I have a 99 Protege DX 1.6L. I was wondering if it needs the valves adjusted every 60,000 miles? Mine now has 72k on it and I have not had that done yet. Is it a big deal or does it not really matter? If someone can give me some info on this that would be great..
Thanks,
Barry

 

Berry, look in your manual....in the service section....when does it tell you to have this service done? or does it?

 

well the manual says check valve clearance every 60k. Is that the same as a Valve Adjustment? I was just wondering what the big deal was with the valve adjustment?

Thanks,
Barry

 

it means exactly what it says....at 60K you check it...and adjust it if its needed.....

 

To elaborate a little more, I have been told by several experienced Mazda techs (both at the dealer and a local Mazda race shop) that the valves on Pros and 99+ Miatas rarely ever go out of adjustment *if* your oil is changed regularly.

I have changed my oil every 3-5k miles since I bought the car new (it has 67k miles now) and I checked my valve clearances at 30k and 60k miles (I'm paranoid) Both times, they were all within spec, and only 2 or 3 out of 16 had changed at all from 30k to 60k.

However, you SHOULD get it checked. Very bad things can happen if they go out of spec, particularly on the tight side. But don't worry too much, they're probably fine FWIW