Tappet adjustment

[Jakesmith]

Hi all was thinking my tappets might need adjusting as my 2007 mk6 zetec s has ticked over to 106k and there starting to well not rattle or get loud but can start to hear them in the mornings on cold starts and a tiny bit when the cars at workingn temperature am i right in thinking that mk6 fiestas have bucket shim tappets and if they have are they shim under bucket tappets or shim over bucket tappets if there shim over bucket tappets ill do it myself but if not then what will it cost me to get shim under bucket tappets adjusted and also does anyone know the clearance measurements for the exhaust and intake

 

any help appreciated thanks

[JW1982]

I assume your car has the 1.25/1.4/1.6 Duratec engine. This type of engine has solid tappets without shims. If the valve clearance is out of specification the complete tappet needs to be changed. These are available in about 50 different sizes. The correct size of the new tappet must be selected based on the valve clearance and the actual size/thickness of the existing tappet.

To change the tappets the timing belt and camshafts need to be removed. Officially a timing belt can only be installed once so this basically means that the timing belt also needs to be changed when the valve clearance needs to be adjusted. This is why Ford prescibes to check/adjust the valve clearance at the same interval as the timing belt.

 

Personally I would first check the valve clearance. My experience is that after 100.000 Miles/160.000 KM in most cases the valve adjustment is still within specifications.

[Jakesmith]

thanks for the quick reply JW1982 yeh its the 1.6 duratec and it is actually booked in for a cambelt change next weekend so ill ask them to take a look at the tappets while theyve got it in pieces even if it costs a bit more only asking because someone on here said theyve got bucket shim tappets but now ive read that ive got a bit of piece of mind now but once again thanks for the quick reply