First valve adjustment. What if???

[nicolasr]

Another question for you all!!!! many S10 owners have found their valves within specs at the first 40 000 Kilometers. My mechanic says no to do it yet, telling me that most of the bikes he has worked on have been within specs.

What should I do? What would you do??? Sincerely I would wait since there is no ticking or any noise coming from the valves.

Help please!!!

Thanks

Nicolas R

 

[Dogdaze]

I don't know about how much you trust your mechanic, but if I were in your shoes I would get it done, then, and it is a rarity, if it all goes bang, you may have some recourse for goodwill from yamaha.....

 

[frez]

Get it done, all my exhaust valves were too tight and needed adjusting at the first check.

 

[mcbrien]

My Dealer doesn't want to bother until at least 40,000 miles unless I start to get some noise as
your dealer advises. I'm up to 33.000 miles so far and will have it done this winter mainly because
I want the CCT replaced and he wants it apart for that. I seldom rev bike over 6000 rpms.

 

[nicolasr]

My Dealer doesn't want to bother until at least 40,000 miles unless I start to get some noise as
your dealer advises. I'm up to 33.000 miles so far and will have it done this winter mainly because
I want the CCT replaced and he wants it apart for that. I seldom rev bike over 6000 rpms.

Pretty much the same situation. And your bike has even more Kilometers than mine.

 

[frez]

That's bad advice, you will not hear any noise as valves tighten up until something bad happens, particularly if you consider how noisy the Super Tenere's engine is.

Manufacturers have pushed out valve check intervals, and it's true that when they were 12-16k they almost never needed altering at the first check, at 24k thinking you can safely wait until 48k is really rolling the dice IMO, after all it's not really that much work to check them, only to alter them.

 

[markjenn]

I'm just working from general memory here, but with respect to DIY'ers, I'd estimate about half the folks have found one or more valves requiring adjustment at the first 26K-mile/40K-km check. As to professional mechanics, I think they tend to look past anything that is reasonably-close as they don't want to do the actual adjustment any more than we do, and its not their bike. Many would start the job with the attitude that "they never need it", which probably becomes a little self-fulfilling as well.

- Mark

 

[greg the pole]

The adjustment intervals are there for a reason. Many have missed them, but that's their choice.

Rule of thumb is, that if you ride your bike gently, you will probably not need them adjusted. On the other hand, if you use the entire power band ::26:: and ride it as intended, you will need to adjust your valves. 5 of the 8 were tight on mine. All exhaust, and one intake.

And you do not need to pull your top cover off to switch out your cct.

 

[Mellow]

Another question for you all!!!! many S10 owners have found their valves within specs at the first 40 000 Kilometers. My mechanic says no to do it yet, telling me that most of the bikes he has worked on have been within specs.

What should I do? What would you do??? Sincerely I would wait since there is no ticking or any noise coming from the valves.

Help please!!!

Thanks

Nicolas R

Now THAT's funny, MOST of them... lol.. the others are in the back being worked on and should net us a good profit.. ::025::

 

[Firefight911]

1. Get a new mechanic.

2. Have new mechanic check the valves.

5 of 8 of mine were out at the first valve check.

It's bad news if they are out and you don't adjust them. As has been said, noisy only indicates.....nothing. If they tighten enough you will burn a valve. But, at least it will run quieter up until that point.

 

[peelxtz1200]

Get a new mechanic all my exhaust valves were tight and needed adjustment at 25k miles and all the intake valves were all to spec, the mechanic I used also said that valves could be Gud till75k as the engine is totally bedded in now but it proberly still need checking at 50k

 

[limey]

Valve checks and oil changes are a wast of time and money.

 

[scott123007]

Rule of thumb is, that if you ride your bike gently, you will probably not need them adjusted. On the other hand, if you use the entire power band ::26:: and ride it as intended, you will need to adjust your valves.

