Adjusting valve lash is maintenance that your Honda Accord needs to be running right, and if your engine and valvetrain are noisy, chances are you need a valve adjustment. Honda valves should be adjusted every 50-60k miles and today we’ll be showing you how to adjust your intake and exhaust valve clearance on a 2.3 liter F23 engine.
Knowing how to adjust Honda Accord valves is important, especially if you own more than one Honda in your household. The procedure for adjusting Honda valve lash is easy and straightforward, and after you’ve read through this article you too will know how to adjust Honda Accord valves.
Tools you will need to perform this Honda Valve lash adjustment
- 19mm socket
- 10mm socket
- 10mm open end or Honda valve adjustment tool
- standard screwdriver – if you do not have said Honda valve adjustment tool
- needle nose pliers
- Honda crank pulley tool or 32mm socket
While this job isn’t difficult, you should have a clear idea of what exactly you will be adjusting if you are to undertake our How To Adjust Honda Accord valves guide.
Valves can fall out of factory specification over time, and your engine and combustion chamber efficiency will suffer for it. It’s best to incorporate this maintenance job into your yearly schedule for your car to keep your Honda Accord in the best running condition.
This procedure can be performed under a few hours by an experienced mechanic, it may take a little longer for you depending on how comfortable you are with tools and your Accord.
How To Adjust Honda Accord Valves
- Secure the Accord safely and raise the front wheels if desired. This can make turning the wheels easier and access to your crank pulley much more easier. For a complete guide on safety while you work on your car, read our safety checklist sheet first.
- Remove the front driver side wheel to expose the front of your motor and access your F series crank pulley
- Disconnect and set all the spark plug wires aside from the valve cover. Disconnect the PCV hoses that run to your valve cover.
- Now that you’ve got everything cleared from the top of your valve cover, undo the five 10mm bolts that hold the cover in place and remove.
- Remove your valve cover and clean the mounting area of any excess oil.
- With your valve cover removed, you can now remove your spark plugs so that your engine will rotate much more freely.
- It’s time to rotate your F series engine to TDC or set cylinder 1 to TDC, and there’s a few ways you can get this done.
- Insert a long extension into cylinder 1 and make sure that it’s at TDC before stopping.
- Remove your upper timing belt cover to expose your single cam gear.
- Either way, you need to set the F series engine to TDC by inserting the Honda crank tool or a 19mm socket on top of your crank pulley bolt. Using a long extension you can push this through the plastic inner fender liner.
- Rotate your engine counter clockwise until the arrow with the word UP is at the top of your Honda Accord cam gear. At this point, your cylinder #1 is at TDC and can be adjusted.
- Using your feeler gauges you will now be checking the valve lash tolerances by “scraping” your feeler gauge between the lobe of the camshaft and the lobe on your lifter.
- Remember that you want a bit of drag as your slide this feeler against the intake or exhaust side. If your feeler gauge does not “drag” or fits easily inside this gap with the cylinder you are testing set to TDC, it needs adjustment.
The specifications for this generation Honda Accord are 0.26mm (0.010in) +/- 0.02mm (0.0008in) for the intake and 0.30mm (0.012in) +/- 0.02mm (0.0008in) for the exhaust.
The procedure on actually knowing how to adjust Honda Accord Valves is easy if you own or have the Honda valve adjustment tool, which is sold at many automotive retailers.
Part number 88800 from Schley Products is an excellent and cheap choice to adjust your Honda valves, if not you can use a bent 10mm open ended wrench and a standard screwdriver. Make sure to loosen the 10mm nut and adjust the valve height using the screwdriver. Once you have reached the desired tolerance, carefully tighten the 10mm nut and recheck your work.
Make sure to take your time testing cylinder 1, and when you have completed this cylinder it’s time to move onto the next. Now that you know how to adjust Honda Accord valves, the only thing left to do is to put the next cylinder to TDC and continue testing.
Rotate the crankshaft 90 degress until the UP arrow points towards the front of the vehicle, this is TDC for cylinder #3. Repeat the steps shown above on how to adjust Honda Accord Valves until you have Cylinder 3 taken care of.
- With cylinder #3 taken care of now rotate your engine until the UP arrow on your cam gears is faced towards the bottom. This is TDC for cylinder #4, repeat the steps and put this cylinder into the correct tolerances before you continue.
- And lastly turn your engine until the UP arrow is pointed towards the back of the car or the engine firewall. This is TDC for cylinder 2 which is the final step of our How To Guide.
Now that you know how to adjust Honda Accord valves, it’s time to reassemble your engine and valve cover and torque your front driver wheel to specification.
Start your engine and listen for any strange ticking or noises that may indicate you may have missed a step or perhaps messed up while tightening the valve lash. Before re-installing your valve cover and valve cover gasket, be sure to dab a bit of high-temp RTV into the corners and the cam towers to ensure a proper seal and that no oil will leak under high RPM.
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