cost of 3fe valve adjustment (1 Viewer)

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Aug 15, 2010
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Location
KY
Recent owner of a 92 and compiling to start baselining. I called a few shops and noone will give me an estimate without bringing the truck in. I searched the forums and found nothing. Typically I do my own work, but I don't have the TSRM yet and working 60+hrs in 100* heat I'm just too lazy to do it.

Any rough estimate, including new oem gasket if you can.

Thanks!

Dave
 
I would not touch it for under 2 hrs and if the rockers are worn to the point that you need special(grind the width to about 3/16 in) feeler guages because no one has done a valve adjust in for ever, you will have other issues. If there is oil covering the mess and you need to clean the valve cover nice and clean.
Not every one keeps there engine nice and clean as you do Steve, So most shops would have a book time of between 2-3 hrs(look in the books).
The last one I just did took 2.5 hrs was a oil mess, had problems with the rockers, so I had to grind down some of me feeler guages to fit just right. It seems I lost the ones I ground down for a similar engine that sounded like a diesel tapping under the hood.
Oem gasket was around 22 dollars, the 4 sealing washers were about 4.25 per washer. These all can be had in kits for a bunch less from different compaines.
 
Thanks!

Believe it or not the engine bay is pretty dang clean and has 160k on the clock. It doesn't sound like a diesel, just a bit of Toyota tap. Just bought it 2 weeks ago and wanted to do it as a pm. The PO kept up on the maintance, but some of the parts he used were autozone stuff. All that is getting replaced by OEM. I asked about the valve adjustment and got a blank stare lol.
 
Robbie's the pro so what he says is gospel with me. I remember the first time, and last, the valves adjusted by a shop on the 62, the charge was an hour so that is what I was basing my number on. That was a long time ago. Not to make an issue of it, but how many posts in threads here do you read of shops charging for two or three times the amount of time the job actually takes by going by "the books"? I realize that you do have to have a standard baseline, though.
 
K&H did my valve adjustment on my 2F in order to pass smog. Charged me for half an hour because on the 2F its seriously cake. He did the same thing on my LX and he charged me for 2.5 hours. Its just a lot more work. I have no experience adjusting valves on a 3FE but you can see the range.
 
most places i ever saw had book times of 2-2.5 hours.....

then there was the local toyota stealership.....5 hours book time

5hours x 110$ hour labor charge + misc. parts/gasket = a good laugh

2-2.5 i think is fair like powder said....
 
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Wow that guy that takes a 1/2 hr to do a valve adjust is fast, I can hardly remove and replace the valve cover in that amount of time(move the coolant and the vacuum hoses as well). Yes it is easy to do it, but it is tedious to get it right.
I only charge what it takes Steve, you should know that. One hour is hardly what it take to get 1/2 through the job, maybe I getting slow. Then if is comes in cold, there is starting it up and running it until is warm.
But to be fair, the shops that you called said to bring it in so they could see it. that is fair in my book.
 
Took me two hours. Made the tapping louder :whoops:, yet more responsive.
 
But to be fair, the shops that you called said to bring it in so they could see it. that is fair in my book.

Yeah, I know what you are saying. I was more or less just looking for a ballpark idea. I didn't know if I was looking at an hour job or a 10hr job. If it isn't a 2jz or 7m I'm lost lol.
 

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