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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!we13!ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry
From: berry@zinfandel.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Liquid Wrench - (nf)
Message-ID: <1452@zehntel.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-May-84 04:19:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: zehntel.1452
Posted: Wed May  2 04:19:35 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 3-May-84 08:29:13 EDT
Sender: berry@zehntel.UUCP
Organization: Zehntel Inc., Walnut Creek, CA
Lines: 34

#R:astrovax:-30900:zinfandel:3200061:000:1501
zinfandel!berry    Apr 27 08:25:00 1984

In article <309@astrovax.UUCP> trq@astrovax.UUCP writes:
>Now I have a '71 Plymouth with a V-8 and valves
>that clatter like mad...

Then Brad Spear (sdcrdcf!brad) replies: 
>The reason the valves clatter is because they
>need to be adjusted.  

Well, in a '71 Plymouth V-8 I would guess that he has hydraulic valve
lifters, whose sole purpose in life is to automatically adjust your
valves.  You CAN'T adjust them yourself. They work (more or less) by
building a column of (essentially incompressible) engine oil in a
cylinder inside the lifter during the part of the stroke when there is
no pressure on them.  When the cam starts  to push up, the little
valves close off, and you get a zero-lash valve train.  If their oil
passages and valves clog up with gunk, the valves will clatter.  Now
the lifters need to be cleaned out.  You can either try the special
gunk in the oil, which may break loose grime and sludge and make the
problem WORSE, or you can remove the lifters and clean them by hand.
In some engines, the lifters can be extracted without dismantling the
entire engine if you have a special tool, but you usually need to pull
the heads.  Unless you are a REALLY slick mechanic (If so, why are you
still reading this?) I would guess it to be an all-Saturday job.

My personal experience is mostly on English cars with solid lifters, so
If I screwed up the explanation, don't flame, just correct me.

Berry Kercheval         Zehntel Inc.    (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry)
(415)932-6900