bodilx6 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Toyotas documentation says it does. Other supra accustomed tech guys says it only needs checking and adjusting if changes has been made to cams or so. Who is right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Checking it is part of the standard service schedule, it'll change as the engine gets older due to wear. You don't mention what context you're talking about though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Logically yes, as valve seats gradually get hammered closing the up the clearance, but cams and shims also wear increasing the clearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodilx6 Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 Well, I was just checking the maintenance schedule and as I bought the car with 88.000km on it and it is now 144.000km, I checked with the guy who sold it to me if it was needed as I'm getting my valve stems changed next week by Toyota through him. He said that it isn't relevant since the valves are hydrolic, but that cannot be true since its part of the maintenance schedule. What is the signs of the having to be adjusted? Should I push this being done when the stems are to be changed anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Your man must be confused or is guessing. They're not hydraulic, they're shim on bucket. The head starts to get a bit rattley when they're worn. It's hard to hear them over the injectors clicking though. If you let them wear down enough you could eventually be in a situation where you could flick a shim out of the bucket, but I've only ever heard of that happening once, and I think the car had very high lift camshafts fitted. Checking them isn't too much of a job. Probably about an hour to an hour an a half depending on when you make your cup of tea. If they need changing though, that's when the job becomes quite an arse and the shims are about £9 each and there's 24 of them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I had a lengthy discussion on this with a Toyota mechanic. He confessed to me that typically they do not actually measure the valve clearances even though it is stated in the service schedule. Instead they just listen for anything amiss because as has been mentioned, when somethong goes wrong the tappet will develop a rattle. Although it may sound shonky I can almost se the logic. A dodgy tappet should be dead easy to spot by listening alone. Plus there is no reason at all why the whole system shouldn't last for the life of the engine without any appreciable valve seat recession and/or tappet wear - IF everything remains stock. As with many other engine parts, once you move away from stock you undo all the good development / validation work that Toyota did when the engien was designed and you may as well tear up the service schedule and make up your own. I did on one occaision insist that the Toyota guys measure my valve clearances, and after the service I was duly handed a nice list of figures stating everything was in spec. I'll leave it to you to decide whether they actually measured them or not. Bottom line: If your valvetrain isn't stock and you really want to know, measure them yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodilx6 Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 Thx Digsy Its stock, and will hopefully remain that way. I messed with the thought of swapping in EU spec cams but after thinking about it in relation to this, I don't think its worth it. - So, when they do my valve stems, they wont mess around with the valve clearance anyway? It will remain exactly as it is now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Thx Digsy Its stock, and will hopefully remain that way. I messed with the thought of swapping in EU spec cams but after thinking about it in relation to this, I don't think its worth it. They also aren't worth it mainly because the differences are minimal on the air side and nonexistant on the exhaust side - So, when they do my valve stems, they wont mess around with the valve clearance anyway? It will remain exactly as it is now? As long as the buckets and shims go back on the same valve they came from, they will stay the same. If your mechanic mixes them up you've got bigger problems than valve clearances -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_d Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 If your getting your valve stem seals done which method is he using? As i cant see a toyota mechanic using the "rope trick" nor the compressed air but i maybe wrong. Assuming hes going to take the head off then surely looking at the valves re-seating etc would be done regardless and then all clearances would have to be done regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 If your getting your valve stem seals done which method is he using? As i cant see a toyota mechanic using the "rope trick" nor the compressed air but i maybe wrong. Assuming hes going to take the head off then surely looking at the valves re-seating etc would be done regardless and then all clearances would have to be done regardless. Even your average back street garage will have a compressor and plug adaptor, why would they take the head off and make themselves hours of extra work, and i also doubt they would be reseting then in any case, unless requested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodilx6 Posted October 15, 2009 Author Share Posted October 15, 2009 If your getting your valve stem seals done which method is he using? As i cant see a toyota mechanic using the "rope trick" nor the compressed air but i maybe wrong. Assuming hes going to take the head off then surely looking at the valves re-seating etc would be done regardless and then all clearances would have to be done regardless. They are not taking the head off. They got some special tool, but might also be using the compresser air/turning the piston to top position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I was told much the same thing as above by the Toyota dealer (Preston) - they don't usually check valve clearances as stated in the maintenance schedule unless something sounds amiss. The Service Manager said it would be just a waste of time and money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyT Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Get it done privately. No way is MrT gonna take the hit on this if he can get away with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodilx6 Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 Get it done privately. No way is MrT gonna take the hit on this if he can get away with it. Yeah, well... I get it done at Toyota privately arranged by a guy who ows me for some work(freebie). It's apparently a really crap job, and I haven't been able to find anyone who would do it that actually had the skills to do it... I've printet the 58 pages (!!!) guide and will hand that over to Toyota a long with a written note on my odometer reading(shows how much I trust them ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I was told much the same thing as above by the Toyota dealer (Preston) - they don't usually check valve clearances as stated in the maintenance schedule unless something sounds amiss. The Service Manager said it would be just a waste of time and money. A waste if their time and money though if it's fixed price servicing. If they charge X amount for a B service that contains checking the valve shims, then they should do it, waste of time or not. I hate garages. Robbing gits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 A waste if their time and money though if it's fixed price servicing. If they charge X amount for a B service that contains checking the valve shims, then they should do it, waste of time or not. I hate garages. Robbing gits. The Toyota garage I used to go to claimed they didn't charge a fixed price for servicing the Supra because they never sold them in the first place. They said only Lexus dealers had the fixed priced servicing info for Supras because it was only Lexus dealers that originally sold the Supra in the UK. I don't know how true that was, but the Service Manager seemed a decent enough guy to me. I've not been back to a Toyota dealer for a few years now as I returned to doing the work myself. Going off personal past experience of checking shims on other cars (with no excessive noise from the cam covers), I found that the clearances were so close that changing the shims wasn't really worth the bother - which tied in really with what the Toyota dealer said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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