88 Toyota pickup, V6, 60k on engine.

Just got a new headgasket put in, cheaply, and when I got the truck back the valves were very noisy. I've called around, and the fix seems to be about $200-$250, all the way up to $500.

Right after I got the truck back, I put it up for sale, and I'm in the process of selling to a guy from the DC area, about 10 hours away from me. My dilemma is this: I was told that there will be no further damage done by letting the valves click away. Is this true? Can I drive the truck 10 hours in one trip (the buyer said he'd fix them himself)?

I'm not confident I can do it myself, and I'd really hate for the truck to die halfway there. Do noisy valves mean they're loose or tight? Could it be either?

Lastly, anyone in New Hampshire want to make some extra money but do it for less than the above price?

Thanks for the help.

Are you sure it is the valves? 3.0 V-6's have very loud injectors!! If it is the valves and they are to noisy it will not really hurt it just will not be running to the top of it’s game. Noisy valves means they are loose. The valves on the 3.0 are a real bitch to adjust, theyuse some type of shim method :D

I've been told by a few techs that it does sound like the valves, and before the hg job it wasn't this loud at all.

It runs pretty good now, some occasional stumbling (cold weather), but decent overall. I figured maladjusted valves would cause the stumbling. Thanks!

When I had my head gasket done at the dealer for free a couple of years ago it had a tremendous lose of power when I got it back. After a couple of months of trying to figure it out it went back to another dealer in PA. they told me that the number 5 cyclinder had only 5 psi of compression and was probably due to misadjusted vavles. They offered to adjust them for $150 and I let them and it has been up to its full power ever since.