Valve adjustment

[whereswaldo250]

Hey guys,
I bought my 92 about 2 1/2 years ago and I was wondering when do you know you need a valve adjustment? I have the PO records, he kept records of every little thing he did to the vehicle and he has done valve adjustments in the past but non for a while. I have a light ticking sound and I know that some of use have that, but is that due to a valve adjustment needed?

Thanks Ben

[Greenleaf]

My 92 had 167,00 on it when I adjusted the valves. They needed it. The school bus engines will have 80,000 or so and they need a little adjustment. Not bad, but in need of a little.

[whereswaldo250]

I read on how to adjust them and it looks pretty straight forward. Any tricks you might have I looked and the last time it was done was at 37k so do you think it is a good time for it to be done?

Thanks
Ben

[wannadiesel]

The manual says 24k. When you run tighter lash than spec you need to keep a close eye on it, but at stock lash every 50k is plenty often.

[whereswaldo250]

What is the benefit of a tighter lash?

[KTA]

I believe the factory recomendation from cummins is to check/adjust the valves every 36000 miles. I would try to do it at least every 60,000 miles. Keeping up with your valves is a good way to keep an eye on any potential issues in the valvetrain, and is usually worth a couple of hp and some fuel economy.

[wannadiesel]

What is the benefit of a tighter lash?

It increases lift and duration slightly, like a bigger cam. Mine are at 0.008 and 0.018 right now, I look at it a couple times a year.

[KTA]

I run .006 intake and .016 exhaust on mine, but I dont trailer hard and run alot of heat through my motor. The tighter specs do act like a bigger cam but it becomes more critical to keep up with you adjustments. If you get a valve too tight and burn it its not going to be good. I cant quantify the hp value added by the tighter lash but it did seem to increase mileage ever so slightly, like .3mpg average form the stock .010 and .020.

[whereswaldo250]

As you can see that my truck is completely stock so a tighter lash would not be beneficial at this time, correct? Thanks for the input guys I will be doing it the next oil change. If you have any tips feel they will be greaty appreciated (sorry about the spelling)

[Micaiahfied]

tip: don't trust that the timing pin is not broken, lol. just did mine for the first time it really wasn't bad at all, i don't see why checking them every 24K would even be considered an inconvinience.

[DLittle]

I just did mine don't know when it was done last and I've put 15k on truck since I've owned truck. It was my first time doing a valve adjust and it wasn't to bad. I had a couple that were tight and a couple that were loose. I used the alternator nut to turn the engine over. Just take your time and double check everything when your done.

[whereswaldo250]

Is there any other parts besides the gasket(s) that I need to have when doing this?

Thanks

[KTA]

There are o-rings on the valve cover gasket bolts you might replace, but most people dont as unless they are old and hard or ripped they wont leak. I prefer to use the black Federl Mogul gaskets over they Grey cummins ones as the cummins ones swell and you cant hardly reuse them.

[whereswaldo250]

Thanks for tip, I'm gunna get all of the pieces together and then when the oil change comes I will do the valve lash.

[CDReyn]

so I guess at 200K, mine is probably due..........