Toyota Repair: 1991 Camry DX 3sfe 249,000 miles, valve clearance, exhaust valve

Question
Hi Ted, I recently had our Camry 3sfe head overhauled by a machine shop due to a burnt exhaust valve on #3 cylinder (no compression then). The car is now running pretty good, but their seems to be a slight "clatter" at idle, but more pronounced getting up to speed on the road coming from the #1 cylinder area of the valve cover. One exhaust valve on the #1 cylinder has +.005 too much gap to within specs from my manual. Would that make that valve noisy enough to cause my clatter? The machine shop that did the head will not adjust the valves after, so I'm on my own to get my car quiet "er" like it was prior to the burnt valve. After the machining, all the other valves (intake & exhaust) show .005-.006 too tight of gap, but I heard that will make it run quieter, at a possible cost to power. I'm mostly concerned with the noise. If I rev the engine in park fairly high and let it return to idle, I cannot hear the clacking noise at all. The machinist/engine builder said that it was not rod knock, and my brother agreed. I hope that extra valve lash would answer my concerns? You provide a good service to people who need this specific help. Thankyou for your time.........Steve

Answer
Yes, valve clearance 0.05" over the maximum limit can cause a valve noise so the first thing would be to make this valve at least to the same clearance as the rest and then go from there, a loose valve will usually make a ticking noise anything deeper in frequency may indicate a piston problem.