Valves - time to do them

[rmousir]

Ok.. '87 325is.. pretty sure it is a m20 (not 100% sure) so I hope I am in the right place.

Anyway, my valves are really getting noisy..My car is starting to sound like a VW bug and I don't want that. I have been doing some reading and I saw that the valves need maintance and setting but I have not seen a 'how to' on it yet. Anyone have any info on this that I could read?

I have never done this before so any tips would be greatly appreciated. How long of a job is it? Do I need to pick up any parts before I do the job? I figured I could paint the valve cover while I am at it. :) Any special tools needed? Is this something that a average joe can do? Anything else that I should do while I am at it?

Thanks very much in advance for any and all info.
This place rocks!!!
Looking forward to doing it myself!

Ricahard.

[Justin B]

From a 10 second google search, including typing and clicking ;)

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E30-Valve_Adjust/E30-Valve_Adjust.htm

Searched M20 valve adjustment. First result...

It's not THAT hard to do, it might just take a little getting used to the feel you're looking for with the feeler gauges not too tight but not loose either. The article explains it well.

Good luck!

[rmousir]

thanks.. I did some reading and it looks like I should be able to get this done.. with luck tomorrow will be nice enough to do it. Any last min tips?

Thanks.

[Atreus]

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...pecialty+Tools feeler guage....

that is the same thing right? i need to do mine to. (tim belt/valves/tuneup) and i just wanna make sure i have everything the first time...

[Dave]

Do it when the engine is stone cold. Like the car has sat for at least a day cold.

[Atreus]

this is my only car.....doing it after the timing belt? im sure that would take a couple of hours.

[SpecM]

this is my only car.....doing it after the timing belt? im sure that would take a couple of hours.

takes me 3.5 hours INCLUDING the timing belt

takes 30-45 minutes to adjust valves, really

[Atreus]

bah. well i have the timing belt stuff. guess i'll let it sit a couple of hours before i start on top of that so it may have time to cool down. not to mention its cold as hell today...

[Dave]

Not sure that will be cold enough, IMHO.

[twistednut]

I am actually in the middle of this myself. I did the valves last night and ended up only having to adjust 6 of the 12. Be sure to press down on the back of the rocker arm before you insert the feeler gauge or you will get a false measurement I did them before I did the timing belt but I had all the covers and harmonic balancer removed so I could put a wrench on the crankshaft nut and easily spin the camshaft to the proper placement. Instead of a stiff wire or Allen wrench I used a small drill bit to move the eccentric nuts.
This is my first timing belt change and I am on a steep learning curve. One thing I learned is to remove the two valve cover nuts that hold the spark plug wire channel before removing the distributor cap. Be careful not to break the two clips that hold the wire channel on the front of the upper timing belt cover.
Might be a dumb question but, are you boys also replacing the water pump also? I was always told that it was cheap insurance to change it while doing the timing belt.

[rmousir]

well I am done. Took me about a hour and a the neighbors help to watch my cam lobs as I rolled the car down my driveway. I followed the directions of the 'how to' that was posted earlier in this thread. I did all the valves and the car is much quieter than it was before. So all in all not to bad a job and a job well done.

Now my motor is not as quiet as I would like it to be. I have read that these motors are a little noisy anyway Here is my question, what would happen if I took out all the gap/play? Would that be really bad?

[Dave]

The BMW engineers designed it that way for a reason.

Just how loud is it? What you may be hearing at this point is just injector tick. That wont go away.

[NC325iC]

you could do it hot too, take it out and drive it till its hot then adjust the valves

dont forget about a new valve cover gasket

[rmousir]

it is about what it was like when I first got the car.. Still clatters but not like a old VW bug, which was what it was doing before I set the gap. I have a nice gasket on there that is re-useable so I am OK there. I am pretty sure it is the valves I still here.

I still wonder why we need any gap in there at all? None of my other cars except one has ever had noisy valves.

[rmousir]

oh, another thing.. Time for new plugs!!! These are bad.. I am starting to believe that the PO was not completely up front about things.. Not that I should expect to much from such an old car. So I think I will pick up some new ones this weekend.