It is exactly what it says. The number of valves the engine has per cylinder. If you have 16 valves on an 8 cylinder engine, you have 2 valves per cylinder.
You can adjust the valves, on your Caterpillar 3406 diesel engine, by turning the engine to the number one spot. Adjust the number one valve with the adjustment screw. Move to the number two spot and so on.
Valves control the in-flow and out-flow of fuel, air and exhaust fumes in a combustion engine (known as intake valves and exhaust valves). A 4-cylinder engine with 16 valves will have 4 valves per cylinder, with two intake and two exhaust valves per cylinder. With experience it is easy to tell the sounds of the valves apart because each engine sounds different with different valves. Generally the less number of valves means a deeper/throatier sound from the cars and vice-versa
two
two
Valves will clatter if the engine is overheating.Valves will clatter if the engine is overheating.
The technical data of the engine of the 1968 Renault 16 TS includes a spark-ignition 4-stroke engine with 2 valves per cylinder. It also has a maximum speed of 103 miles/165 km/h.
"Floating Valves" refers to a condition in which the valve-springs fail to fully close the valves, allowing them to "float" during the stroke cycle. Floating valves can result in valve-piston contact with consequent catastrophic mechanical damage. This is caused by revving the engine past it's red-line, or the maximum RPMs the engine was designed to run.
On a standard V12 it has 24 valves however some newer engines have 3 or 4 valves per cylinder making the number 36 or 48.
On a 1996 Ford Taurus : The 3.0 liter " Vulcan " V6 engine has ( 2 valves per engine cylinder , total of 12 valves ) The 3.0 liter " Duratec " DOHC , V6 engine has ( 4 valves per engine cylinder , total of 24 valves )
Two. Intake, and exhaust.
When your valves do not have clearance, a number of things may happen. Your valves will not be closing all the way, you can lose horsepower/compression, poor fuel economy, backfires, hesitation, stumble when idle or take off, it will make your engine run like crap! When you lose clearance on the valves, the engine almost acts like it is out of timing. When the valves have excessive clearance, they will be noisy.