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PSA: I wrote off valve lash as a waste of time on my 12 valve and a guy at the Buckeye meet changed my mind
I used to set lash once when I bought the truck and never touch it again, figured the spec was close enough on a worn old motor. Then a guy named Dale at the Buckeye diesel meet in Ohio asked me when I last adjusted mine, and when I said never, he just laughed and handed me a feeler gauge. He said the exhaust rockers on these things loosen up slow and you won't hear it until a valve is already torched. So I pulled the cover the next Saturday, and two exhaust valves were sitting at .020 over spec, which explained the rough idle and the 2 mpg I had been blaming on my injectors. I set them all to .010 intake and .020 exhaust with the motor stone cold, took about an hour and a half, and the idle smoothed right out. Got 1.5 mpg back on my next run to Columbus hauling a trailer. I know half of you are going to say you just do it hot by feel, and honestly I want to hear how you keep from burning your forearms on the manifold.
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