1.3 Valve adjustment issue

[Richie32]

Hello all.

 

Soo, today I "tried" to adjust the valves on my Skoda Felicia 1.3 LXi. I'd done plenty of reading up here on the forum and using my Haynes manual before I started.

I jacket the right wheel up and put it into 5th gear to make it easier to rotate the crankshaft and then started using the "rule of 9" method from the guide on the forum & Haynes manual. As I got half way through, Valve No 3 I think, I found I could not adjust it. The one's before had been fine and were a little bit out and I adjusted accordingly using the flat head screwdriver & feeler Gauge however number 3 wouldn't have it. No matter how much I moved the adjuster I could not get the feeler gauge in and now it's running allot worse as I haven't been able to get it back to were it was before I started my meddling. It was running ok ish before I started, you could tell it needed doing but nothing bad.

 

Can anyone help please?? Is the issue I'm seeing a sign of something worse?

 

 

Thanks everyone 

[RicardoM]

17 minutes ago, Richie32 said:

you could tell it needed doing

So how did you come to that conclusion?

[Richie32]

Not running as sweet as it had been, bit more noisy and it certainly hasn't been done in the recommended interval. 

 

[RicardoM]

6 hours ago, Richie32 said:

it certainly hasn't been done in the recommended interval

What mileage has your car? Did you ever change the timing chain?

 

Presuming the engine started to run different because of valves clearance (your assumption), you can use my guide. 0.25 mm for intake, 0.20 mm for exhaust. Forget the Haynes rubbish.

[RicardoM]

7 hours ago, Richie32 said:

...however number 3 wouldn't have it

My guess is you mixed up the compression stroke with the exhaust stroke.

[Richie32]

6 hours ago, RicardoM said:

My guess is you mixed up the compression stroke with the exhaust stroke.

Yes I think you're right. 

 

I think I've been adjusting the valves when they're closed not open. What I should be doing is adjusting when the spring is fully down (valve open). Incredibly embarrassed. 

 

I also think I should have my tools taken away from me.... maybe after I've repaired this. :-/

[Richie32]

7 hours ago, RicardoM said:

What mileage has your car? Did you ever change the timing chain?

 

Presuming the engine started to run different because of valves clearance (your assumption), you can use my guide. 0.25 mm for intake, 0.20 mm for exhaust. Forget the Haynes rubbish.

Thanks, I'm going to have another go using this method and bin the Haynes manual idea

[petergarforth]

8 hours ago, Richie32 said:

Thanks, I'm going to have another go using this method and bin the Haynes manual idea

 

The Haynes method from the Estelle manual is simple and works a treat (not sure how much different it is for the Felicia?)....it tells you what valve is fully open so you can adjust a corresponding valve.....if you follow it you can't go wrong. I've been using it for decade or more and I've built a lot of old Skoda engines in that time and adjusted valves dozens of times. It is foolproof.......well.....I thought it was anyway! 

 

open    check and adjust

   8                   1

   6                   3

   4                   5

   7                   2

   1                   8

   3                  6

   5                  4

   2                   7

  

[KenONeill]

@Richie32 @RicardoM @petergarforth - As Peter says above, use the "rule of 9" (so called because with any given valve open, you adjust the one that adds with the open one to make 9)

[petergarforth]

It should never fail! The engines are pretty much the same - only slight differences in valve gaps

[RicardoM]

5 hours ago, KenONeill said:

As Peter says above, use the "rule of 9"

In case you didn't know, Haynes manuals are a British interpretation of OEM workshop manuals.

Skoda Felicia factory manual recommends using the rule of 5 to adjust the valves clearance.

I tried them both and the result was different.

 

Edited 9 April, 2018 by RicardoM

[mikefelicia]

For what it's worth and not wishing to throw coal on the fire. I have a Felicia 1.3 MPI and purchased it new nearly 20 years ago and has 90,000 miles on the clock and only I have adjusted the valve clearances and I have always used the rule of 9 and my engine with no problems (I know of).

[petergarforth]

29 minutes ago, mikefelicia said:

For what it's worth and not wishing to throw coal on the fire. I have a Felicia 1.3 MPI and purchased it new nearly 20 years ago and has 90,000 miles on the clock and only I have adjusted the valve clearances and I have always used the rule of 9 and my engine with no problems (I know of).

 

I didn't know there was anything else until I read this thread....it's not just Skoda engines.....most pushrod 4s that I've come across use it....the ubiquitous A series being the one that springs to mind. I would suggest any method as well tried and tested is sound. 

[KenONeill]

Not just pushrod engines; I've worked with OHC engines that use locknut tappets for valve adjustment and use rule of 9 too. I'd expect it to apply any time the exhaust valves are 1, 4, 5, and 8 with inlets 2, 3, 6 and 7 (or vice versa).

[KenONeill]

@RicardoM - Since no-one else who's posted in this thread has even heard of the "rule of 5" perhaps you should explain it?

[petergarforth]

3 hours ago, KenONeill said:

@RicardoM - Since no-one else who's posted in this thread has even heard of the "rule of 5" perhaps you should explain it?

 

There is a link Ken.....if you click on the word on the post.....it involves adjusting 2 valves at a time whilst they are on the overlap which sounds wrong to me but only because adjusting 2 at a time when everyone else does them individually smacks of short cuts (rather than an actual reason think its wrong)

[RicardoM]

 

[KenONeill]

@RicardoM - Ah, I missed the hot link earlier.

 

I presume that "valve overlap" means piston at BDC between exhaust and intake strokes?

[RicardoM]

Valve Overlap is the time during which both the inlet and exhaust valves remain open at the same time.

Theoretically, the inlet and exhaust valves open and close instantaneously at the dead centres. But what actually happens is that, these valves open/close, before and after the dead centres.

The inlet valve opens before Top Dead Centre (TDC) and closes after Bottom Dead Centre (BDC). This is done so as to get maximum charge inside the cylinder. In order to get maximum inlet charge at the earliest moment of intake stroke, inlet valve is opened early. The kinetic energy of the moving charge at the end of the intake stroke is used to produce a ramming effect by closing the inlet valve after BDC. The ramming effect increases volumetric efficiency.

The exhaust valve opens before BDC so as to exhaust the combustion product efficiently. By virtue of its excess pressure above atmosphere some exhaust gas leaves the cylinder. This allows the exhaust gas to flow freely from the cylinder by the time the piston commences the exhaust stroke. Again, by closing the exhaust valve after TDC, the kinetic energy of the exhaust gas can be utilised to assist in maximum exhausting of the gas. In the process inlet valve begins to open before the exhaust valve closes - and this is called VALVE OVERLAP.