My 1.6 8v was running rough and was hard to start and lacking power. fearing a dying motor or a blown head gasket I lived with it for a while. I did a valve adjustment on the weekend and #2 &3 exhaust valves were not closing all the way!!! runs like a scalded cat this morning!!!

so if your motor is running rough do a valve adjustment before wasting money replacing parts!

good tip, keep it in the back of my head.
LOL

i had the same thing happen to me, and it was day and night different.  also mine happened in the middle of driving it, i was driving it home on the freeway and lost so much power i coudnt pull 40mph, limped it home, had to go up our hill in 4low in 1st all the way up. got it home pulled the sparkplugs did a compression test, number 2 had none. dumped oil still only went up to 10, figured must be in the valve area, pulled valvecover off wiggled rocker arms, #2 exhaust was so tight the valve was open.  it now runs like a top

do you guys find that they tick when cold when they are tight, or loose??  I would guess loose, but you never know, car to car.

I need to adjust both mine, did both the 8's and the 16's have adjustible lifters?


Both mine tick pretty good when cold, I need to redo the valve cover gasket on the Flea anyway...


I am not lacking power though, and have not even bothered with a compression check yet.

do you guys find that they tick when cold when they are tight, or loose??  I would guess loose, but you never know, car to car.

I need to adjust both mine, did both the 8's and the 16's have adjustible lifters?


Both mine tick pretty good when cold, I need to redo the valve cover gasket on the Flea anyway...


I am not lacking power though, and have not even bothered with a compression check yet.

yo quad as far as i know the 16's are not adjustable due to them being self adjusting and the 8 vavles should be adjusted about every 6 months if you drive it regularly, i adjusted mine on my new 4 door and it really made them quite up alot.

ticking is usuallt too loose. you can be losing power this way by the valves not opening fully! 16 valves have hydraulic lifters so no adjustment. if you are doing the valve cover gasket your half way there to checking the valves!

  Ok, somebodys confused. I DID adjust the valves on MY 95 16V motor, 2x. There is even a spec for cold and hot clearence in the service manual, as well as the procedure for finding TDC and which ones to adjust when at TDC. The owners manual and the factory service manual even have a recomended interval for checking and adjusting them, (I think it's 15k miles.) I also remember using a 10mm wrench and a .005&.007 feeler guage., Or maybe mines just a freak. Also beware a too tight valve rocker. A valve not closing can led to a burnt valve in no time, especially on the exhaust side, then it's a much more involved repair.

1.6 16valve have to be adjusted manually.  You need the extra skiny feeler guages though. 1.8, 2.0, and all the V6s have hydro lifters and hydro timing chain tentioners.