I went up early this morning before it got hot and adjusted the valves on SWMBO's car , the # 1 cylinder exhaust valve is still too tight , I used the big third wrench to hold the valve spring retainer jammed into place and was able to force the adjuster lock nut down a few turns and gain maybe .008" clearance , usually it's about .002" ~ I assume either the valve proper is ' tuliping ' or the valve seat is recessing , in either case , it still doesn't run smoothly @ hot idle do to low compression in the # 1 cylinder , I really want to do an overhaul on this engine and tranny .
I replaced all the injector return hoses , the smooth 3.2 MM hose NAPA sold me not long ago ?. it wasn't leaking but would have in short order as it was very stiff and easily pulled off the injectors as i was removing the valve cover for the valve adjustment .
The inside of the valve cover wasn't as clean as it is inside my 300CD , I don't think I'm running too long between oil & filter change intervals , we'll see how it goes .
I replaced one piece of throttle linkage as it was broken , replaced the black plastic bushing in it too as that was worn out as was the steel long throttle rod , this usually never wears so I began checking and discovered the IP was reaching full throttle before the accellerator pedal hit the floor , causing serious loading of the throttle linkage any time the pedal was floored so I fiddled with the push rod , shortening it until the linkages all lined up with the accelerator pedal on the floor and the IP lever held wide open .
It drives about the same , shifts O.K. etc. but shouldn't wear out the throttle linkage parts I now need to go find in some junkyard or off some dead NA engine .
Looking underneath revealed it's been leaking a fair bit of engine oil in addition to the normal dribbling of ATF so I jacked up the front of the car and crawled underneath it with two cans of degreaser and a new paint brush and go to work ~ it's *much* cleaner now , hopefully I'll be able to find the oil leak soon .
I took one picture of the clean engine and will prolly post it to - morrow .
-Nate
