4 cycle valve adjustment

Flower

Flower

New Member
2018 Honda clarity touring. Just had that fuel valve recall fixed.

Dealership came back with our needing a four cycle valve adjustment back to factory specs.
Is this a real thing?
How do they know it needs adjusting?

This would happen along with our getting new tires, mounted and balanced.
 
Flower said:
Is this a real thing?
How do they know it needs adjusting?
Click to expand...

This is a 'real thing', but the trouble is that determining whether it is needed is a judgement call, based on whether the valves are 'noisy'.
I have been involved in this forum for a long time, and there have been few if any reports of valve adjustments being 'needed'

If you have high mileage (and a large portion of those miles are on gasoline) then there is more of a reason to believe that the valves may need adjustment.

A mechanic (or an avid DIY car enthusiast) will recognize the sound of valves that need adjustment. They make a distinctive 'clattering' noise. I have noticed with my Clarity that the valves are a little noisy when the engine first starts, but they quiet down as the engine warms up to operating temperature. To me, this has seemed normal.
 
Even their name for the procedure, "4-cycle valve adjustment," sounds suspicious. At least they didn't try to bull, er, bill you for a 2-cycle valve adjustment!
 
Definitely engine mileage based. Usually the clarity has most mileage electric only. My 2018 has about 56k miles on it but probably only about 20-25k it with the engine, and possibly less, as I don't take many long drives and exclusively use electric in the warmer months. Valve adjustment shouldn't be needed until at least 60k on the engine, and then only if noisy. I sure with Honda had engine hours or mileage available to see in the ECU.
 
insightman said:
It would be the Holy Grail of data points if our OBDII readers and software could tell us the split between engine and EV miles.
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I have always just kept up with the amount of gasoline I have purchased and used that to approximate gas miles using 45 mpg. It's close enough for me to be happy with the estimate. Of course that advice is too late now to be very helpful if you haven't kept that data, but you could do it going forward for a reasonable time period if driving patterns haven't changed to estimate current percentage of gas miles and then apply that to total odometer...
 
I should keep track of the fuel but I am too lazy, I find it easier to just take a guess and hope that I am sort of close.
 
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