I have a 2008 Tiger Star Utility Van Automatic with AC 4500 miles After having replaced the head gasket and reset the valve backlash, starts up fine but when warmed up it doesn’t want to idle very well, also feels like the low end performance is very week. Is there a code reader I can use? I’ve replaced about every sensor on the intake for the coolant.
Having done more then one valve lash adjustment on everything from Ford and Chevrolet to B&S and Honda, you are best to do it when the engine is very warm. You usually have to be at TDC or a bit before, on some engines you have to follow a very precise sequence while rotating the engine by hand. For many engines the intake and exhaust take different clearances and not all follow IE for all cylinders. On my Ford 2.8L as an example: Left Bank Right Bank back of engine #3 #6 intake valve intake valve exhaust valve exhaust valve #2 #5 exhaust valve intake valve intake valve exhaust valve #1 #4 exhaust valve exhaust valve intake valve intake valve front of engine One of the most common mistakes people make is doing the valve adjustment on the exhaust stroke and not on the compression stroke, same as setting the TDC when reinstalling the distributor. I fixed one engine because the guy did the cyl numbering left to right (Chevy) instead of up and down (Ford). Some in-lines start the number 1 from the radiator, some from the firewall. If it was me, I would do a stone cold compression test, then a very warm compression test, then a leak down test. Especially with an automatic, I would make sure the manifold vacuum was in spec. because if it is not, there is a good chance the valves are not adjusted properly and the transmission will not shift properly if it is vacuum controlled. Your truck is probably EFI, so, it should automatically adjust the idle to the new sensor readings. If you have a carb, it might have been adjusted to the previous setup and now the low/idle/mixture settings are off. On some engines you can not reuse the head bolts as they will not properly stretch to compress the head gasket, they either snap or are now permanently elongated so they can not provide the proper clamping force. Worse, you torque them to spec, they just turn and twist inside the block without clamping, then when you try to remove them to redo the gasket, they break inside the block. Never had it happen to me, but, I did have a Ford crankshaft damper bolt break off in the crankshaft and it basically totaled the vehicle because there was no way to remove it without removing the engine from the Mercury/Exploder. So, before a code reader being bought, I would look at redoing the basics. Besides, a code reader may not work that well, especially if you can not view sensor readings in real time or known what they are suppose to be while the engine is running. Though sticking an A/F o2 sensor in the exhaust pipe and reading that might give you a better idea of what is right or wrong and allow you to make adjustments to things.
