Valve Timing? Worth the money/necessary?

[struckaccord]

Im having my valves adjusted in a few days. 89.95$ at a Honda dealership. Will my gas mileage or power increase? Is this necessary? Since i removed the resonator and installed the CAI it got noisier. I searched and didnt find much on the topic? Since the car has over 70,000 miles and hasnt had this done I figure its overdue or at least it wont hurt? Should this be done every 30,000 miles or so? Any info greatly appreciated!!!

[princess]

I think for that year they'd already begun the "no adjustment unless it's noisy" recommendation. We still do ours at the old 15K intervals because when they started the change it was the same engine as the year before when they still had it on the 15K time frame. The theory is they're just trying to keep the ownership costs down. For us it's only the cost of the gasket, so we can be picky about those things easier than most.

Basically we ignore the NEW maintaince schedule & use the old one that's kept so many Hondas on the road past 300K! Probably overkill.....but cars are large investment & it's worth it to us!:D

[BenjiBoy650]

My car has 113K on it and needs adjustment. Then again my dads '86 Accord has 240K on it and "needed" adjustment for a long time but never got it :) The CAI noise is normal at above 'normal' RPM's. No worries there, since you're out of warranty anyway.

BTW IMO put the stock blinkers back on, those hyper blinkers are so rice :p

[feferic]

I'm not sure if this is the reason, but I had the 15,000 maintenance done on my car a few months ago (which I believe included adjusting the valves)... my gas mileage has increased (most noticeably on the road where I averaged 27 mpg or so -- no, I can easily push 31 or 32 mpg). As I said, I don't know if this is the reason, but I think the valve adjustment could have only helped.

[BenjiBoy650]

Originally posted by feferic
I'm not sure if this is the reason, but I had the 15,000 maintenance done on my car a few months ago (which I believe included adjusting the valves)... my gas mileage has increased (most noticeably on the road where I averaged 27 mpg or so -- no, I can easily push 31 or 32 mpg). As I said, I don't know if this is the reason, but I think the valve adjustment could have only helped.

Maybe - but worth $90-$100? You decide.

[princess]

Don't valves that are out of adjustment risk your engine? A gap too big can hit the pistons, can't they? If the clearance is too small wouldn't it run crappy?

I'd much rather fork out 100 dollars than have to have new engine put in!

Granted many "normal" service items aren't always needed, but isn't it like insurance? I admit I have the benefit of no labor costs, but I'd have ALL the regular services even if I had to pay full price. For most of Honda's life it was standard to adjust valves at 15K & now even though the engines have changed, many dealers recommend every 30K. I would think they're trying to save the customers the cost & pain of engine replacement because they know Honda's being as rediculous as other makers with this one.

One of the reasons I never bought a 90-93 was the noisy valves. They just never sounded healthy to me.

I've never had a car accident, I still have full coverage insurance on my car. I could have minimum figuring if after all these years any accident would likely be the fault of the other guy.

Just a thought......:blush:

[BenjiBoy650]

Well I hope that Honda wouldn't design a car so that simply not adjusting the valves may cause major engine damage. Something like a timing belt maybe I could understand but such a trivial thing, no. I don't follow much of the maintenance schedule because so much of it is ridiculous that I just can't imagine that the rest is doing me any good. The only things I do are things like fluid and spark plugs, wear items. I don't think that the valves are a major issue, and you would know if it ever got to a critical stage.

[struckaccord]

Thanks for all the responses. (Even the sarcastic one lol!) Ive already blown my extra money from this paycheck on ebay.(Clear side marker lights, blue VTEC indicator light, a new CAI, and the blue/green glow gauge cluster) Im going to try next pay period to set aside the money to do the valve adjustment... Ill let everybody know of any gas mileage/ performance increases I notice...

[BenjiBoy650]

Originally posted by struckaccord
Thanks for all the responses. (Even the sarcastic one lol!) Ive already blown my extra money from this paycheck on ebay.(Clear side marker lights, blue VTEC indicator light, a new CAI, and the blue/green glow gauge cluster)

Geeze you're starting to sound a lot like me before my parents pulled me back into line lol. Made a few bucks in the summer and wanted to spend it on shift knobs, steering wheels, gauge clusters, CAI, wheels, lights front and rear, tint, leather, etc. That stuff is just crazy. I realize now that I get approximately squat back out of all that I put into the car, so I don't seriously consider putting mods on my car anymore. Besides maybe a turbo lol

[Inspector1]

Sounds like my 23 yr old Nephew..... over 4 k in mods his 98 EX I4
He ask me " What are you going to do to yours?"
My reply "Drive it " ...ha

I1:)

[BenjiBoy650]

That's all 4k? There's a guy over at Honduh.com with over 50k in his 6th gen and now comes the time to sell it. I'd like to see him try and get 20K for it even with 50,000 miles and 4 Recaros in it :)

Take a look at this here for a full mod list (it'll take a while to read it all) and more pics http://www.illmaticonline.com/main.pl?page=mdetail&member=Geoff%20Chen

http://www.illmaticonline.com/data/images/members/geoff-05.jpg

[Inspector1]

I've seen it before... Oh well....
To Each their Own....

I1

[BenjiBoy650]

Not quite my style either. Lets see...take Accord, spend 50k on it...or buy new 540i 6-speed....hmmm tough choice (*sarcasm*)

[feferic]

Thanks Princess. Yea, I think mine was around that, but my goal is to make this car last at least 10 years (which is why I bought the Honda). I'd rather spend the money on maintance now, then have to fork out big bucks in the future.

Originally posted by princess

I'd much rather fork out 100 dollars than have to have new engine put in!

[struckaccord]

Originally posted by BenjiBoy650
Geeze you're starting to sound a lot like me before my parents pulled me back into line lol. Made a few bucks in the summer and wanted to spend it on shift knobs, steering wheels, gauge clusters, CAI, wheels, lights front and rear, tint, leather, etc. That stuff is just crazy. I realize now that I get approximately squat back out of all that I put into the car, so I don't seriously consider putting mods on my car anymore. Besides maybe a turbo lol How the topic moved from my considering a valve adjustment to me spending money I work very hard to earn on making my car a lil nicer is beyond me... I plan on having this car at least 2 more years, and am making it as nice a ride as I can not for resale value but to make it a more enjoyable ride for me. (run on sentence, I know lol!!) The fact that you consider CAI, and gauge clusters overzealous, doesnt agree with me. Simply stated Im not a kid spending mommy and daddies money on the new civic they bought him... Im improving my car and just wanted a lil help!!! Thanks