Valve clearance check: take III

Having reached the break even point, and since in the last service there was no time to measure de valve clearances, today I drove the Corolla to the workshop, let it cool down for three hours and got to work.

The 3ZZ engine ran over 55400km on LPG and 44320km after the last measurement, the present valve clearances are as follows:

- intake valves: from 0.15 to 0.25mm, measured value 0.25mm

- exhaust valves: from 0.25 to 0.35, measured value 0.30mm

The 0.25mm feeler gauge in the intake valves was quite hard to fit between the tappet and the cam lobe, the 0.35mm didn't fit in the tappet clearance in the exhaust valves, and the 0.30mm had some noticeable clearance left (compared to the 0.25 in the intake valves).

All clearances in the intake were similar, as were the clearances in the exhaust ones, there are no wild values in valves with the same function.

Next measurement in 50 thousand kilometres... with the replacement of the rocker cover gasket, it leaks a very small amount of oil near the second cylinder spark plug.

Valve clearance check... take 2

Once again, after 11500km on LPG, I decided it was time to check on the valve clearance. This time the engine was cold, so the measurements should be more accurate than last time.

After removing the engine cables, the coils, the spark plugs, the valve cover breather and, finally, the valve cover, I could take a reading on those clearances... these were the values measured:

Intake valves: 0.25mm

Exhaust valves: 0.35mm

Since the problem is the reduced clearance... I'd say I have a pretty good chance of getting away with it.

Valve clearance check

Since the Toyota VVT-i engines are prone in valve seat recession when running on LPG, I decided to take a reading of the valve clearance (even after being told that this would not be a problem by the guys at Front Fuels).
This is the valve clearance readings that I got:

Intake valves: 0.15-0.25mm, reading was 0.20mm
Exhaust valves: 0.25-0.35mm, reading was 0.30mm

The engine had been stopped for some time but it was not "completely" cold, so the values could be somewhat bigger than expect at cold engine temperatures.

This reading was taken at 131357km (2500km on LPG)