Valve lash....

[Mike R]

I'm noticing alot of cold startup noise that seems like too much lash. Not too mention the horrid noises when it was on the dyno on saturday. I'm going to try and check it this weekend. Adjusting it looks to be somewhat of a pain due to needing a SST from the dealer or having to remove the cams. Has anyone else needed the lash adjusted with ~29000 miles? I think the 30K checkup involves checking the lash, but I haven't checked the owners manual yet. This might be something I actually take it to the dealer for. Which bothers and scares me.

Anybody have any comments/experience with this??

 

[njaremka]

You can check it, but I doubt it will be out of spec that quick. That is, unless you race your engine when it's cold and never change your oil. Of course, if you do those thing, you will have worse things going on.

If you are going through the trouble of checking it, you might as well look into adjusting it to the minimum level. You might get some extra power.

 

[Equinox]

You can check it, but I doubt it will be out of spec that quick. That is, unless you race your engine when it's cold and never change your oil. Of course, if you do those thing, you will have worse things going on.

If you are going through the trouble of checking it, you might as well look into adjusting it to the minimum level. You might get some extra power.

Sure you aren't just low on oil and have a lot of valve train noise?

 

[Mike R]

Just changed the oil. I change it regularly with synthetic and OEM filters. Always got warmed up for at least 2 minutes when it was really cold, gets 45-60 second warmups when it's warmer out. I run the car kinda hard, but I don't know why it's doing it so soon, even with almost 30,000 miles on it. It's like a one-two second rattle when I start it, and it sounds like valve lash.

If you are going through the trouble of checking it, you might as well look into adjusting it to the minimum level. You might get some extra power

I looked at the shop manual. Looks like all that can be done is add shims. From the instructions I'll need some special tools and a lot of time. Just pulling the valve cover and sticking in a feeler gauge is not that time consuming. If it was a standard adjuster setup I'd adjust it while I was there.

 

[twilightprotege]

i very very much doubt it'll be that much out after such a short amount of time...you should have had the noise from the start if that's the case. it taked 100000miles + for the cams and shims to start to show signs of wear.

but if for some weirdo reason it is the shims, have them set the clearance to 0.009" rather than the stock 0.010". free increase in valve lift

and you dont need the sst to change the shims. just measure all the clearances, take the cam out, change the shims that need changing and put the cam back in. re-measure and you're done.

 

[shibby]

are these specs for the intake or exhaust cam

 

[njaremka]

both

 

[shibby]

what exactly is the stock cold lash. and can anyone else account for these specs to be correct?

 

[Gen1GT]

I'm getting different numbers from different sources. Can someone confirm that cold lash is, in fact, .010", and not .225" like I heard from a Mazda Service rep?

 

[twilightprotege]

for the FS - 0.009" - 0.012"

 

[njaremka]

do you really think the cold lash is .225 INCHES? service manual has 0.010 +- .001 INCHES, which is also 0.225 MILIMETERS - so, the are both right

 

[Gen1GT]

do you really think the cold lash is .225 INCHES? service manual has 0.010 +- .001 INCHES, which is also 0.225 MILIMETERS - so, the are both right

If I thought it was .225, I wouldn't have posted to ask, I just would have set it at that. My car had hydraulic lifters, so I don't have to worry about these things. I'm installing cams for a friend with a P5, and he was told .225 by some guy at the dealership. Mm or inches wasn't specified, but it's obvious now.

 

[Mike R]

Well, if you guys are interested, it was the rod bearings. Good old oil starvation and the damn VTCS bulls*** making the noise.

And damn, this is an old thread...The PO5 has 115K (85K on new motor) and is quieter than ever.