Valve service suggestions

[greg the pole]

I agree with AC and Jaeger.

it is an ignorant process for the most part. The biggest failing is the cam chain tensioner. This can be worked around with a second pair of hands, or jaeger's trick. The 13mm socket and wrench works as well.

Otherwise not terrible.

my dl1000 was a pain to get to the valves, but once in there, it was dead easy, especially because of the gear driven cams.
The Tenere is easy to get at, up to the valve cover, and after that a PITA. But doable.

If you have a trusty mechanic, pay him.

I'm off to play with some easy stuff. Rigid e series, with Skeena dimmer and 3 way switch.

 

[kenbike]

It probably will cause that rattle when the bike first starts. The Tenere needs oil pressure for the tensioner to take up the slack in the spring/screw drive.

The factory hyd cam chain does rattle until you have oil pressure, the manual use a threaded rod and you turn it to achieve the correct tension so it does not rattle if properly adjusted. I was planning on a valve adjustment this winter and will install the manual tensioner. If I drop the engine might pull the head and have it ported, flowed and was speaking with Jaxon about higher compression pistons, or a slightly thinner head gasket. I would like to end up with 120 rwhp for a really fun bike!

 

[RED CAT]

OK. good news boys and girls. Found an easy way to Compress the cam chain tensioner. 4 tools needed. A vise, 1/2 socket by 3/8 drive, a pair of vise grips and a 1/4 inch drive screw driver. Put the tensioner in the vise. Attach the vise grips to the outside of the 1/2 inch socket. Attach socket to top of the tensioner. Should have a little bite on the tensioner. Put the 1/4 drive screw driver through the top of the socket, pressing down on the tensioner as you rotate the vise grips clockwise, screwing down the tensioner while pressing with the screw driver. It goes down quite easily. Keep pressing hard as you bottom out and push the circlip outward. Voila. Remember this is not a 3/8 drive screw driver but a 1/4 inch so it slips through the socket right onto the top of the tensioner. Couldn't believe how easily this worked. Now I'm having trouble releasing the circlip from the installed tensioner. No luck so far. Had to take break and swear some more.

 

[avc8130]

OK. good news boys and girls. Found an easy way to Compress the cam chain tensioner. 4 tools needed. A vise, 1/2 socket by 3/8 drive, a pair of vise grips and a 1/4 inch drive screw driver. Put the tensioner in the vise. Attach the vise grips to the outside of the 1/2 inch socket. Attach socket to top of the tensioner. Should have a little bite on the tensioner. Put the 1/4 drive screw driver through the top of the socket, pressing down on the tensioner as you rotate the vise grips clockwise, screwing down the tensioner while pressing with the screw driver. It goes down quite easily. Keep pressing hard as you bottom out and push the circlip outward. Voila. Remember this is not a 3/8 drive screw driver but a 1/4 inch so it slips through the socket right onto the top of the tensioner. Couldn't believe how easily this worked. Now I'm having trouble releasing the circlip from the installed tensioner. No luck so far. Had to take break and swear some more.

I can visualize this. I think it is perfect.

I'm printing your post, and stapling into my manual so I remember this in 26k miles.
ac

 

[greg the pole]

my wounds are still healing.
will make a mental note next go round.

 

[avc8130]

Do it!

Good luck with a thinner head gasket. This doesn't look like an MLS gasket, so just pulling a layer doesn't seem feasible.

ac

 

[tc9988]

XT1200z Nokkenas ketting spanner resetten ( cam chain tensioner, steuerketten spanner)

 

[avc8130]

Sumbeach!

Where was that video YESTERDAY!?!?!?!?

::010:: ::010:: ::010:: ::010:: ::010:: ::010::

LOL

ac

 

[RED CAT]

Awesome vid. Couldn't figure out how to release the cam tensioner. Simply push on it. Have to get a screw driver in there and give it a shove. Did mine from the top rather than up through the clutch cover. Valve cover went on a lot easier than it came off except for the gasket which was a pain. Originally thought it would stay stuck to the cover. No way. Best to lay it down on the head and slide the cover over it with a lot of fiddle farting around. The 4 small gaskets around the spark plug holes always want to slip out of place. Just reach in the spark plug hole with your finger and slide them into place before you tighten down the cover. Ask me how I know. Needed another break. ::001::

 

[jaeger22]

Very cool video! It makes it look easy. ??? I had no idea a socket could grip the round head like that. Got to remember that one!

Originally thought it would stay stuck to the cover. No way. Best to lay it down on the head and slide the cover over it with a lot of fiddle farting around.

That is interesting. I had the opposite experience. I tried to lay it on the head as you describe but could not get it to stay. I would get one side lined up and the other side would slip off. :'( I gave up and glued it to the cover with YAMABOND 4 (pretty much as the manual describes) and that worked great. Even the second time when I had the motor out. I thought it would be easy to lay it on the head then but still ended up having to use the YAMABOND to get it on. But hay, what ever works! You are almost done!! ::012::
Another interesting point, the manual calls out two different sealers. Yamaha Bond 1215, and Three Bond 1541. on page 5-23 of the US manual. But I searched the internet and found nether was available in the US! I even went to a Yamaha shop to try to get it but they had never heard of either and could not get it. So I asked them to ask the mechanics what they use. They came back and said the mechanics use YAMABOND 4 for EVERYTHING! So that is what I used. ::26::

 

[greg the pole]

Sumbeach!

Where was that video YESTERDAY!?!?!?!?

