Couple questions about these things. First off, my truck is loud, stock exhaust, it's a Cummins it's supposed to be loud, I swear it's a LOT louder than my friend's '97 12-valve. Is it normal for the 24V engines to be louder than the old ones (obviously it'll be louder than the new ones, those don't even sound like Cummins's)? That aside, I think the noise is coming from the valve train, the truck has 159K on the clock, apparently the lash should be checked/adjusted at 150K latest. Is a little bit of knockin' in the valve-train a death kiss for these engines? I know plenty of gas engines can run for thousands of mile with valve-trains a knockin'. Last part, it's a simple job, I don't mind doing it, the frikkin' valve cover gasket is $100+ fer this thing, it's supposedly re-usable, does anyone have a feel for what kind of percentage actaully can be re-used, do I just need to be careful taking it off?

 

those engines are LOUD anyway. infact, that year is when they went to the 24 valve head matched with the P7100(I think) and that made the already loud 12 valve engine louder.

the cummins engine is very stout and is capable to going longer than what is reccomended between noted intervals. Here is a page I found that goes into the 12 valve engine and valve lash. Even though the valve cover has changed, the lash measurements havent.

but for a quick rundown, intake lash is 0.010" and exhaust is at 0.020"

When at TDC for #1, check: Intake 1, 2, and 4 Exhaust 1, 3, and 5

When at TDC for #6, check: Intake 3, 5, and 6 Exhaust 2, 4, and 6


oh, and be carefull when removing the valve cover