Adjustment at First Valve Check

[Xt1200zsupertenere]

I didn't see the poll option for skipping the 1st and 2nd checks.

or 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th checks also. Lol
I remember reading a thread here from an owner with over 130,000 miles and hadn't even checked his valves yet.

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One at the american facebook supertenere forum hade never went to A dealer for service sins the bike was new ... fix hos own oil and filter service , and nowcat 172 000 Miles it still run great ??? ???

 

[AdvToorer]

Valves checked at 24k and no shims needed. Dealer commented it was safe to skip the 48k check.

 

[EricV]

One at the american facebook supertenere forum hade never went to A dealer for service sins the bike was new ... fix hos own oil and filter service , and nowcat 172 000 Miles it still run great ??? ???

If that's the guy I know of, the next owner of that bike is going to need to spend some money on it. Some people will happily ride a bike/drive a car into the ground and never worry about it until it won't run.

I once changed a 6 year old car's oil for a female friend, (not a GF, just an acquaintance), when I learned she had never changed the oil. Ever. "It has oil in it from the factory, doesn't it?" It looked like a dark version of hershey's chocolate syrup, with chunks. The filter bypass was *gone*. I'm amazed the car still ran and didn't appear to show serious issues. A fresh tune up, filters everywhere, plugs and oil and it ran 10 times better, but it got her from A to B before w/o drama. Toyota quality, I guess. O

 

[Checkswrecks]

The EPA-related posts have been removed. They started out humorous and good natured and no problem, but at the end just went political.

 

[EricV]

Thanks Dad! ::008::

On topic, it's a Good Idea™ to get the valves checked more or less on schedule with the big parallel twin motor we have. In part because we have a loooooong timing chain compared to inline 4s or other twins. It's a PITA to get the valve cover off on this bike, and back on w/o screwing up the gasket, but that seems to be a Yamaha thing too. Also simple because we all ride differently and it's difficult to judge how each of us compares to the rest in terms of use. Better to know than to hope.

Small car engines are moving to no shims, believe it or not. I went to get my Smart car's valve checked at 60k miles and they told me that they no longer recommend valve checks. Also that they had not seen a Smart engine that needed adjustment that had less than 200k on it. It's a little 3 cyl, 1 liter Mitsubishi motor, that gets rev'd pretty good, so I was surprised to learn this.

 

[1954]

I have never worked on a car engine that had shims to adjust the valve lash. I saw the cutaway picture posted on the forum here and I think I have an understanding of how the valve train works on these engines.That being said, I do not understand why you would be overly concerned about the valves being a little on the tight side with very few miles on the engine. As most valve trains wear, they get loose or sloppy not tighter. Yamaha seems to deliberately set the valves tight when the engine is built. I would think the intent is to have the engine slowly wear in to the recomended spec. I doubt that I will waste my time checking the valves on my Tenere.

 

[snakebitten]

Actually, as the valves seat, or there is wear at the seats, the valve stem actually gets closer to the cam.
Thus the clearance "narrows".

Thus, they get tighter, not looser.

At least, that is my mediocre mechanical understanding.

 

[Pterodactyl]

I think you will find that the valve clearance on the Tenere, and in my experience on the FJR and most bikes, tend to get tighter.

 

[WJBertrand]

I have never worked on a car engine that had shims to adjust the valve lash. I saw the cutaway picture posted on the forum here and I think I have an understanding of how the valve train works on these engines.That being said, I do not understand why you would be overly concerned about the valves being a little on the tight side with very few miles on the engine. As most valve trains wear, they get loose or sloppy not tighter. Yamaha seems to deliberately set the valves tight when the engine is built. I would think the intent is to have the engine slowly wear in to the recomended spec. I doubt that I will waste my time checking the valves on my Tenere.

I've never seen a shim type valve clearance increase with mileage. They always get tighter. I've seen screw and locknut rocket arm valve trains both tighten or loosen.


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[scott123007]

I've never seen a shim type valve clearance increase with mileage. They always get tighter. I've seen screw and locknut rocket arm valve trains both tighten or loosen.


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Rocker arm, and shim OVER bucket systems, more commonly increase their clearance over time, while shim UNDER bucket, which are the most common now a days, predominately, decrease clearance. The biggest reason that shim under bucket valve clearance checks can have such lengthy intervals is because clearances can be greater than either rocker arm or shim over bucket. The issues of excessive wear from too much rocker arm clearance, or spitting shims from shim over bucket systems, is virtually eliminated. The major factor in changing valve clearances with shim under bucket systems, is valves slowly receding into the head which is a very sloooow process, which reduces clearance over time. How hard an engine is run has little if anything to do with how soon valves need adjusting. All modern engines have rev limiters which shut engines down well before valves start floating. As long as the cam lobe and the valve bucket don't lose contact with each other except for their clearance after the valve is closed, it doesn't matter how fast or slow they are opening and closing. The condition of your oil has more to do with any type of engine wear than anything else.