::010:: ::010:: ::010:: ::010:: ::010:: ::010::

LOL

ac

what ac said

 

[RED CAT]

All finished and put back together. Runs awesome in the garage. 6 inches of snow out there right now. Found another way to compress the Cam Chain Tensioner. Grab the small end with a small pair of vise grips and press down with a 1/4 inch drive screw driver as you turn clockwise. This way a socket doesn't bottom out as you are almost there. Worked for me twice now. Hope someone here learned from our experience. Just PM if you need help. ::001::

 

[jaeger22]

Way to go Red! ::012:: ::012:: ::012:: ::012::

 

[Mark R.]

Awesome vid. Couldn't figure out how to release the cam tensioner. Simply push on it. Have to get a screw driver in there and give it a shove. Did mine from the top rather than up through the clutch cover. Valve cover went on a lot easier than it came off except for the gasket which was a pain. Originally thought it would stay stuck to the cover. No way. Best to lay it down on the head and slide the cover over it with a lot of fiddle farting around. The 4 small gaskets around the spark plug holes always want to slip out of place. Just reach in the spark plug hole with your finger and slide them into place before you tighten down the cover. Ask me how I know. Needed another break. ::001::

I am absorbing all this information for when I need to do this. I think I get what is going on, but releasing the cam chain tensioner is a head scratcher. You compress it to lock it back, so it can be installed with no tension on the cam chain slipper. How do you reach in to release it?

 

[jaeger22]

Mark, I just followed the instructions in the manual and it worked fine for me. You take a big screwdriver and pry the chain and chain guide back against the tensioner hard. That will compress the piston a bit more into the tensioner body and the clip will then slip and let the piston pop out. I had to stick a small block of wood in there to pry against but not difficult at all.
Just make damn sure the guide and chain are not twisted up top like happened to me. If that happens you will not see it from below when you release tensioner. Everything looked fine from that view. Check it from up top with a mirror before you release the tensioner.

 

[Mark R.]

Mark, I just followed the instructions in the manual and it worked fine for me. You take a big screwdriver and pry the chain and chain guide back against the tensioner hard. That will compress the piston a bit more into the tensioner body and the clip will then slip and let the piston pop out. I had to stick a small block of wood in there to pry against but not difficult at all.
Just make damn sure the guide and chain are not twisted up top like happened to me. If that happens you will not see it from below when you release tensioner. Everything looked fine from that view. Check it from up top with a mirror before you release the tensioner.

Thanks.

 

[avc8130]

Mark, I just followed the instructions in the manual and it worked fine for me. You take a big screwdriver and pry the chain and chain guide back against the tensioner hard. That will compress the piston a bit more into the tensioner body and the clip will then slip and let the piston pop out. I had to stick a small block of wood in there to pry against but not difficult at all.
Just make damn sure the guide and chain are not twisted up top like happened to me. If that happens you will not see it from below when you release tensioner. Everything looked fine from that view. Check it from up top with a mirror before you release the tensioner.

Pretty much same story here. I put the screwdriver where the factory said to. Rather than "pry" I just whacked the end of the screwdriver with my palm and it released.

When your cam chain had slipped off the guide, didn't you say the engine didn't feel "right" when turning it over by hand?

ac

 

[jaeger22]

Rather than "pry" I just whacked the end of the screwdriver with my palm and it released.

That actually sound like a better idea. I will try that next time. All we need to do is jar the clip loose so the piston can pop out and a quick pop should do it.

When your cam chain had slipped off the guide, didn't you say the engine didn't feel "right" when turning it over by hand?

No once I got it together everything felt fine even though the chain was off the guide. The tensioner piston was pushing directly on the chain which I could not see, so all looked and felt right. What didn't feel right was the tightness of the chain when I was installing the second (intake) cam. I had to get the edge of the gear under the chain with the other end of the cam lifted and then kind of pry the chain up. I thought it was just because of the cam lob hitting the valve thing and I was too dumb to pick up on the fact that it should not be THAT tight. :-[ Once I got it in all looked and felt fine so I assumed all was well. NOT! The only way I could have seen the issue is with a mirror held over top or the cams. I will do that next time. : With the motor out of course it would be hard to miss.

 

[avc8130]

That actually sound like a better idea. I will try that next time. All we need to do is jar the clip loose so the piston can pop out and a quick pop should do it.No once I got it together everything felt fine even though the chain was off the guide. The tensioner piston was pushing directly on the chain which I could not see, so all looked and felt right. What didn't feel right was the tightness of the chain when I was installing the second (intake) cam. I had to get the edge of the gear under the chain with the other end of the cam lifted and then kind of pry the chain up. I thought it was just because of the cam lob hitting the valve thing and I was too dumb to pick up on the fact that it should not be THAT tight. :-[ Once I got it in all looked and felt fine so I assumed all was well. NOT! The only way I could have seen the issue is with a mirror held over top or the cams. I will do that next time. : With the motor out of course it would be hard to miss.

Ok. Interesting. I just got back from my test ride. ~25 miles and I wasn't nice to her. I'm a tad concerned as the valvetrain does sound a bit noisier than I remember.

I didn't have any trouble getting the cams back in like you describe. With the tensioner out there was plenty of slack to get the cams in easily.

Yours didn't sound any noisier?

ac

 

[jaeger22]

Yours didn't sound any noisier?

Actually looking back I think it did. I remember thinking it made a bit more noise but then thinking it is just because I was lessening much harder than normal and it was all in my head. :
Also I normally ride with ear plugs and given that it sounded like a bucket of bolts from day one. . .
But it ran perfect for 55 miles. Then THUMP and nothing. . .