I did take measurements from a completely Cold Engine, first thing in the morning, before Starting or running, on possibly a 30 deg C or 86 deg F Day.

What bothers me most is not the small clearances, but the Volvo Dealership less than 5,000km ago, reported the Cold Before and After Clearances on the Job Card
and they are different from mine. I measured mine twice, to be fair. And, as noted my Car now smokes going downhill, when initially re-accelerating from a slower speed limit to a higher one, but never smoked before they did the job.

Cold Valve Clearances:
At 146,829km, 02 December 2004
Cheney-Dutton Volvo Adjustment Report:
#1 Exhaust Before .350mm & After .350mm
#1 Intake Before .400mm & After .400mm
#2 Exhaust Before .450mm & After .400mm
#2 Intake Before .450mm & After .400mm
#3 Exhaust Before .500mm & After .400mm
#3 Intake Before .450mm & After .400mm
#4 Exhaust Before .450mm & After .350mm
#4 Intake Before .450mm & After .400mm

Cold Valve Clearances:
At 151,794km, 24 April 2005
My Measurements: Difference:
#1 Exhaust .330mm (-.020mm)
#1 Intake .406mm to .432mm (+.019mm)
#2 Exhaust .406mm (+.006mm)
#2 Intake .356mm (-.044mm)
#3 Exhaust .406mm (+.006mm)
#3 Intake .381mm (-.019mm)
#4 Exhaust .381mm to .406mm (+.0435mm)
#4 Intake .381mm (-.019mm)

Shouldn't the Valve Clearances all be the same .400mm? Why are #1 and #4 Exhaust Valves different on the Volvo Dealership's Clearances? And, why would my measurements be so different, from theirs ranging from .330mm to .432mm?

To address your comments, which I do appreciate:

Yes Rhys, I used a Feeler Gauge with the narrow part of the Lobe at "12 O'clock High", and simply inserted progressively thicker blades until I found one that was snug, then read the value on the Blade, such as, .406mm

Rule 308, why do you prefer a warm engine, then the question is how warm? Take it for a screaming run, uphill on a hot day, rip the Valve Cover off and check it or warm to the touch? The Clearances will change, as the temperatures of the Aluminum change, which is why in a Reciprocating Engine or Turbine Engine it is cautioned never to apply full power until the engine is at operating temperature, and Oil Temps are in the Green.

Trev29, you know me . . . I am a frustrated engineer. I maintain my car to very high standards and factory original.

Thanks, again, for your input.

RLC

It's beginning to make sense - you used an imperial feeler gauge with conversion metric measurements, taken to the third decimal place. It is best to get a metric feeler gauge, as the shims are in millimeters.
The problem with a feeler gauge is that by definition your "feel" of the drag through the gap will be different from another mechanics "feel". That alone could account for the change or difference.
As to hot or cold adjustments, I remove the cam to make the changes, and then buy or swap shims. Consequently I want the engine to remain at a constant temperature throughout, and I do the adjustments cold, using the clearances spec'd for cold. I also mike the existing shims to get an accurate measurement, which may be different from the etched thickness due to wear.
Given that the shims come in wide increments only, close is good enough on these engines. My rule is .012in. is a bit too tight, and .020 is a bit too loose. Anything else is good. Volvo green manuals agree.

There are two possibilities I can think of for getting different readings on different occasions.
One is that if a shim is worn, there might be an even depression, or else a groove matching the cam lobe, depending on how freely it rotates as the engine runs.
The other is if the cam was in a slightly different position for testing. We assume that if the valve is closed, the whole of the back rounded side of the lobe has the same profile - ie a perfect circle. That may not be true, hence the importance of using the rule about checking certain valves when others are fully open ("rule of nine", I think).

So if you read that right they say that you had 6 valves that were too loose and needed a thicker shim to bring into spec, correct? If so then that makes sense, from time to time you will find one that is a little too tight but more often then not you find loose ones. Less face it as things wear in they don't get tighter, the clearances increase and you need a thicker shim to take up this slop.

This was done less than 5Km ago, that is in the area of 3100 miles right? The only logical conclusion that I can come up with is that there numbers are bullshit. I cannot tell you how many times that I have seen people change valve cover gaskets on a 30,000 mile service and say that they adjusted the valves when in fact they did nothing more than change the gasket. The majority of the time the valves are either right on the money anyhow or not far enough out to be a problem. Usually you will find that there are 1-2 valves that are out of spec, none of them out of spec or 6-8 or them out of spec. I know it is odd but that just seems to be the way it is. I would like to think that if you brought the car in for a valve adjust, not a 30K service where the adjust is supposed to be part of it, that they would at least go to the effort of actually adjusting the darn things.

