2.7 Valve Adjustment

Hey everyone! Currently have a 2002 tacoma with the 3rz-fe engine and 142,000 miles. Are the valve inspections necessary? Not sure if anyone actually does this as I called my local stealership today and their master tech had never heard of doing this. My dad has a 97 with 300,000 miles and his valves have never been touched.

 

My '96 has 415,000 miles and has never had the valves adjusted, runs and sounds great. Never had valve cover off in fact.

 

Your dad has the 3rz as well?

You guys have gotten lucky. I believe per the service manual, the valves should be inspected every 35,000 miles and adjusted as needed. The exhaust valves in our 4cyls tighten up over time and when they get too tight you (at best) burn a valve, and (at worst) crack the head between the two exhaust valves... usually cyl 3.

I've had 3 3rz motors and each one has had a cracked cyl head from the exhaust valve burning up

 

How does a master tech not know that checking valve lash is a thing? Since you have a 4 cylinder, it's super easy to check. Much more of a pain in the ass for the 5VZ since you have to remove many parts.

 

I heard the same thing from a dealer when I was in Florida. After that I decided to check myself. It’s not hard to check. All you need is a set of feeler gauges.

If you find things out of spec you can then go to a shop and get it adjusted or do it yourself with the right tools.

 

I'm guessing it's "screw you I don't want that job" saying

 

Dealer told me they’d never heard of it, I can only assume they thought I had a newer truck.

Jokes on them, they were out of spec and I had a burnt valve.

get them checked

 

I have 222k on mine, runs great. bought at 193

I don’t believe it’s ever been done/don’t have any record of it.

Prior owner of eight years never mentioned it and judging on some of the other things, he surely didn’t do it maintenance wise because I had to catch most of it all up.

I don’t have any experience doing valve adjusts, but it would be a good idea to have it done just because this is a known issue.
I’d take it to a shop and have it done if they’ve done it before or have a specialist.
..for some reason it’s hard to find anybody wanting to do maintenance like this, everybody seems to want to try fix something by throwing junk parts at it, that they buy and install while charging you an arm and leg…

 

Timmy the Toolman has a phenomenal video on this job, albeit on a 5vz-fe (3.4 V6 out of a 3rd gen 4runner). Any of you interested in doing this should watch it. I did my valves last year (entirely guided by his video), and overall it was very doable, although it was tedious. As mentioned above the 4-cylinder motors should be a whole lot easier, than the V6's. No real specialty tools needed, outside of a good digital micrometer. I would highly recommend doing it yourself, because I could see a shop charging you out the eyes for the labor involved with this job.

 

If its under 200K and not making any noise....
I wouldnt worry about it.....

If your ever in the engine for any reason I would check then...
its super easy....

Dickin with it and not knowing what your doing may cause more harm than good....

factory built 3rz in japan is really a dream engine....for longivity....
....not power....

Its how well its been taken care of ....seems to be one extreme or the other.....
....unfortunately....
and both want too much when they try to sell.....

 

Do it. Check it. If it’s out of spec, adjust em. Do a compression test before and after adjustment to see how it improved.

 

The stealership quoted me $320 to check and an additional $400 to make any adjustments. If I check the clearance myself, is there potential that I mess something else up? Im in the indy area if anyone has any recommendations.

 

You really can't screw anything up just by checking, unless you were to do something really stupid and drop a socket or something in the valve train area and just leave it there. Good idea to check it yourself.

 

Will this work for what I need?

 

Yes

 

Any thoughts on if I can reuse the valve cover gasket? I don't have any leaks there.

 

You probably can, but it's not a great idea, because they're gonna be more likely to leak after being removed/reinstalled, and then you'll be pissed when you have to tear the top end apart again.

 

Fair. Do the half moons have to be taken out too, or just replace the gasket? Also, do the valve cover gasket bolts typically break? That is not something I would want to mess with. Thanks for all the help everyone, it’s much appreciated.

 

As far as I know the bolts don't tend to break. I reused mine, but used fresh washers, when I did a valve adjustment and valve cover gaskets last year. I'd recommend taking the half moons out, cleaning them up and applying fresh FIPG, just to be safe, otherwise you'll be tearing it all apart again, and you're literally all the way in there already.

Edit: rather you could have to go back in again, if the half moons were to start to leak later. Also you'll need to buy some FIPG for the valve cover job anyhoo, so the only added cost is your time to clean the half moons and reinstall.

 

I snapped one cover bolt on mine. Had to drill it out and tap it. So yeah it can happen.