positions.
New cork cam cover gasket and end seals.
The tools I have if you are local to Nottingham.
Takes about 20minutes, 30 if you are doing them for the first time.
Any 1.6TD/1.6/1.7 diesel owners reading this, are you sure that your garage are checking and adjusting clearances? because most will not posses the required tools and shims to carry out this adjustment and it DOES need doing at least every 20K (VW was 12,000 intervals)Martin

Thanks very much for all that advise sounds like a fairly straight forward job. Is the tool for pushing them down a must or can it be done with something else ? I've set them on Isuzu diesel engines before and had to use a special tool for the same job. I've seen the tool for sale on Brikwerks, was just being a tight get and trying to get out of buying it. Shame I'm not near Nottingham or I'd take you up on your offer. Are you a garage or just know your stuff ?
Whats the symptons of bad clearances anyway other than getting noisey, do you get starting problems ?
Sorry for all the questions but I'm fussy when it comes to my van just want things doing right and I know they haven't been done since I've had it.
Thanks again.
Si.

No not a garage, was a grade 1 technician/MOT tester on the shop floor for 14 years and now I teach motor vehicle at a college.
Symptoms well..if loose then just tapperty but the danger is if they become tight, this can burn out valves, cause lack of power, black smoke irratic tick over and require a head rebuild. Unfortunately you do need the push down tool.
Martin

Red Westie wrote:No not a garage, was a grade 1 technician/MOT tester on the shop floor for 14 years and now I teach motor vehicle at a college.
Symptoms well..if loose then just tapperty but the danger is if they become tight, this can burn out valves, cause lack of power, black smoke irratic tick over and require a head rebuild. Unfortunately you do need the push down tool.
Martin

The lack of power is a bit hard to tell with the 1600 as it doesn't have much in the first place The smoke and the tick over problems is what I'm getting and everything else seems to be ok. Had a genuine VW exchange engine about three years ago in Germany which seems alright and I've fitted a full set of injectors myself recently.
Think I'll buy that tool and give it a go.
Thanks again for the advise.

Arh...well there you go then! with new, reconditioned engines...rebuilt heads etc it is MOST important to have these clearances checked after the first lets say 10K. This is when they alter most, after some sort of rebuild they bed in! after the initial 'sometimes large adjustments' they settle down and only require 1-2 tappet shims changing every main service. So it's the first check after a rebuild that is most important.
Perhaps I should also add that these cork gaskets go rock hard and need changing every couple of years anyway....they were never designed to seal long term.
Martin

Just a quick question.
What steps do the replacement shims come in (0.1mm steps I assume)?

Cheers
Titus