Why do I like to adjust them hot? To reasons 1) that is the way I was taught to do it. 2) How is it that you drive the car, at operating temperature I pressume, and if so then does it not make sense to have the valves set to the correct setting for the temperature at which they will be used for the absolute majority of the time. Furthermore, when you are in a busy shop it really is not practical to have to cool off every motor that you adjust valves on. Some cars there is no other way to do it. If you adjust valves on a BMW M10, M20, M30 motor hot you are going to be redoing it the first time the customer starts it up cold and it clatters and runs like crap. But we are working on Volvos here and they respond just fine to having the clearances set on a warm motor at .016-.018"

You ask how warm? Well if I pull a car in and it is smoking hot I will usually let it cool off just a little bit but not much. It really is a feel thing. When you have adjust 100's if not 1000's of valves on these motors you get a feel for it. You know that when the motor is a little on the cool side that your clearances are going to be on the tight side. Conversely, when you have to work on one that is absoluteyl blistering hot you know that things are going to be a bit on the looser side. What this means is that if it is blistering hot and you run across a valve that the .018 fits in but the .019 won't then you don't adjust it and the same is true on the other end where you find a .015 that fits on a cooler engine but the .014 won't you let it go. I realize that does not do you a lot of good seeing as how it is kind of a perceptive deal that is acquired over years and years of doing this operation but that is how it is. The best advice I can give you is if it is blistering hot I would let it cool down 20 minutes or so, if it is cold I would start it up and let it idle until it reaches operating temp and then shut if off and check/adjust them.

It is funny what you say about reading the numbers off on your feeler guages, now that I think about it my feeler guages are all set up like that too. Why they put the third decimal place on a metric guage is beyond me but if I had to guess I would say that they just were not familiar with how fine a thousandth of a millimeter really was when they did it.


Mark

The adjusting shims are only available in .05mm increments. This limits how closely you can match the valves. All your valves are within spec except for #1 exhaust and it's so darn close as to not matter. If you wanted to you could bring it up to .380 by putting in the next thinner shim.

Another factor is you need to use a special bent feeler gauge, straight ones bind going in at the angle required to get between the lobe/shim. Did you use the bent set?

I wish more people would take care of their cars like you do, it would make buying a used car much easier.
--
Dave Shannon
Spring Valley, California
'67 1800s
'73 1800ES
'88-240
my pages

and thoughts. Solid. I did use straight feeler gauges, but turned them side ways so they would be flat when I slid them in. I really and truly tried to be fair to the Volvo Dealership . . . but I the older I get and the more cars I have owned and the more times I get jerked around, lied to, and ripped off, the less I trust Shops. Generally speaking, I find it is not so much the individual mechanic down in the trenches, but the Shop and Shop Management that sets the tone. I have worked for two independent shops and now one dealershp and I can tell you for a fact a decent bloke has to leave his conscience and honesty at the door, when he walks in. There is somuc pressure placed on mechanics to improve their measured (and discussed behind the scenes)productivity.

Yes, I have an engineering degree and an aircraft mechanic licence, but I am not really an automotive mechanic. I have worked on every car my parents, friends, neighbors, and I have owned, plus a few hundred or so at various places of employ, but . . .

I am forced to do the work myself, because I just cannot trust the work thatI have asked others to do for me, and that includes everything in my life, so I have become a plumber, electrician, carpenter, roofer, etc. I had some moron try to tell me the thicker insulation had higher insulating properties than the existing stuff. Had I not checked his work and the sheetrock went up, along with my heating bills, I would have never been the wiser. I challenged his expertise, called then 1 800 number on the Insulation, gave them the R Vlue of the Insulation being hung and the existing stuff beside it. Guess who was correct? I asked the person on the phone to repeat it to the guy hanging the insulation. Then I forced him to take it all down.

I really became personally involved in maintaining my own cars, when Crevier BMW in Orange County, California tried to rip me off. I caught them in the act. I wrote a letter to Robert Crevier and was refunded $700, or so. I never went back, regardless how many letters I received from the dealership.

Anyway, thanks, again.