Question about setting valve lash on a cold vs hot engine

I spent 7 years setting valve lash on a cold engine because that's how the old guy at my first shop in Dayton showed me. Then a Cummins tech asked me why my 5.9 always ticked a little after warmup, and I couldn't give him a straight answer. Turns out the spec sheet lists two numbers, one hot and one cold, and I only ever read the first one. Now I set them hot after a 20 minute run and the noise is gone. Anyone got a trick for keeping the feeler gauge steady on a hot engine without burning your wrist?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

miam1120d ago

Did you ever try the two wrench trick? I read somewhere that you hold the feeler with one hand and use a box wrench on the jam nut with the other, so your fingers never touch the head. The guy said to drape a rag over the exhaust manifold too, which sounds dumb but it keeps your arm from brushing it. I usually just let it cool for 10 minutes and go by the hot spec anyway.

2