1991 Honda Accord valve adjustment - problem is too much clearance on one valve

JMATTHEW97

MEMBER
1991 HONDA ACCORD
4 CYL
AUTOMATIC
271,000 MILES

1991 Honda Accord LX 4 door sedan 2.2L 4 cyl 16 valves. I am attempting to do a valve adjustment. After setting cyl 1 to TDC I am adjusting the 2 intake valves to.26mm clearance. The first valve went fine. However, I am having a problem with the second intake valve on cyl#1. It has a large clearance which cannot be closed by tightening the screw adjustment on the rocker arm. Its almost as if the valve isn't closed all the way, but I don't know why that would be. Any ideas on what could be causing this situation?

3 Replies

FIXITMR

MECHANIC
9,990 POSTS

Was the car running fine before your attempted adjustment?

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Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 AT 4:26 AM

JMATTHEW97

MEMBER
5 POSTS

I found the solution to my problem was that I was not screwing the adjustment screw far enough counterclockwise. Once I did this, it did eventually close the gap and I was able to adjust it to the.26mm clearance. One other question though: is it normal to have two intake valves on the same cylinder with quite different amounts of adjustment screw sticking up from the lock nut in order to reach the same.26mm clearance? In other words, in order to reach the same clearance the adjusting screw for one valve is set quite a bit differently than the other, is that normal/common? Thanks, John
Oh and to answer your question, no the car was not running fine, as it busted a water hose, overheated and blew the head gasket. All of which I have fixed in the last few weeks (not to mention several other things). When I replaced the head gasket I had the head machined and pressure tested, so I know all the valves are seating properly and are not leaking.