Inspect engine valves?

I Wouldn't bother, unless your getting alot ticking/tapping noises in the head, indicative of excessive valve clearances (shims worn down) or othe valve releated warn noises.

A compression test can tell you if your valves are sealing properly. other then that you have nothing to worry about in the area of valves.

I believe the manual says to have the valve adjustment checked. Properly adjusted valves will help the engine run more efficiently and quietly. That said, I doubt if modern engine valves get very far out of adjustment so unless you year tapping noises, I wouldn't worry until 120K or so.

RUBBISH. I WOULD bother with this important prescribed inspection. Valve trains like this one which use shims to adjust valve lash seldom get noisier with miles. What DOES happen is the valve faces slowly wear which causes the valve lash clearance to LESSEN. This will result in burned valves. So waiting for noisy (loose) valves is erroneous. Significant (more than a quarter thousandths) shim wear is an old wives tale. Compression tests do NOT tell you anything about valve lash clearance until there is no clearance left. By then, you've already got valve damage.

Valve clearances should be checked as per the book, especially now-adays. Because of the removal of lead and other wear reducing additives from the fuel, valves wear into the head until all the clearance is taken up, then they are held a tiny bit open and poor running followed by burnt valves occurs, since this comes in over a long time the degradation is not noticed till it is too late and you end up needing new valves and head repair work, all this can be avoided by regular (by the book) valve clearance inspection and adjustment.

mrcheerful

Yeah, except the book doesn't say "Check valve clearances", it says, "Inspect engine valves". Maybe they're synonymous, and the only thing to be done when inspecting the valves is to check the clearances, but if they meant the former, I wish they'd just say so.

and the 1MZFE is one of those?

seldom get noisier

I talked to two different dealers' service writers today about this and both of them seemed perplexed at the idea of checking the valve clearances. One said they'd do it, but it was very rare that the valves would need adjustment, and it would cost $450 to find out (i.e., to pop the covers) because the intake plenum has to come off first. The other (the dealer I've been going to the past two years) first didn't believe valve inspection was called for in the book, and looked it up while I was on the phone with him to verify. Then he said that because these have hydraulic lifters (instead of, I believe, mechanical) it was very rare for them to need adjustment and that I'd be the first person to have it done since he's been at that dealer. (And this guy usually tries to upsell me stuff.) Thoughts about the cost? It seems like the only place I can find people who advocate doing this are in cyberspace, because everyone I actually talk to about having it done acts like I'm suggesting paying $450 to verify the car has four wheels.

Cheers, Tristan

Yes, along with hydraulic lifters.

Which is the reason why I don't bother with checking valve lash.

Phillip i think you need to pull your head out of your ass and go iron your underwear.

A distinction without a difference.

Look it up, Tristan.

Which is your public admission why a person like me would NOT bring a vehicle to you for a FULL Service. I do not care if you approve of the procedure or not. I want the service performed and from you .... I would DEMAND in writing (trusting you not to lie to me) that each and every valve had its valve lash clearance documented as found on the day of service. And in any case, because I know there are many flat rate mechanics "out there", I would secretly mark certain areas on the engine to be sure you at least removed both valve covers and replaced the valve cover gaskets.

I'm a shop's worst nightmare on this sort of thing.

So what would you do if the shop refused to bow to your demands?, pout?

(you're getting pretty silly in your old age Philip...it's not becoming you know...people are laughing at you here...)

How could it BE a distinction if there's no difference?

snip

Get back in my car and leave. It's a capitalistic system and there are plenty of other service garages here.

Surely you have heard the phrase before ... somewhere.

Or, "in legal terminology a "distinction without a difference" is more specific, it means a change in definitions which does not change the set which is defined. For example changing "unseparated married men" to "males who have a non-separated spouse" is a distinction without a difference."

Yeh...same difference...or in other words...let me explain it like this...etc...

I should have worded my post more carefully. I should have said "Which is the reason why I don't bother with checking valve lash on my vehicle." If I were servicing someone's vehicle for pay and that person requested that the valve lash be checked and was willing to pay the fee, I would certainly do it AND document measurements. I looked at the procedure for checking valve lash for a '97 Avalon, and my guess is that Mitchell time is going to be in the neighborhood of 5 or 6 hours. My conscience would bother me too much to charge that kind of money for work that is not done.

You and I know the book doesn't pay 5-6 hrs for pulling both valve covers and taking measurements. Were it necessary to start swapping shims (or selective valve buckets as the case may be), then the job could conceivably take that long. :^)

The '97 Avalon repair manual calls for removing the intake manifold along with the associated cables, wiring, bank cover, etc. before removing the valve covers. Intake manifold R&R is probably 3 or 4 hours by itself, on top of checking 24 valves, which is how I came up with the 5-6 hour guesstimate. The quotes the OP got in the $450 range would bear this out.

Not like the 20R engines where you could check and adjust valve lash in less than a half hour...