Valve Adjustment Nightmare!

[jmoore]

good to hear John. ::008::

 

[offcamber]

Congrats on getting it up and running again....I'm sure you feel relieved and proud of yourself for accomplishing such a large task!!

 

[pqsqac]

All of his problems stemmed from the ADJUSTMENT portion. If you are THAT worried about it, pull the bike down to do the "check". IF the valves need adjustment, head to the dealer or shop and let them pull cams and re-assemble.
Who knows, maybe there will be a bunch of 25,500 mile Teneres for sale, but I know whenever I see a bike for sale right before the adjustment is due I start my negotiating $500 less to cover the needed service.
ac

I guess you and greg the pole didn't see my laugh out loud I was just kidding guys lighten up a bit!

 

[greg the pole]

I guess you and greg the pole didn't see my laugh out loud I was just kidding guys lighten up a bit!

sorry pq. I didn't see your lol's.
mind you, some will do just that, and the pending 2014 re-fresh might have something to do with it as well.
Meantime between time, i'll read the book in detail, plan my attack, and do it. If you take your time, all should go well.

and afterwards... ::003:: to a job well done. here's hoping.

 

[pqsqac]

sorry pq. I didn't see your lol's.
mind you, some will do just that, and the pending 2014 re-fresh might have something to do with it as well.
Meantime between time, i'll read the book in detail, plan my attack, and do it. If you take your time, all should go well.

and afterwards... ::003:: to a job well done. here's hoping.

No problems greg all is well. As far as the valves are concerned I have a ways to go I'm only at 10,000 now. You are correct some folks may sell. Man I remember my V Star valves being a piece of cake.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[greg the pole]

I hear you.
Just checked the valves on a used dl650 I bought. The guy covered 60km without doing a valve adjustment once. They were in spec, and a piece of cake to get to (bike was crashed, so I only need to pull the tank to get to everything. with the DL motors you have to follow the directions exactly, or you could f. things up very properly.

My 98 CBR900rr was a pain, because the outside cylinders were nex to impossible to get to properly. I had to pull the cams to replace a couple of shims, but everything went back together well enough.

My 01 VFR was a bit of a pain, but not as bad as the cbr, again at 45 km within spec (only owned the bike for a short while, but didn't know its history, so I checked for a feel good factor)

I'll see how the tenere goes, in my experience, my inital check was required, as most of the changes happened at the initial check. Will report back, with pictures, and hopefully not a lot of written swear words ::014::

 

[spasm]

i called andy at poole yamaha this morning to ask the cost of checking and adjusting valves on the big yam, he quoted me £120, i then called crescent yamaha charminster for a price to do the same, £550.

wots all that about then ?, both yamaha dealerships

someones taking the piss i think haha

 

[jaeger22]

Just one final update. 1300 miles now on the rebuild and all is well. ::012:: So I am feeling good about a trip. My Orlando to Albuquerque/Tulsa and back trip got delayed a few weeks but I plan to ride the bike out there if we can get the technical problems on the programs solved before it gets too cold. The current plan is November 10 through 24. That is about as late in the year as I want to try to ride to Albuquerque. So two weeks on the road and about 4000 miles. ::001::

 

[greg the pole]

Correct. I would say it would take me 4 or 5 hours now to do a check. Part of that is to remove my added stuff like crash bars, LED flood lights, and cruise control. And almost no one has needed to adjust until the 2nd or 3rd check. I was the unlucky one and I did need to adjust. I would estimate an additional 2 or 3 hours if adjustment is needed. And if you get caught in the twisted cam chain guide trap like I did, then you need to pull the motor and replace valves. That was the 40 hour part.
I expect that the next time I have to check/adjust the valves it will take significantly less time than it did the first time.I actually did get lucky on the two valves I replaced and they were at .005" with the old shims. ::012:: But strangely, one of the intake valves that I didn't have to replace tightened up a tad during the remove/replace operation and it was already on the edge. So I had to pull the cams again and take a about .001"off that shim.

Jaeger, send you a PM now.

Greg

 

[wescnmbkr1]

::015:: ::022::

Just one final update. 1300 miles now on the rebuild and all is well. ::012:: So I am feeling good about a trip. My Orlando to Albuquerque/Tulsa and back trip got delayed a few weeks but I plan to ride the bike out there if we can get the technical problems on the programs solved before it gets too cold. The current plan is November 10 through 24. That is about as late in the year as I want to try to ride to Albuquerque. So two weeks on the road and about 4000 miles. ::001::

Having followed your ordeal all the way to the finale post, I applaud your tenasity and complete explanations, including excellent photos. I now think anyone attempting this project might consider having the use of a transmission jack to support the engine while removing from the chassis, and possible having and overhead chain or cable hoist to assist in raising the chassis to reinstall the engine.
I commend you on a job well done!!
Ride safe.
wescnmbkr1

 

[jaeger22]

Thanks for the kind words wescnmbkr1!
It was a bit of an Adventure. :
The tips and encouragement I received by all the knowledgeable and experienced inmates on this site were a great help. ::008::
So far all is well and I head for Albuquerque Saturday. ::001::

 

[CurtC]

Really interesting thread. Thank you for taking the time to write up such a detailed analysis, it will surely help anyone who reads it! So glad it worked out OK motor wise. Have a safe trip!

