I haven't heard of doing this, though if the replacement gaskets are a little thinner than the oem originals, this could be why so many of the replacement leak, even when using the oem ones.


When my Sister had her T-belt, valve-shim done a few years ago at the dealer it ran her $380, the shim also included new valve cover gaskets. given the amount of work involved, I would think it should run north of $200 for the dealership to just shim the valves. Though even if you had to spend $3-400 to shim the valves it is still cheaper than having to rebuild the heads if you happen to burn one.

This is what I have been told by 3 dealerships now. After the first shop told her she didn't need to change the water pump, I called a few other shops because it was contrary to the manual, and seemed like a no brainer since you have to remove the pump to change the T-belt. Each service writer I talked to told me the same thing, that they had found that the oem water pumps were lasting upwards of 200k before leaking and that they stopped replacing them at the recommended service intervals. They would replace it if the customer wished so, but they seen it as a waste of money.


It is helpful to be able to clean it and check it for proper working condition. The manuel states you can remove/install it with the right tool, but it takes a lot of effort to remove them w/the intake manifold off, so I am not sure ho easy it is to do w/the proper tool. All you have to do is buy a new pcv valve, drill out the old one and attach a longer hose to locate the new valve where you can get to it easier. I believe you need a larger diameter hose and a way to reduce it since the inlet side of the vale is larger than the outlet, I didn't relocate mine when I rebuilt the top end, so i am not sure.

This is probably the cheapest thing to do, and is likely all you would get for your $100 at the local quick-oil-change shop.