How important is the valve adjustment?

[Genesiswonderer]

Title. I know there are some other threads on this, but as my 15 3.8 approaches 60k here shortly, I’m starting to wonder more about this.

Should I get this done? Or should I only get it done if I start having issues?

What have other 3.8 owners done and what is your mileage and experience?

 

[joegr]

You probably read my comments on this already. Nobody ever has it done, and it never seems to be needed.

 

[carguy75]

Title. I know there are some other threads on this, but as my 15 3.8 approaches 60k here shortly, I’m starting to wonder more about this.

Should I get this done? Or should I only get it done if I start having issues?

What have other 3.8 owners done and what is your mileage and experience?

Every engine is different, but generally an engine do not need an valve adjustment until well over 100k miles. Even then it is generally because the engine is making a loud chattering noise due to worn valves and loose shims.

I personally will not worry about adjusting the valves(applying shims) until the engine valves start to make more noise(chattering).

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I checked on this when I took my car to the local dealership to get the spark plugs changed and they told me its a 30+ hour job and they don't have the equipment to do it.

 

[srobak]

They don't have the equipment to do it? They should probably close up their shop then, and just stick to vehicle sales - because then they also wouldn't have the tools to do an oil change.

Anyhow - the 3.8 is a VVT engine - it will make clattering for the first 20 seconds or so after a cold start and then should go quiet. Unless you are racking the hell out of the engine - you are going to go well north of 120k miles without needing a valve adjustment. In reality - you are likely to need new chains and guides before shims on this engine. New chains and guides + the computer managing the VVT will take care of any clattering well past 150k - but I'd be surprised if you needed it at all.

 

[carguy75]

I checked on this when I took my car to the local dealership to get the spark plugs changed and they told me its a 30+ hour job and they don't have the equipment to do it.

Weird. The valve covers should need only basic hand tools to remove. The only parts/tools needed to do an valve adjustment are shims and feeler gauges to measure what size shim to use. However, the shims needed are probably on back order.

Dealership issues like that is why I dumped my 5.0. The Genesis sedan is a great platform but is let down by Hyundai dealership issues like part supply and overall lack of knowledge on working on the Genesis models.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Weird. The valve covers should need only basic hand tools to remove. The only parts/tools needed to do an valve adjustment are shims and feeler gauges to measure what size shim to use. However, the shims needed are probably on back order.

Dealership issues like that is why I dumped my 5.0. The Genesis sedan is a great platform but is let down by Hyundai dealership issues like part supply and overall lack of knowledge on working on the Genesis models.

I think my local dealership's service advisors don't really know anything about cars and relayed the wrong info to the techs when I asked about it. I wanted them to clean the intake ports while the intake was off during the spark plug change, but they had no idea what I was talking about, finally had them get a tech on the line and got it sorted.