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odd valve noise

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Guinn

Guinn

Jedi Warrior
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I have reset the #3 valve lash 5 times to .013, per book. Each time I test run the car, the #3 ticks! A .01 guage slipped between the valve and the rocker quiets it. I have set literally hundreds of tappets but this is the first time I couldn't quiet the **** thing. Any ideas? (I do have an idea but I don't want to lead anyone on.) Any help will be appreciated. When the culprit is apprehended I will pass the info on.

Guinn
 
Guinn, have you looked at the surface of the rocker arm? Sometimes the valve will wear a groove in the rocker so that a feeler gauge will give an erroneous reading. The gauge is touching the high spots on the rocker, while the valve is really riding in the groove. Inserting the feeler gauge bridges the high points and quiets things down again.
You could try setting it using a wire in place of the flat blade gauge.
Jeff
 
good answer
 
Will try the wire guage. But won't the valve rotate and cause more trouble as a high spot contacts? Obviously this is not part of my auto experience.

Guinn
 
The groove Jeff mentions is usually "dug" by the stem, and as the rocker pushes down and is pushed back it is worn in a "channel" of sorts *by* the stem, in the radiused part of the rocker pad: The high spot will not contact the stem. With the wire you are measuring the clearance "in the groove," not an "average" of worn and unworn parts of the rocker pad.
 
Thanks again for the advise, Jeff. My wire guage only went down to .015 so I reset the gap to .012 using my flat guage, still got some tapping, went to .011 and had just a hint of tapping so left it there. Thanks again,

Guinn
 
Glad to help, Guinn. It's not that uncommon of a problem. I've used Number drills for small wire gauges. A #80 is .0135.
Jeff
 
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