Engine Valve Clearance Adjustment

[borngeek]

Nice work NTBB!!! THANKS

Thanks for that hints too chaser

Mine is <3K away and being done by my local so this thread will accompany the car....

//Long term this info is even more valuable once we all are out of warranty

[RHKTriton]

Nice shots NTBB.

Looks a lot less scary than some suggest.

Looks like the cover to injector seal is simply an O ring?

What is the tolerance like with the valve settings?

Would it be fair to say that those running to the red line regularly are more prone to need the occasional adjustment?

How amny kms on the engine in the pic?

[gauci204]

digging up an old thread as im looking at doing my clearances and cleaning out my inlet manifolds while im at it.

does anyone have the part numbers for the oil seals that require replacing?

cheers

chris

[Lin1952]

ML Triton 130,000K's. Just had the dealer change belts and hoses and he tells me that valve clearances have not/never been adjusted. Quoted $400 for job. Engine runs perfectly. Is this a must do?

[Cowboy Dave]

How does he know they've never been done? They're supposed to be done every 30,000kms so you'd have to have missed it 4 times already...

Do you still have any warranty left on it?

[aids84]

I had a MN come in as a used car that had 120,000 kms come in that hadn't ever had the tappets adjusted.

How could I tell?

Many of the bolts have pink or orange paint marks on them, something to do with quality control in the factory. When all these marks still line up perfectly and are undisturbed you can safely bet the rocker cover has never been off.

It seems, with the 4D56 at least, that the inlets will close up to about .075 and then stay there, regardless of kms between adjustments. The exhaust valves tend to stay put.

I reckon I will check mine at 30,000 just to be sure and then leave them be for at least the next 100,000 km.

[Lin1952]

Out of warranty.

Never been serviced by that or any other dealer (I have always done my own oil/filter changes each 5,000K and every 15,000 serviced by a reliable local mechanic to get the stamp for warranty.

They have either guessed due to no service record or the bolts could have paint marks that would show that they have never been touched.

[gauci204]

Cleaned my upper and lower manifold as well as doing the tappet adjustments. What a mammoth pain in the ass this motor is to do effing valve adjustments. Getting the rocker cover on and off is a mother trucker, and trying to tighten the two bolts on the cover near the firewall, especially the drivers side did my head in.

After getting it back together and not having any spare parts left over lol, 9.30pm i cranked it over and sounded all good. Let it run for a minute or so and switched it off, only to hear the sound of something dripping.

Looked under the car and there was approx 4-5 litres of sump oil that has spewed out from the rocker cover seal at the back of the motor even with a few spots of ultra blue to keep the gasket in place whilst installing, I must have bumped it a bit and it hasn't sealed properly.

So at 1.30am I called it quits after I had it off again and thoroughly cleaned the rocker cover where the gasket runs with degreaser and then wax and grease remover and left it to dry over night/morning. Hopefully I can get it right this morning.

[har05l]

^^^ That sounds like apita gauci

As much as it kills me this is why I don't mind off loading $620 and just let mitsi do it, been done 3 times so far and never a problem

[mad992]

Cleaned my upper and lower manifold as well as doing the tappet adjustments. What a mammoth pain in the ass this motor is to do effing valve adjustments. Getting the rocker cover on and off is a mother trucker, and trying to tighten the two bolts on the cover near the firewall, especially the drivers side did my head in.

After getting it back together and not having any spare parts left over lol, 9.30pm i cranked it over and sounded all good. Let it run for a minute or so and switched it off, only to hear the sound of something dripping.

Looked under the car and there was approx 4-5 litres of sump oil that has spewed out from the rocker cover seal at the back of the motor even with a few spots of ultra blue to keep the gasket in place whilst installing, I must have bumped it a bit and it hasn't sealed properly.

So at 1.30am I called it quits after I had it off again and thoroughly cleaned the rocker cover where the gasket runs with degreaser and then wax and grease remover and left it to dry over night/morning. Hopefully I can get it right this morning.

wholly mother of god gauci

[TUFF TROOP]

Use contact adhesive to hold the rocker cover gasket in the rocker cover! That's what we do at work as the apprentices used to also do the exact same thing haha

[viking shippy]

Mate wow ..I've been there done that ,at 4am with some re powers I've done on my combi and lancers many moons ago...I feel for you..I left the clutch thrust bearing out once..i realised when the engine was half in ,as it appeared under my back when I crawled under the combi lol
Wednesday the truck goes to mitsubishi re;
135000 service $800
Valve clearance adjustment and manifold R&R $550
And exchange lower manifold $350
$1700 ouch
Look on the bright side your wallets still full...

