I just had the head gasket replaced on my 1989 turbo automatic with 78000 miles. Now I'm having an annoying tapping sound from the valves. My mechanic tells me he can't do anything about it and it should not hurt anything. Is there any kind of additive I can add to the oil to make the tapping noice go away?

tell your mechanic to learn how to adjust/change out shims ;)

your clearances will be out on the shims/buckets hence the slight tapping

quite an involved task and will cost you more in labour than parts heh

yup, shes right. go to a toyota dealer, we use feeler guages and turn the cams and use shims to adjust the gap betweent the shim and the rocker.

sounds like he didn't put the shims back in the right places...

uh yeah the shimes are the small peaces that go inbettween the valve stems and the spring correct??? why would u even need to replace them to replace a head gasket? some one wanna explane that to me?? learn somthin new for me.... i'm only 14

If he only replaced the gasket, then the cams would stay in the head, and thus the shims would not be touched. If he sent it to the machine shop to be checked for warpage and cracks, then the cams and springs were probably removed.

The shims sit on top of the valve stems, and are under each cam lobe.

They must be adjusted when ever they are taken out, and when a valve job is done. Most people never adjust them after the initial settings are done, even when they get a little noisy from wear.