Clubjazz - Honda Jazz & HR-V Forums
Honda Jazz Forums => Honda Jazz Mk1 2002-2008 => Honda Jazz Mk1 FAQ => Topic started by: RichardA on November 01, 2009, 03:27:45 PM
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Tappet adjustment for Honda Jazz:
- 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Mk1 Jazz: every 25,000 miles irrespective of age.
- 2006, 2007 and 2008 and all Mk2 Jazzes: every 62,500 miles irrespective of age
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What will happen if I don't have the tappets adjusted?
There have been no reports to our knowledge of any problems due to not adjusting the tappets. Please make an informed decision of your own based on your preferences.
Adjusting the tappets yourself
It is possible for the DIY mechanic to adjust the tappets themselves. Full information is available in the Honda Jazz Haynes Manual (currently only available for the Mk1 Jazz)
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Hi, my wife's Jazz is a 56 plate which we bought from new. Now its out of warranty I hope to service it myself as I am ok with the spanners and have done many motorcycles valve adjustments over the years. Its a long time since I have played with car engines the last car with non-hyrdraulic tappets was my Mini 1000 back in 1982! My question is, have Honda changed the valve adjustment design? If the need checking at 25k I assume they are the screw and locknut type? If they can now go 60k then surely they must be the shim and bucket type?
I had a Honda Hornet 600 which revved to 13,000 with shim and bucket valves and checked the clearances at 35k they were all in spec, it had never been done before even though you were supposed to check them at 16K. I just hope Honda cars are as well engineered as the bikes.
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My 52 reg Jazz is a screw and locknut type. The best to do is if you take out the front 4 spark plugs and after turn the engine by the chain - easy job.
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I have a 2010 ....60.plate that i have had problems from the start .One tappet is very noisy when warm .Its been back to the garage several times with no progress i was told they are all like that .I have been to another dealer and they couldnt hear it ,but said they would check the tappets at the first service this november Me thinks i, being fobbed off and will be calling Honda UK Customer services
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I've adjusted the tappets on my 55 reg 1.4 (115,000 miles) a couple of times. The tappets are conventional screw and locknut. Straightforward job once you've detached some of the gubbins in order to get at the rocker cover. Couple of interesting points:
I always check the actual reading first before making any adjustment and generally it's just one or two valves that might need adjusting, and then only by one thou if that - hardly critical and makes me wonder why Honda insist on such a prescriptive schedule.
Because you have to remove the inlet manifold Haynes manual advises that you must replace the four rubberised port seals and the inlet manifold gasket. When I tried to order four port seals from my local Honda dealer they said they had never had to order any previously, neither for customers nor their own workshop!
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Have two 1.4 GD pre-2006 Jazz in the family - one with 80K and one with over 90K - tappets have never been adjusted since new - they are not noisy and emissions are actually lower now than at first MOT.
Its just a scam to keep the dealers in work, and when people started questioning it Honda promptly upped the mileage from 25K to 62.5K
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I am inclined to agree culzean, my wifes GD jazz is now on nearly 101,000 miles and is still as quiet as the day we got it... in my 23yrs of owning honda engined cars (and lots of friends and family) i/we have never adjusted tappets on any of them... as long as the oil is changed regular they usually run forever and do big mileages with no problem, or maybe, me/we have just been lucky perhaps??
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I am inclined to agree culzean, my wifes GD jazz is now on nearly 101,000 miles and is still as quiet as the day we got it... in my 23yrs of owning honda engined cars (and lots of friends and family) i/we have never adjusted tappets on any of them... as long as the oil is changed regular they usually run forever and do big mileages with no problem, or maybe, me/we have just been lucky perhaps??
To a large extent you make your own 'luck' in this world by your actions - simply having the wisdom to drive a Honda ensures that you won't have the kind of 'bad' luck (ie will not have to stand in the pouring rain on a motorway hard shoulder etc) - that seems to accompany people who will buy for style rather than substance.
As long as you don't mind being seen in a make of car that has been tagged as 'boring' and 'an old mans car', by the motoring press you will be lucky.
Just look a J D Power - traditionally 3 or 4 Honda in top 10, and 9 out of top 10 will be guaranteed to be 'boring' Japanese cars - with one lone BMW or Audi at 9 or 10 position. You can also guarantee that none of the 'stylish' French and Italian cars even make it into the top 50.
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Well said, and i don't care to be honest, and i always chuckle when i spot a french car with its hazard lights on at the side of the road, knowing that my honda will only ever be in that situation if its run out of fuel, or got a puncture! i will always stick to what i know.... sod what anyone else thinks, the money i save on repair bills pays for nice holidays abroad!.... ;D BTW the father in law is changing his civic 2.2cdti for a brand new 12 plate jazz 1.4 EX in azure blue in june, he cant wait!!
