Setting the valve gaps, 2005 LGT Wagon

[bluesuby]

I'm still trying to determine the cause of an infrequent burning stink which could be power steering fluid or a slowly leaking valve cover gasket. If it turns out to be a valve cover gasket I'm thinking why not get the valves adjusted when the gaskets are changed. So I stop in at Cherry Hill Subaru and get to a service advisor who is coincidentally talking with an SOA service/parts manager for the region. When I ask about gapping the valves I'm told it requires removal of the engine (on a turbo car) because in order to remove the shims the camshafts need to come out. Cost will be around $2000.

I'm familiar with the chatter you get when the adjustments are too loose, but they tell me on these engines you'll never hear a thing because the gap always gets smaller. They also said Subaru sets valves a little bit loose because you get an increase in power. This seems counterintuitive because loose settings mean less lift/opening of the valves....and less power.

 

So does this sound right? Must the engine be removed? Has anyone used an independent shop which did the job at less cost? My car runs fine with 140,000 miles and I'm inclined to just let it ride rather than pay $2k for work I may not need. Any and all help welcome.

[Pazuzu]

Adjusting the valves with engine installed is probably possible but probably a huge pain. May be easier to just pull the engine. Valve cover gasket is pretty easy really. This is not a case of while you are there. As far as the smell its probably passenger side something dripping on the up pipe. I would check for busted cv boot first.

 

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

[bluesuby]

Thanks. I did check for a cv boot tear but saw nothing. I'm going to mount snow tires this weekend so I'll have the wheels removed and better access to view and get a feel of the boots.

I still can't get over the ridiculous job it would be to gap the valves. Who would think something like this, a maintenance item, would cost $2000? I have gapped valves on an old VW bug and a Honda accord, both with the locknut/setscrew adjustment. Easy. I think I'm going to tell myself frequent oil changes and advances in metal technology have kept the gaps within service limits.

[Scruit]

Valve clearances are not a "maintenance item" in that they have to be checked every 30 miles or something like that.

 

I disagree with the engine having to come out - but my engine did have to be raised by about 2" for the valve cover to clear the rear exhaust cam bearing caps. They will have to do this anyway. It's easy - two 14mm bolts under the engine mounts / crossmember, and jack up the engine JUST enough to clear.

 

So, once they have done that and have the valve cover off and are replacing the gaskets, what more is needed to check and adjust the clearances?

 

Check:

- Run a feeler gauge under each cam lobe while the lobe points away from the valve. Bump the engine so you can check each valve.

 

Adjust:

- Remove the timing belt, and the cam pulleys from any cam that needs to have any valves adjusted

- Remove the forward bearing cap/AVCS housing (which required unplugging the oil feed and electrical connection, also the oil filler neck on the d/s.

- Remove the rear bearing caps, getting ready to support the cam in case it falls out

- The "shims" (buckets) that the cam lobes press on will want to stay in place for the intake cam as they point slightly up, but will want to fall out of the exhaust cam as they point slightly down.

- Remove the buckets, measure them, do the math on what size you need, obtain new buckets, install.

 

Hopefully someone from Subaru will tell me why I'm wrong (if I am) but I don't see the engine coming out for this. I had all 4 cams out of my engine, in car, last month.

[xt2005bonbon]

Check out my thread. I adjusted the driver side valve clearance 6 months ago with the engine in place. It can be done but not much room to work with, that's for sure. I actually did not raise the engine btw.

I replaced almost all the buckets. Total cost was the price of the buckets, and a few timing belt components and cam bolts+cam seals+my time (~$300---see post 4 of my thread below).

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/my-turn-adjust-valve-clearances-242071.html

[bluesuby]

Thanks guys. I spoke with a friend today who has worked on many cars. His advice was don't worry about it. Engines using the shim/bucket adjustments stay within tolerances much better than the locknut/setscrew system. He's checked many and never found anything outside the limits. I'm probably going to let it ride until (at a minimum) I bring the car into AZP in June for a clutch and balljoints. My oil and power steering fluid aren't going low, so I'm going underneath to re-examine the cv boots for leakage. I'm expecting a torn boot might be the stink source. Just need to wait out the rain (after several months of drought).

[Saltysubie]

I just checked all of mine after 118,000 miles. The intakes were all pretty good, the exhaust on #2 and #4 were on the tight end. Using a feeler gauge correctly takes a little finesse in the "feel" and having the engine out of the car definitely makes this easier. My initial measurements with the feeler gauges checked out well after the replacements and cams/timing belt were back in. Having a good micrometer helped too. I ended up replacing half of them to get them exactly where I wanted them. I do think this would be entirely doable without removing the engine though. I might give that a try if I ever have to again.

 

Oh, and like Scruit said, the exhaust buckets may want to fall out when you are taking the cam off so watch out for that.