 

[RED CAT]

I'm sure you've all heard how hard it is to get the valve cover off once you get in that deep. There is only one way for it to come off. Straight back! You have to loosen the fuel lines on the left side and the wiring on the right side. Anywho, just thought I'd mention it as I haven't seen it stated anywhere.

 

[motoguy]

Just read the whole thread, great job on jaeger22 for documenting everything.

Jaeger 22 ;
My question to you is now that you have done this, is there any "short cuts" as to pulling the eng out for valve adj only?? and just curious as to what your total $$ was for everything that you went through on your bike.

 

[avc8130]

Just read the whole thread, great job on jaeger22 for documenting everything.

Jaeger 22 ;
My question to you is now that you have done this, is there any "short cuts" as to pulling the eng out for valve adj only?? and just curious as to what your total $$ was for everything that you went through on your bike.

I didn't pull the engine for my adjustment, but I would the next time.

One thing I can see from jaeger's experience that would save time is pull the swingarm. He was so close and said he struggled to get the engine forward and out.

26k is a good interval to service the linkage and pivot bearings anyways.

ac

 

[RED CAT]

I wouldn't pull the engine. The hardest part is removing the valve cover and once you know that it comes out straight back, the only problem you will have is to move the fuel lines by undoing the 8mm head bolt holding the fuel lines on the left of the valve cover. Also undo the 4 bolts that hold on the whole right side electrical panel and pull it away from the bike a little. You don't need to undo all the wiring. It'll hang there by itself. Then when you are ready to remove the valve cover, have some one hold back the wiring that is stopping the valve cover from moving backwards. It comes out without to much difficulty when you've done it once. Goes back in easier. The gasket can get a bit tricky but just make sure its tucked in everywhere it should be before tightening the cover back up. Stick your fingers in the spark plug holes to make sure it fits properly there too. By the way. The plugs don't need to come out to remove the valve cover. They are deep down. Best leave them in so you don't drop any crud in there while removing the cover. Make sure to blow out all the crap around the air box, throttle bodies and frame before removing anything. I did a lot of swearing the 1st time but it will be much easier the next time and faster. ::012::

 

[wescnmbkr1]

::026::

This is a very interesting circumstance, and makes me very nervous because about a week after I had had a dealer supposed to adjust my valves, during a start up the engine made a "severe clatter" noise, but it has continued to run, although not as well as what I think it should, and I suspect ignition or valve timing has changed affecting performance and fuel mileage.
wescnmbkr1
First I want to say thanks for the moral support guys. I felt like my ego had stunk to the size of a ant.
Well, I got to work on the bike a few hours tonight so I thought I would post a status.
Here is a picture of the metal shavings in the bottom of the cam chain tunnel. The black lump in the bottom that that the fine chips are stuck to is the crank shaft position sensor. It has a strong magnetic field.

They are almost a fine paste as you can see on my finger:

Here is the reason it stopped running:

The cam chain jumped off. The cam chain tensioner came apart, and was laying down in the cam chain tunnel. I could not get a picture of it down inside but here are the parts:

In this picture you can see the groves that the chain cut into the side of the case a bit.

But question I still haven't worked out is, did the tensioner fail or was it damaged when the chain jumped off? Cause or effect? Thoughts?
I hope to get a few hours on it in the morning and will follow up.
The good news is that so far the cams look good. I need a lot more investigation to get to the bottom but I am encouraged by what I see so far.
Also I found the washer that went missing so that was not the problem. And so far no other parts that should not be there.
More to come.
John

 

[XtreemLee]

27,700 miles. Yes it is a lot. Not sure why. I would think with all the high speed interstate riding it would be cleaner.
Not sure yet AC. If I can convince myself the the main bearing on the left cylinder is OK then I may not. There is a risk either way. Obliviously there is risk that if I don't split the cases there could be an undetected issues. But if I do split them. there are several risks with that as well. Like the amateur wrench doing the work, screwing something up. Of course that could never happen. : Oh wait that is how I got here! LOL Also one of the big risks is that a critical part will be back ordered. The more I open up the more parts are required. Mostly gaskets and seals and they could be reused in a pinch but not if torn. If this were just one of my project bikes and I had plenty of time I would not be so worried about it but this is my main ride and I need it back on the road ASAP. But I also need it to be reliable. . . .
I am going to pull the bottom oil pan off next and the oil pump and see how that looks while I think about it.

$2200.00

is what my engine mistake cost me. Pulled the motor split that cases first time. Put it all back together didn't read last paragraph about priming the oil circuit. Ran the engine wondering why the oil light won't go out. Engine seizes. Look over instructions, discover I didn't follow last step. $2200 for new engine...

 

[AKC Tenere]

I bow to thee.....................
Thanks for sharing your journey with us.
I have found all your posts very interesting and informative.
If i lived nearer i would buy you a pint!
Much appreciated.
::003::

 

[stutrump]

If I lived nearer Id get get you to check my valves!!...and buy you several pints!!