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Frankly, it's such a game to check the tappets, I wouldn't contemplate it unless the thing was sounding like a tin of bolts, and that's not likely. I just sold a 2003 SE that had done 90000 miles; the tappets had never been checked. It started and ran perfectly and very quietly, and returned an average of 52 mpg. On the MOTs, the emissions were always perfectly within limits. Forget it!
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I agree,it is all a scam to make the dealers richer,in this day and age you shouldn't need to adjust tappets.Honda recommend the same on my scooter and on the owners forum they say that they never get loose,so another scam there as well
Have two 1.4 GD pre-2006 Jazz in the family - one with 80K and one with over 90K - tappets have never been adjusted since new - they are not noisy and emissions are actually lower now than at first MOT.
Its just a scam to keep the dealers in work, and when people started questioning it Honda promptly upped the mileage from 25K to 62.5K
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It is not a scam. Think about it, if Honda dealers couldn't make enough money to stay open, we would have to buy German or heaven forbid, French cars!
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It is not a scam. Think about it, if Honda dealers couldn't make enough money to stay open, we would have to buy German or heaven forbid, French cars!
Something had to replace the nice regular income that cambelt replacement used to bring in - why not have something that was hard to check yourself and even harder to check if the work that you had paid mega-bucks for had actually been done. The threats of high emissions, which may result in MOT failure and lower MPG should be enough to scare most people into having the work done, but valve clearances which were not stable show bad engineering, and Honda is not prone to that - especially in the engine department. Some people tried to buy the parts to do the job themselves (replacement gaskets etc) and the dealers did not stock them - surely if this was a necessary and regular job they would have needed to keep the parts in for their own mechanics to use.
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I've adjusted the tappets on the two Jazz cars we have owned. By checking all of the gaps first, not all valves may actually need adjusting, which really is an easy job to do.
Those who say there is no tappet noise, ie, engine is very quiet when running, don't under stand, that, as a valve wears into the valve seats in the cylinder head, it actually closes the gap, not increases it. So checking / adjustment is all important. I really think a manufacture of Honda's standing, wouldn't put it in the service plan, if it wasn't necessory.
rog....
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Those who say there is no tappet noise, ie, engine is very quiet when running, don't under stand, that, as a valve wears into the valve seats in the cylinder head, it actually closes the gap, not increases it.
Surely this is offset by the possible wear on the camshaft and the valve stems.
The DSi engine is normally very quiet when ticking over and at low revs.
Vic.
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The loudest noise you will hear from the top end of a Honda engine is the 'ticking' of the fuel injectors.
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You also rarely get valve seat recession on a modern Honda petrol engine.
Hardened seats and valve spec see to that.
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I am inclined to agree culzean, my wifes GD jazz is now on nearly 101,000 miles and is still as quiet as the day we got it... in my 23yrs of owning honda engined cars (and lots of friends and family) i/we have never adjusted tappets on any of them... as long as the oil is changed regular they usually run forever and do big mileages with no problem, or maybe, me/we have just been lucky perhaps??
Valves can fail due to metal fatigue, the valve, "penny on a stick" will deteriorate due to cyclical metal fatigue, the valve stem will elongate, "neck " or "stretch". The stem of the valve elongating will be seen as the tappet clearance closing towards zero. Such valve failures are rare these days, but were a problem many years ago, the VW air-cooled beetles were well known for such failures, usually the exhaust valve, rarely the inlet valve.
The Honda service schedule may well be to keep an eye on the valves, if the gap is closing below service specification, it prompts the technician for investigation such as a cylinder head lift and valve inspection to avoid a potential valve drop and expensive damage to the engine.
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I am inclined to agree culzean, my wifes GD jazz is now on nearly 101,000 miles and is still as quiet as the day we got it... in my 23yrs of owning honda engined cars (and lots of friends and family) i/we have never adjusted tappets on any of them... as long as the oil is changed regular they usually run forever and do big mileages with no problem, or maybe, me/we have just been lucky perhaps??
Valves can fail due to metal fatigue, the valve, "penny on a stick" will deteriorate due to cyclical metal fatigue, the valve stem will elongate, "neck " or "stretch". The stem of the valve elongating will be seen as the tappet clearance closing towards zero. Such valve failures are rare these days, but were a problem many years ago, the VW air-cooled beetles were well known for such failures, usually the exhaust valve, rarely the inlet valve.
The Honda service schedule may well be to keep an eye on the valves, if the gap is closing below service specification, it prompts the technician for investigation such as a cylinder head lift and valve inspection to avoid a potential valve drop and expensive damage to the engine.
Aircooled engines run a lot hotter than water cooled, and valves run cooler on water cooled, the stems are cooled better and every time the valve is on its seat it is being cooled by conduction back into water jacket. The inlet valve is further cooled by the incoming charge. Modern valve stems are made from different material to the head and they are friction welded together. Modern engines also have hardened valve seats which resist deformation and wear which used to close valve gaps. I have never adjusted valves on any Honda engine ( bike or car ) and had a Civic from new that did 190,000 miles, and engine still perfect but body work let it down.