Series 3 Who can walk me through setting the valves?

I've got massive engine knock and my badly sealed rocker cover is spitting oil allm over the bulkhead. I've got a couple of cork gaskets ready to replace the gummy ****e that is poorly serving as a gasket right now but I know nothing about setting the valves on my 2.25 diesel engine. Can anyone talk me though it?

solvista said:

I've got massive engine knock and my badly sealed rocker cover is spitting oil allm over the bulkhead. I've got a couple of cork gaskets ready to replace the gummy ****e that is poorly serving as a gasket right now but I know nothing about setting the valves on my 2.25 diesel engine. Can anyone talk me though it?

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turn engine clockwise as looking from the front over till one valve has just reached fully open, count its position from the front then take that number from 9 ie if 3 is fully open set 6 ,2 fully open set 7,you want a 10 thou feeler gauge to put between top of the valve and rocker your adjusting turn the screw just till you feel it nip the gauge then lock of the nut , when youve done all 8,the screw threads above the lock nut on all 8 should be very similar if not somethings wrong

Thank you very much for that James!

Being in Spain, getting hold of anything imperial will be a challenge. Equivalent in metric? 0.0??mm?

Hi @solvista

40 thou is 1mm give or take a gnats whotsit..............

So 10 thou is 0.25mm.

Cheers

Cheers mucker!

It's the same with points.
Them euro fag papers never set em right

@Bobsticle I still owe you an Estrella Galicia or two ...

solvista said:

@Bobsticle I still owe you an Estrella Galicia or two ...

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Not with my back

A couple of those will do wonders for your back

At the risk of appearing a complete newb/idiot... What's the best way of turning the engine to do these valves? Anyone give me a hint before I start this?

Big spanner on the crank nut. Take the glow plugs out otherwise you'll struggle to turn it over. Unless you have bionic arms.

Cheers. Not all the plugs come out, there's one that's stuck fast. Best to take the fan off then? or anything else that'll get in my way?

Depends on the spanner but you'll need to take off the cowling (if you still have it) and the fan is probably a good idea if you don't want to lacerate your knuckles.

Yeah, I'll take the cowling off and used a long torque wrench to give me the leverage advantage over the compression of that one cylinder.

Cheers. Much appreciated

Back again on this one. What size socket do I need on this start dog to crank it over? It looks huge, but I've got no way to measure it properly

IIRC it's a 1" whitworth BUT you should manage with around a 43mm socket. Have you got a cranking handle? You can use that to turn the engine over.

You can use an adjustable for it. Your not taking the nut off, just turning the crank.
I use summat like this.........

puddlejumper said:

IIRC it's a 1" whitworth BUT you should manage with around a 43mm socket. Have you got a cranking handle? You can use that to turn the engine over.

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A 2" Whitworth then, I think. Easier for me to get hold of a 43mm. Cool, cheers.

The cranking handle was another option I thought about but my mate who has one is about 100 miles away and we missed our monthly meet-up this week due to me being at the doctors.

Bobsticle said:

You can use an adjustable for it. Your not taking the nut off, just turning the crank.
I use summat like this.........

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Ya great big spanner. Good plan too. If I can't get the socket, that's probably the only real option at the moment.

Glue the cork gasket to the rocker cover with contact adhesive - evo stick or similar - 'cos it's got an annoying habit of tucking under and disappearing into the rocker chest.

@oxides The cork gaskets I have here have a sticky side. Cheers for that