Valve lash adjustment?

[BlackOmen]

Ok, I own a 1994 Cavalier with about 56k on it. I do valve lash adjustments about every 10k. It's got a 2.2 liter pushrod engine, with hydraulic lifters. Neither the Hayne's manual nor the owners manual give an interval. Anyone have recommendations? Is 10k too frequent? too long? TIA.

 

[Kadarin]

I do not own this car, nor have I ever looked at a service manual for it, but the theory behind hydraulic cams/lifters is that you never need to adjust the lash; the oil inside the lifter is supposed to maintain the proper tension against the cam. If your lifters are coming loose every 10K miles, you may have other issues (i.e. weak valve springs, or a cam with lobes that are wearing down fast for some reason).

 

[tcsenter]

How do you "lash" the valves on a hydraulic lifter valvetrain? I suppose it could be done, but I've never heard of it.

My Ford Taurus SHO had a solid lifter and [quad] camshaft design that required a valve lash every 60,000 miles but that was a high output engine. Unless your Cavalier is a race car, I'd think that 10,000 miles, if doing it at all is remotely beneficial, is wasting a whole lot of Saturday afternoons.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Uh, a normal adjustment (as is done with solid lifters) can ruin hydraulic lifters. Hydraulic lifters do not need adjustment. The SOLID lifters on my 1976 Porsche 914 (VW-Porsche Typ IV engine) require adjustment every 6,000 miles.

ZV

 

[Pacfanweb]

Do not adjust them. There is no adjustment, that's what hydraulic lifters are for. You don't even have to adjust hot rod motors with hydraulic lifters. You set them when you build the engine, and that's it.