Tenere valve adjustments...almost never!!!

[mrpete64]

I had a great talk with a person at D&H Yamaha in Alabama yesterday. I asked him about when to adjust the valves on a Tenere. His comment...don't unless you hear them ticking. He told me that they have bikes with 90,000 mile on them and run perfectly. His remarks...if it isn't broke...don't mess with it. He has been fixing bikes for over 50 years. Look them up on line and give them a call. The man I talked with was very interesting. He told me that he uses NOTHING except Kawasaki motorcycle oil. He claims that Kawasaki oil has six times the amount of non-shearing additive than any other oil produced. ????

Mr. Pete------->
aging hippie

 

[Bushyar15]

What does a valve adjustment cost on the S10 (dealer performed)?

Do they "tick" if the tolerances are too tight?

 

[Rasher]

Do they "tick" if the tolerances are too tight?

No, they just burn out valves / ruin cylinder heads ::008::

The question is probably can they go tight enough to wreck the engine before such time as you would care :question:

Checking is not as big a job as changing so I will have mine checked at 24k, if they are going to move much it is gonna be when settling in from new.

 

[frez]

Mine were checked by an independent I trust at 24k and all exhaust valves were too tight and adjusted.

 

[Ironhand]

Time for you to find a new shop.

 

[shrekonwheels]

What does a valve adjustment cost on the S10 (dealer performed)?

Do they "tick" if the tolerances are too tight?

No, hard start, loss of power.

 

[VPS1]

No, they will not tick. The sign is harder starting.

 

[Don in Lodi]

In our application they go silent when things wear in. Too worn in and they hold the valves open a tiny bit; hard start, low power... eventually burned valves.

 

[fredz43]

Time for you to find a new shop.

+1

 

[markjenn]

While the safest strategy is to have them checked at the recommended intervals by a competent mechanic, if you're DIY and aren't very meticulous/experienced or you have a dealer who doesn't have sharp techs, then you can make a strong case that ignoring the service (or at least extending the intervals) is less risky than doing the job.

FWIIW, I was just at a local dealer inquiring about the cost ($400) and I asked if they charged more if a valve needed adjustment. They said no.... whenever I hear this, it makes me wonder how many techs would be honest enough to spend a couple more hours (probably without getting any more money) to pull cams, replace shims, and re-time the valvetrain when a valve is a thousandth or two out, especially when a bike has a reputation of being bulletproof. The incentive to just say "close enough" has got to be tremendous.

Relying on audible valve ticking is an unsound (no pun intended) strategy.

- Mark

 

[Big Blu]

What does a valve adjustment cost on the S10 (dealer performed)?

Do they "tick" if the tolerances are too tight?

My local dealer quoted me $350 - $500, depending on the amount of adjustments required. He then said he shop had never before done the job on a Super Tenere.

Paul

 

[RCinNC]

I heard this same idea from a mechanic back when I owned a V-Strom; that you don't have to worry about the valve adjustment until they start ticking and making noise. They basically told me that they wouldn't do a valve check unless I insisted, and at that point, I was doubting their commitment to doing the job properly so much that I decided to just let it go. I traded the V-Strom in shortly afterwards on the S10, and I made sure to tell the Yamaha dealer that the valve check hadn't been done.

It perplexes me; a lot of shops will nickel and dime you to death on stuff (like insisting that you change out iridium plugs at the first 600 mile service!), but they don't want to do a job that they charge $500.00 for. Does a shop consider a valve check to be somehow a financial loss to them? Are some shop mechanics just seriously undertrained for what they are doing, or do they know something that the Yamaha engineers don't? People whose mechanical aptitude I trust have told me the same thing that's been noted here; the valves don't make noise when they're out of adjustment, and if you waited until they actually did make noise, the noise you'd hear would be the noise of your engine being damaged.

Is anyone out there a mechanic, and share this opinion that the valves don't need checked unless they're noisy? What makes you right, and the Yamaha engineers wrong? That's not snark; I really would like to know....

 

[shrekonwheels]

My local dealer quoted me $350 - $500, depending on the amount of adjustments required. He then said he shop had never before done the job on a Super Tenere.

Paul

Mechanics usually have a book to which they look which gives them the average time frame to do a project, which is how they come up with a given price.

So long as someone actually worked on bikes, I would not worry about them being Tenere specific. I would however not even let the man who owns the shop at A&D Yamaha make me Coffee.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I had a great talk with a person at D&H Yamaha in Alabama yesterday. I asked him about when to adjust the valves on a Tenere. His comment...don't unless you hear them ticking. He told me that they have bikes with 90,000 mile on them and run perfectly. His remarks...if it isn't broke...don't mess with it. He has been fixing bikes for over 50 years. Look them up on line and give them a call. The man I talked with was very interesting. He told me that he uses NOTHING except Kawasaki motorcycle oil. He claims that Kawasaki oil has six times the amount of non-shearing additive than any other oil produced. ??? ?

Mr. Pete------->
aging hippie

D&H is right up there with Romney in having hard-to-beat prices for new bikes.


But I'm strongly with the others that the valve inspection advice you got was really bad.

 

[mrpete64]

A problem...if you find shops that have never adjusted valves on a Tenere how do you know it will NOT be worse after it is done? I assume that if it runs well, and starts fine, that the valves are ok even with high mileage. If the valves do not make noise what do you look/listen for?

Mr Pete
Aging Hippie

 

[Mark R.]

A problem...if you find shops that have never adjusted valves on a Tenere how do you know it will NOT be worse after it is done? I assume that if it runs well, and starts fine, that the valves are ok even with high mileage. If the valves do not make noise what do you look/listen for?

Mr Pete
Aging Hippie

You take off the valve cover and look for / measure for valves out of spec, and you do this at the time frame specified by Yamaha. There is no audible indicator.

As far as whether you will have a better or worse running bike, it all comes down to who you trust, or who you don't trust. This is why I do all my own work, except if I really don't have the knowledge, special tools, or skill. Even then, I will usually take off a component and bring it to them. My final drive front seal leaked, so I took off the final drive and brought it to them to be fixed. That solves a lot of problems.

As much as I don't want to, I will do my own valve inspection at 24,000 miles. If I have to adjust even one valve, they will all get shimmed to the loosest spec possible, and I will re-check them again at the correct interval.

 

[Lutsie]

Check them yourself, have them checked by a shop. The problem is it ain't broke until it is and the possibility of being hundreds of miles from home. Valves are more like preventative maintenance. Put in a little(especially with 24k intervals, brother in laws Ducati is 7.5k) work or money get back a better and longer running engine.

 

[West]

I think Mr Petes new friend wasn't telling everyone to not check their valves, but that it may be fine to just ride it. If you want to check them routinely then by god do it. If not, odds may be in your favor that they won't close up and burn before your first 100K.

I'll check mine.......... at some point.

 

[roy]

Ticking is good, not ticking is not so good.

Time to find a new shop with a 'qualified' mechanic.



Valve lash is a gap tiny as it may be but there for a reason. They'll tick and tap a little set correctly. When the gaps gone there is no tick or tap hence time for adjustment. Sound alone is not the gospel however, a proper check is.

It's your bike so do as you please. FYI at 25k all my exhaust we're tight and needed adjusting.

 

[LJM]

And.....from what I've heard it's better to have them loose then tight so if there out of spec it's better to hear them tick than not as some one else said tight valves will cause burned valves.