It seems that I'm always picking on you Greg, but really I'm not. It's just that more often than not, you make statements that I question.
So here goes...
Why is your quote above a rule of thumb? Virtually all modern day engines have rev limiters. Rev limiters keep an engine from over revving. ONE of the reasons for that is to keep valves from floating. Whether an S-10 engine is spinning 3000 or 7000 rpms the opening ramp and closing ramp of the cam lobe is opening and closing the valve. As long as a valve is not floating, the bucket does not lose contact with the cam lobe until the valve is fully closed which means regardless how fast the cam is spinning, the valve is opened and closed without incident. Wear and tear on the valve train is not compromised if operated within its design limits.

 

[Expflier]

You can throw YES out the door if you don't do it and something gives on the engine. I'll do my gambling in Vegas not my now favorite bike !

 

[jimmy z]

Note that if you have valves checked and they do not need adjustment you will save labor to not adjust valves.Just had mine checked at 26k.No adjustment was needed.Cost me $232.00 including t.b.s..Cheap insurance i.m.h.o. I will take bike back in 26k more miles for same.Jim

 

[TenereStreets]

This thread was helpful as I'll be needing the first valve check in the next week or two. Definitely going to get it done... Then time to install the Arrow headers and get a custom map!

 

[EricV]

You can throw YES out the door if you don't do it and something gives on the engine. I'll do my gambling in Vegas not my now favorite bike !

That's not completely true. If you have a claim related directly to not having the valves checked, yes, you will probably have more difficulty with a warranty claim. If it's something else, you won't have any more issues than a normal claim.

I have a good history with Yamaha bikes. I bought a new '04 FJR and did the first valve check at the recommended interval of 26k. No adjustments. Did the second check at 52k, no adjustments. Did the third check at 78k, no adjustments. Did the fourth check at 98k because the bike was in for a CCT. It did need some shim changes then, all exhaust and one intake. None of them were extreme, just re-shimmed to get into the middle of spec again. All of my valve checks and adjustment were done by a dealer, specifically a very good 5 star rated Yamaha mechanic.

Based upon that, for my riding style, I skipped the first valve check on the Super Tenere. I did the second check at 49k because I had a long ride coming up, (IBR). They were all in spec, but the exhausts were right at the edge of the spec, so some re-shimming occurred. At 82k I did the third, but sadly the CCT failed as I started the bike to take it in, so I don't know if it was in spec or not at that point.

I had zero questions about not doing the 26k valve check from the dealer or the YES warranty manager and my claim was completely covered.

 

[greg the pole]

It seems that I'm always picking on you Greg, but really I'm not. It's just that more often than not, you make statements that I question.
So here goes...
Why is your quote above a rule of thumb? Virtually all modern day engines have rev limiters. Rev limiters keep an engine from over revving. ONE of the reasons for that is to keep valves from floating. Whether an S-10 engine is spinning 3000 or 7000 rpms the opening ramp and closing ramp of the cam lobe is opening and closing the valve. As long as a valve is not floating, the bucket does not lose contact with the cam lobe until the valve is fully closed which means regardless how fast the cam is spinning, the valve is opened and closed without incident. Wear and tear on the valve train is not compromised if operated within its design limits.

I don't remember you picking on me Scott
I'm a shade tree mechanic, and that is all. What I should have said, is in my case, or thumb ???
my last two new bikes all needed valves adjusted. And for the most part they were the exhaust valves.
maybe it's my simple way of thinking, that if you ride it gently, it will not need looking at. Case in point a dl650 that I bought second hand,
I took apart after 60 thousand gentle km. Two missed valve adjustments by previous owner, and all valves were within spec.

I know nothing. ::003::

 

[becoyote]

If I paid for the check and the mechanic said they were all fine, in the back of my mind I wouldn't believe him.

I had some headaches doing mine by myself but in the end I am glad that I did.

 

[EricV]

If I paid for the check and the mechanic said they were all fine, in the back of my mind I wouldn't believe him.

I had some headaches doing mine by myself but in the end I am glad that I did.

It's hard to find a good shop, and mechanic, these days. I always tell them up front that I want to see what the gaps were, before and after re-shimming, if it's done. The ones I really believe are hand drawn with oil stains on the paper, showing what the measurements were when they checked, often with the tolerance for exhaust and intake also written on the same paper.

I've done valve checks in the past, but now it's the one thing I just don't want to deal with and pay the dealer to do.