How many have found your valves out of adjustment?

[steelpix]

I know the manual says the first 600 miles then evey 3,000 miles. I'm wondering how many of you have actually seen your valves out of adjustment.

I bought mine when it had 1700 miles and I'm getting ready to hit 3,000. One guy at a bike shop told me they were bullet proof bikes. Just trying to figure out if I should really bother or not.

Thx,
Ron

[Water Warrior 2]

It is worth the bother to keep the bike happy and reliable.

[5th_bike]

I'm at a good 10,000 miles and had to adjust my valves already twice. They didn't need it at 600 and 3,000, but did at 6,000 and 9,000.

[Water Warrior 2]

Riding habits influence the valves too. If you are a faster rider and running higher revs the valves need more attention.

[jonathan180iq]

Just do the clearance check. It's a small amount of time and price to pay for peace of mind.

These are bullet proof bikes. But that doesn't mean we can just ignore maintenance when we know it's recommended.
We've been seeing a lot more top ends fail lately and I'll give you 3 guesses as to why....

When you neglect something, even something that's bullet proof, it's going to fail.

[Water Warrior 2]

If you take it to a shop it is usually an hour labor according to book time. It does take some $ to do the maintenance but is cheaper in the long run.

[JohnC]

When we got ours it had 14,000 miles on it. the valves needed to be adjusted at that time; they were all too tight. I believe this is the leading cause of valve breakage.

That said, it also needed a new chain, the old chain was badly out of adjustment, a new rear tire, new fork seals and new front brake pads.

Get tapered feeler gauges that are the minimum and maximum for each valve. Bend the last inch or so to a 30 degree angle. Make sure the minimum fits and the max doesn't, otherwise, adjust them or have them adjusted. Checking should take less than an hour start to finish.

[Water Warrior 2]

The engine should be cold to do the adjustment.



A recently running engine still retains too much heat to do a proper job.

[bwader]

I'm half way checking mine. Then I made the realization that I adjusted the exhaust valves to intake specs.

Intake and exhaust on my bike have been tighter than .08 mm

I might use gallons and miles but I love and prefer using metric tools so much easier.

So back out I am doing the intake and then fixing my F up on the front exhaust.

Its about time I got to this, its been 4,000 miles I've had this bike and who knows when it was done before I got it at 5,000.

[bwader]

I spent 3 hours yesterday adjusting valves to get them right. I started on the 2 exhaust in the front and had a hard time adjusting them.

All on a cold engine.

Anyway, after some breaks in between, I checked adjustments after rotating the engine 720 degrees and stopping on the T in the middle of the sight port. (or is the line to the right of the T need to be in the middle?)

When I got done, I had front 2 exhaust valves adjusted to .127 mm ( I could push it in and out with bite )
And 2 intake valves adjusted to .076 mm again enough to slide in and out with some bite.

Started up bike and chattering. I know some chattering is normal for so many miles then it goes away.

But my first "bike" was a 150cc Chinese scooter and the valves chattered after adjusting them right and within 3 miles of gentle 35mph riding the engine threw a piston rod! At 3,200 miles and I took care of it.

Im going to make a video and post the sound when I go to start it up next.

Sounds like its only the exhaust valves chattering and its not soft.