Ultimately, mileages given for valve clearance checks are arbitrary at best. You can't tie a specific mileage recommendation to a valve clearance when it is how many revolutions of the cams you are actually trying to count. What if, for an extreme example, someone spent all of their engine running time neutral, or only first gear, and another would try to spend the majority of their ride time in sixth gear. One engine would have over double the revolutions of the other with the same mileage.

I think there is too much hysteria about shim under bucket valve clearance checks. The damage from lack of checks, "may" ultimately lead to a burnt valve (with plenty of fore warning due to engine performance) which in the big picture of things, would cost less to remedy than what you will pay a shop for two valve checks that require shims. I'm not suggesting that preventative maintenance is not a good thing, just that valve clearance checks aren't the end all, be all, of our engines exploding if not done in a timely manner.

 

[ace50]

So the poll should be asking: How many engines exploded because of no valve checks and at what mileage did it happen?

 

[snakebitten]

::008:: ace50

Scott, excellent post. Make so much sense too.

 

[jimmy z]

2012 checked at 26k no adjustment needed.Throttle body sync was needed and bike ran noticeably better.Now at 43k will check again at around 50-52k.

 

[mcbrien]

Checked at 38,000 miles by dealer. Wanted the new cam chain tensioner. Valves were perfect. I seldom rev motor over 6000
and seldom exceed 80mph.

 

[1954]

Thanks everyone for the very informative posts. I havent got enough miles on yet to answer the poll yet. Be back in 6 months or so.

 

[Stoned]

Did my 2013 with only 23k on the odometer because I didn't want to have to do it during good riding months. All four Intakes were spot on the middle of the range. All four exhausts were right at the lowest allowable limit. They got adjusted.
Added a Manual Cam Chain Tensioner ( Graves ) at this time. I recheck and readjust my throttle bodies every 8k or so, just because I can, and did it again right after the valve adjustment. I am very happy with how the bike runs at this point and believe the full service made a noticeable difference.

 

[SilverBullet]

Did my 2013 with only 23k on the odometer because I didn't want to have to do it during good riding months. All four Intakes were spot on the middle of the range. All four exhausts were right at the lowest allowable limit. They got adjusted...

Did you adjust your exhaust valves because you plan on skipping your next check? Otherwise "in spec" is "in spec" correct? Not knocking what you did just wondering. Your bike could have possibly come off the production line from Yamaha exactly like that and valves have not moved since. I wonder what Yamaha's outgoing QC min/max limits are for valve lash if different than service manual? I often wonder also how many times people report their valves needing adjustment when they were actually within spec.

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[Pterodactyl]

I suspect a careful examination of this and other similar threads would reveal that the longer the winter where the rider resides, the more likely the rider is to adjust the valves on schedule or early. All y'all southern boys and girls are going to burn-up your motors. ::025::

 

[snakebitten]

::025::

::026::

 

[Stoned]

Did you adjust your exhaust valves because you plan on skipping your next check? Otherwise "in spec" is "in spec" correct? Not knocking what you did just wondering. Your bike could have possibly come off the production line from Yamaha exactly like that and valves have not moved since. I wonder what Yamaha's outgoing QC min/max limits are for valve lash if different than service manual? I often wonder also how many times people report their valves needing adjustment when they were actually within spec.

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I am funny about that. I use a tighter spec than factory as my goal, and have for many years. Have found that the valves stabilize pretty well on most bikes and usually don't need further adjustment, but I like them right in the middle or slightly wider. With the limited selection of sizes Yamaha offers in shims, you have to be right on the edge of the range to use the next shim, anyway. My way is not necessary the best way, the smartest way, or the suggested way, Just my way.

As noted by Pterodactyl, we have plenty of opportunity for "winter" maintenance in the north and I actually like working on my bikes. Things like fluid changes, brake pads, and tune ups get done more often than the Owners Manual suggests. Doing it myself saves a lot of money and allows me to note every particular about the bike. I address things that I know for a fact, the dealership will cover up or ignore, like missing fasteners ( especially plastic rivets ) unsecured wiring and things that need cleaned or lubed but aren't part of the work order.

I like my bikes to be well sorted.