Tried to do my first-ever valve adjustment on my Kohler Courage 20 SV601 engine today following this guide https://youtu.be/VyPCBqGMYvo?t=354, and wound up backing out of the attempt when I was unable to loosen the T15 Torx screw on the exhaust side. As I understood the video, the Torx on the end of the rocker arm stud acts as a jam nut and the 10mm nut on the stud performs the actual adjustment.
I'd rotated the engine until the piston was at the top of its travel (TDC?), but don't know if that was the compression stroke or not. Only the leftmost valve (exhaust, I think) seemed to need adjustment so the first thing I did was to try to loosen the T15 Torx on that side, but the Torx was in so tightly that I wound up slightly twisting my Torx bit trying to break it loose.
So that's where I am at the moment. Any thoughts on how I should proceed or what I might be doing wrong? My Torx driver is a cheap one... should I buy a higher quality driver and try it again? Or maybe find a Torx bit for my ratchet so I can get a little more leverage? Or maybe use a Torx bit in an impact driver instead of a using a screwdriver-type Torx driver?
I should loosen the Torx before trying to use the nut to adjust the clearance, right? That Torx screw is a standard, left-to-loosen thread, right?
I'd really appreciate any tips you guys can offer me.
I'd rotated the engine until the piston was at the top of its travel (TDC?), but don't know if that was the compression stroke or not. Only the leftmost valve (exhaust, I think) seemed to need adjustment so the first thing I did was to try to loosen the T15 Torx on that side, but the Torx was in so tightly that I wound up slightly twisting my Torx bit trying to break it loose.
So that's where I am at the moment. Any thoughts on how I should proceed or what I might be doing wrong? My Torx driver is a cheap one... should I buy a higher quality driver and try it again? Or maybe find a Torx bit for my ratchet so I can get a little more leverage? Or maybe use a Torx bit in an impact driver instead of a using a screwdriver-type Torx driver?
I should loosen the Torx before trying to use the nut to adjust the clearance, right? That Torx screw is a standard, left-to-loosen thread, right?
I'd really appreciate any tips you guys can offer me.