[gauci204]

Use contact adhesive to hold the rocker cover gasket in the rocker cover! That's what we do at work as the apprentices used to also do the exact same thing haha

I did use some ultra blue type stuff the first time in a few spots to hold it in, (under instruction from my FIL (mechanic) who did the tappet adjustment for me), but the issue wasn't that the seal had fallen out. What I had found when reinstalling it, was when trying to put the rocker cover over the rear of the motor was that the seal grabs on the bearing/cam cap when trying to slide it backwards that last inch, and just pops out a small part of the seal and nek minnit, oil effing everywhere.

This time I had a full bead of goop around the whole seal, and even then it still grabbed the seal but this time I was aware of it and checked for it and pushed it back in place, double checked it with a mirror and then torqued it down.

This time I also unbolted the wiring loom off the firewall which gave me that little bit of extra room I needed to get a 10mm long socket onto the rear two bolts which I had to try to do with a knuckle last time.

I was so gutted after getting it done and finding the leak, not just because of the time I had just spent doing it and the time I would need to spend fixing it but zapped my confidence a bit also. Now not sure whether to do the lokka myself now or pay the Dosh and have it done.

Re the tappets, my exhaust were all pretty close bar one that was loose, all of the intake valves were very tight bar one which was slightly loose, so at least they needed a bit of adjustment, and the manifold was fairly full of crap which i cleaned, as I'd be mighty pissed going through all that and them not needing adjustment

Still missing my 14mm socket that is somewhere in the motor abyss, hopefully it turns up on the ground somewhere and not shorting out a starter or jamming a clutch etc. lol

Farking cars

[TUFF TROOP]

Hey at least you have it a go and learning about how everything works mate! Good on ya

[gauci204]

Looks like its a lesson hard learned this time. Just come back from the first outing to find oil on the rocker cover, looks like a small nick in two of the injector oil seals. fmd.

Any chance these can be replaced without removing the rocker cover?

[viking shippy]

Watch the deisel doesn't get into the oil there's a scenario in here which destroyed a motor from leaking injector seals or ill fitting ones ...

[gauci204]

Just as an FYI, you can definitely replace the injector oil seals with the rocker cover in place. Well at leat 1,2 and 3. Didn't need to replace number 4 so I left. As it would be a real pain to seat it back in properly.

Oil seals were $14.50 each. Part number MN158385. (For 3.2l 4m41 motor)

Cheers

Chris

[TUFF TROOP]

Glad it worked out for you mate! Number 4 is easy enough to replace with a 27mm socket on the seal and lever it down

[gauci204]

Glad it worked out for you mate! Number 4 is easy enough to replace with a 27mm socket on the seal and lever it down

Cheers for that tuff troop. Levering it in is a good tip. Ill still leave it until it leaks just in case though

I questioned the mechanics at the local dealer and they told me the cover had to come off. I was going to try to do it with the cover on no matter what, but. Parked it near the garage just incase it didn't work out. Bloody glad it did though.

[RHKTriton]

Has anyone tried to do the rocker cover rem/install with one or both engine mounts removed to lower the head away from the fire wall.

When I worked on the son's now retired xj, lowering the engine with one mount removed was the only way to get the head out and in.

I would really like to relocate the common rail location to make manifold removal/inspection easier.

[leonbee]

How cold does the engine have to be to do the valve clearance adjustment on the MN. I was told they can be adjusted hot or cold but cold is better. What;s the go....

[mad992]

Cold I thought Cold no way can they be done warm

[RHKTriton]

Have to be cold, either be too hot to get in there if it had to be done hot or it'd cool down anyway by the time you get all the junk off to get access.

The practical guy in the development team at Mitsi must have been on leave at the time they were designing the top end of these donks.

[coughy]

lol i reckon what a shit design

but yes the engine has to be stone cold

i left over night to get it 100% cold

[paddstar69]

Have to agree with last 2 posts
Just finished doing the valve adjustment. The valve adj is not the problem its all the other stuff that has to come off just to get to the rocker cover. Done many a valve adjustment this takes the cake.
Oh also changed out the timing belts that was a nice job to do, straight forward.
Anybody interested i picked up a 17mm injection pipe socket from total tools $13