I've done all the 100k mileage maintenance for my rig, sitting at 102k now. The only thing I haven't done yet is get the valves looked at and adjusted. Is this important to do, or can I get away with continuing to drive the car without this job done at all. Maybe I should get it done some time soon, or in 20k miles or so, just trying to get some advice on this. They say to do it at 105k miles when you do the spark plugs for the first time, I'd like to hear from the community about what they did about this job. My AI Gemini seems to think it's paramount, but my shop seems to think it's not needed. I drive a 2017 Honda Accord EX coupe with the manual transmission.

 

I don't know that engine at all so my advice might be off base. But I would just leave it alone and move on with life. The only time I have ever adjusted valves is after engine work that possibly changed clearances like replacing a cam or something.

 

Ai was saying that the valves can get too tight, which is the main concern

 

I don't trust Ai, It still is in it's infancy and tends to take a middle of the road in it's replies. Like "Some people say yes, but also other people say no" which is a completely useless answer.

Just ask yourself a question, do you see tons, or any postings on here about needing a valve adjustment? I'm not making a point I'm asking a question since I'm really new to Honda's. All I can say is if it was my car and my experience with cars over the last 30 years is, I personally would not spend the money to do it unless I was noticing a problem. (I'm talking something like the valve adjustment, you still need to do regular routine maintenance like fluid changes and such.)
Trust what your local shop is saying. They are telling you that nobody does valve adjustments on a 2017 Honda. If it was really needed they would be saying "Yes absolutely, bring it in..."

 

Well, a Honda dealership near me said they would do it for around 500 bucks, so it's not an all too expensive maintenance cost. 500 at a dealer for anything done is a low price. The difficult part about when the valves get too tight there are not symptoms shown, they just get too tight then you can have catastrophic engine damage and repair costs 3 times as much as the maintenance routine itself. You can't tell when a valve is getting too tight nothing happens, then you start to lose compression and soon after costly engine repairs would be needed if the valve gets damaged or what not. That's what I'm worried about, not doing anything then later on a valve gets too tight and I screw over my whole engine. When they get too loose, you can hear them, and getting too loose is not the concern. It's when the exhaust valves get too tight. That's about the extent of what I read so far. My shop says it should be fine, and they are a trustworthy shop. Honda said to bring it in, better safe the sorry. So I don't know, maybe I'll get it done, maybe not. It's the only thing I haven't done for 100k mileage maintenance, it's technically due in 3k more miles. Also, the AI points to the type of valve system this engine that I have, the 2.4 liter inline four has, and explains why it's so important to keep the valve clearances in spec at this mileage, because apparently that's the mileage zone for when they can begin to get out of line.

 

The valve adjustment is very important. Don't listen to AI. Me personally would change spark plugs every 30-40K. Whatever the mfg. recommends, I go less. Just like oil changes, I do mine every 3-4K miles with synthetic and I've never had an engine failure in 47 years. Preventive maintenance.

 

I wonder what spec each of my valves will be at, at this mileage. There has to be some sort of reason this is scheduled maintenance from Honda. I'm assuming at least one valve will need adjustment, if not all of them, to be in spec. What do I know, they might all be in spec still, and they adjust nothing. I suppose I can trust the Honda dealership to do the job right. Only 500 bucks, not a terrible price to pay for peace of mind. Plus, I can find out how much adjusting was needed, so I can know I made the right choice to do it. Otherwise I suppose it's 500 down the drain if the valves are perfectly in spec still. I can ask Honda more about it, I'm sure they will simply want the business and tell me I should do it.

 

Idk when $500 became 'only' $500. People are fighting for the right to repair their own things. With the amount of interest you have in this topic, what is keeping you from learning how to do it?

The people at the dealership are regular people, the kid assigned to do your valve adjustment would probably be a novice tech, not a shop manager.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldUnh1KAOS8 15min video is all it takes

Less than $30 in tools from harbor freight.

Are they noisy?

 

nd everything is working great right now. I thought they use a specialized tool to do it with an experienced technician, but I guess I might be wrong.

 

The special tool is a flathead screwdriver that goes inside a socket. But you could do it with a normal socket and a flathead too. And a set of feeler gauges.

Heck no, I'd say setting valvelash is one of the most basic things you can do.

I've done a valvelash adjustment in a parkinglot with handtools in about 10mins, before a dyno-tuning session one time. It's easy