My new Rancher has low hours on it. This is my first ever Honda powersports product.

I performed the initial 20 hour service myself. (Having worked in the automotive industry as a mechanic for 26 years I’m pretty confident, as I’ve adjusted valve lash before.)

The intake valve was spot on, and the exhaust was a bit on the tight side. After making the adjustment, I buttoned it all back up and noticed that it actually had slightly more noise than before. I would think though that this engine should not make any valve noise whatsoever at an idle, with the valves properly adjusted. I dunno…maybe this is just normal for a Honda engine??

My question is….Do these engines normally produce some valve noise? It only produces a valve tick at an idle, after full warm up, and it’s intermittent. There is no valve noise if the engine is under a load. (For example…if you increase the idle speed a bit.)

I read in another forum that if you rotate the crank clockwise past the index mark, after you’re already on TDC, and then come back to it (counterclockwise), that it will activate the automatic compression release and will affect the accuracy of your valve adjustment. Is that accurate? I thought back to my first valve adjustment and its possible that I could have done that. Just to make sure I didn’t make a mistake, I tore into it a second time at 27 hrs/153 miles to re-check everything. Engine cold, TDC of the compression stroke, .006" on the intake, .009" on the exhaust. The crank was rotated clockwise, until the "T" mark aligned with the index on the crankcase, with clearance at both rocker arms to confirm TDC of the compression stroke. I have both straight, and angled feeler gauges, and used both to get a feel for the proper resistance on them when checking the clearances.

This second time, I found that both valves had approximately .001"-.002" too much clearance. Made the adjustments, and reassembled. Now, it’s a bit quieter, but it still produces some noise….not as much as before though.

I’m very meticulous about maintenance on all my vehicles. Is there a Honda tech out there that can help me? Any advice or confirmation would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks! 🙂

My new Rancher has low hours on it. This is my first ever Honda powersports product.

I performed the initial 20 hour service myself. (Having worked in the automotive industry as a mechanic for 26 years I’m pretty confident, as I’ve adjusted valve lash before.)

The intake valve was spot on, and the exhaust was a bit on the tight side. After making the adjustment, I buttoned it all back up and noticed that it actually had slightly more noise than before. I would think though that this engine should not make any valve noise whatsoever at an idle, with the valves properly adjusted. I dunno…maybe this is just normal for a Honda engine??

My question is….Do these engines normally produce some valve noise? It only produces a valve tick at an idle, after full warm up, and it’s intermittent. There is no valve noise if the engine is under a load. (For example…if you increase the idle speed a bit.)

I read in another forum that if you rotate the crank clockwise past the index mark, after you’re already on TDC, and then come back to it (counterclockwise), that it will activate the automatic compression release and will affect the accuracy of your valve adjustment. Is that accurate? I thought back to my first valve adjustment and its possible that I could have done that. Just to make sure I didn’t make a mistake, I tore into it a second time at 27 hrs/153 miles to re-check everything. Engine cold, TDC of the compression stroke, .006" on the intake, .009" on the exhaust. The crank was rotated clockwise, until the "T" mark aligned with the index on the crankcase, with clearance at both rocker arms to confirm TDC of the compression stroke. I have both straight, and angled feeler gauges, and used both to get a feel for the proper resistance on them when checking the clearances.

This second time, I found that both valves had approximately .001"-.002" too much clearance. Made the adjustments, and reassembled. Now, it’s a bit quieter, but it still produces some noise….not as much as before though.

I’m very meticulous about maintenance on all my vehicles. Is there a Honda tech out there that can help me? Any advice or confirmation would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks! 🙂