Valve adjustment

[georgeb]

Is there a cold setting for valve lash on a Festiva? By the time you get it apart, it's lukewarm. And by the end of the procedure, it's cold. They are already at the book (warm) adjustment .012 when cold. Will it increase or decrease when warm? Any other car I've done was done cold.

[deathegg]

What is this "valve adjustment" you speak of?

Never once adjusted the valves on my '88 Festiva; owned it for 23 years and 235,000 miles. Ran great!

[georgeb]

What is this "valve adjustment" you speak of?

Never once adjusted the valves on my '88 Festiva; owned it for 23 years and 235,000 miles. Ran great!

Carbed models don't have HLAs and must be adjusted every decade or so. I have one that's ticking more than the others so I figgered it's about time. I'm going to warm it up and compare to cold clearances so I'll know how to set them cold.

[iceracerdude]

See, and you thought you was drivin "old school", with fuel injection and hla's up in there.

[denguy]

I think that if you tear the head down to refinish it and rebuild it there is a basic valve lash setting you have to get back to.

[Festy46]

I always ran the engine and then adjusted the valves. As long as the engine is a little warm, you should be good......just don't set them with a cold engine when the temperature is -30 below. I set them so that the feeler gauge has just a tiny bit of resistance when I pull it through the gap. Not a hard pull, but not sloppy loose either. The hotter the engine, the less the clearance.

[georgeb]

I ran it for awhile and checked the lash diff. They were a little tighter when warm, maybe .001. Adjusting them when hot sucks for obvious reasons. I think I will adjust them cold to .013 next time and check it every year.