Valve adjustment intervals

[MarkShelley]

The manual says every 6K.
I know it doesn`t take long, but I have now decided to leave it for 10K at a time as they hardly ever need adjusting, and if they do it is a minute adjustment. Checked them last night after 9K and all were perfect.
Is it normal for them to stay in adjustment for so long or am I lucky?

 

[monkeyboy]

just leave them alone forever IMO - if you can hear them then check but otherwise just leave them be.

 

[MattW]

just leave them alone forever IMO - if you can hear them then check but otherwise just leave them be.

So if they tighten up due to valve seat recession and you end up burning an exhaust valve, it'll all be fine?

Remind me not to buy a bike off you...

 

[DrFarkoff]

Yup I'm with Matt! it only takes half an hour

It makes sure the bike is in good condition and as he says the clearances aren't closing with valve recession and risking the burning out of a valve which could be very expensive

What's the issue, unless you have a load of tourtwat bling and dopey arse crash bars, even then, it is well worth it. While you are doing that you should check the rocker end float and then the clearances and then balance the throttles again, Makes for a much smoother running bike

Do we take it that other maintenance is carried out when it should be ?

 

[Michael R1150GS Adventure]

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

need to do mine then. Havent touched them since I bought it in 2007.

Where can i get these clever little prepacked sets of feeler guages Ive seen in here?

 

[DrFarkoff]

It would be an interesting experiment if you had the gear?

If you were to do a compression check before you do them and again afterwards

Honestly go buy a 2 pairs of standard feeler gauges and when you are setting the clearances use one set on the top spot and one set for the lower

Do the rocker end float first

then the valve clearances

Inlet 0.15mm and Exhaust 0.30mm

Sorry I cant recall the exact endfloat figure but I think about 0.1 ~0.15mm is about where I set them

Basically if they slap up and down the rocker shaft and click when you reach either end they are a wee bit loose! POST 9 here from Steppers in case you manage to find the ADV rider Guff

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

need to do mine then. Havent touched them since I bought it in 2007.

Where can i get these clever little prepacked sets of feeler guages Ive seen in here?

 

[MarkShelley]

Yup I'm with Matt! it only takes half an hour

It makes sure the bike is in good condition and as he says the clearances aren't closing with valve recession and risking the burning out of a valve which could be very expensive

What's the issue, unless you have a load of tourtwat bling and dopey arse crash bars, even then, it is well worth it. While you are doing that you should check the rocker end float and then the clearances and then balance the throttles again, Makes for a much smoother running bike

Do we take it that other maintenance is carried out when it should be ?

Yes indeed, in fact I did the TB balancing this very lunchtime as it only takes a couple of mins. I dangle the carbtune from the garage door. All three lumps of oil are changed religiously, but I think the local Vicar just enjoys wearing my latex gloves.

 

[monkeyboy]

well my 2 boxers have done nearly 300k between them. Maybe when they begin to wear I'll have a problem no doubt

 

[MarkShelley]

Mine has done 109K

 

[Steptoe]

well my 2 boxers have done nearly 300k between them. Maybe when they begin to wear I'll have a problem no doubt

Then just think how many more miles they'd manage if they had the most basic of maintenance

 

[monkeyboy]

Mine has done 109K

People have lots of opinions on this as you can see! Mine is perhaps one extreem based purely on my own experience. I was speaking to a ex BMW mechanic the other day and he was of the same opinion but as others have said - it really is a piece of cake so why not.... unless you've got engine bars on maybe when you can't take the front panel off easily to turn the engine over like my H&Bs.

My 1150 has done about the same as yours - I took the heads off after shearing the exhaust bolts. I decoked it and reground the valves too so I did reset the tappets then obviously but it was the first time for maybe 40k. The valves and seats were pretty good IMO - even though it had drunk everything from the petrol equivalent of piss to powerade on its travels. My other one I just gave up checking as they never changed

 

[Flipfly]

People have lots of opinions on this as you can see! Mine is perhaps one extreem based purely on my own experience. I was speaking to a ex BMW mechanic the other day and he was of the same opinion but as others have said - it really is a piece of cake so why not.... unless you've got engine bars on maybe when you can't take the front panel off easily to turn the engine over like my H&Bs.

My 1150 has done about the same as yours - I took the heads off after shearing the exhaust bolts. I decoked it and reground the valves too so I did reset the tappets then obviously but it was the first time for maybe 40k. The valves were pretty good IMO - even though it had drunk everything from the petrol equivalent of piss to powerade on its travels. My other one I just gave up checking as they never changed

But you say to check them when you can hear them, surely if the gaps have closed, that's when they go quiet?

Tick tick........... BOOM!!!!

 

[monkeyboy]

But you say to check them when you can hear them, surely if the gaps have closed, that's when they go quiet?

Tick tick........... BOOM!!!!

Whatever - you would notice a change in the sound. The bike would start running differently too. All anyone can do is go by their own experience. The right way is somewhere in between as usual

 

[motobiker]

Checked at every service on my bike, it doesn't take long. - I don't much care for nasty expensive surprises - as with any potential problem on these bikes. catch it early and its a cheap or even 'free' fix... leave it and its a major financial pain.

 

[Steptoe]

I get a lot of work due to valve gaps closing up and valves getting burnt, funnily more on RT models than GS's. .

And in my experience working on different bikes every single day some do and some don't, and why you can't say "don't bother checking, they never change".

But it doesn't worry me what you do, as it's not my bike

 

[MarkShelley]

I wouldn`t dream of never checking them, but I am confident I will be OK going to 10K intervals. I tend to do the oil every 5K, so that will tie in nicely.

 

[DrFarkoff]

So if they start to close up around 6,500 they will continue closing until you check them

I wouldn`t dream of never checking them, but I am confident I will be OK going to 10K intervals. I tend to do the oil every 5K, so that will tie in nicely.

Monkeyboy Sorry to disagree but the change is so gradual for most "riders" they wont know until it burns a bit out ad it gets really lumpy

 

[MattW]

So if they start to close up around 6,500 they will continue closing until you check them

Monkeyboy Sorry to disagree but the change is so gradual for most "riders" they wont know until it burns a bit out ad it gets really lumpy

Exactly - it takes an extra 1/2 hour on an oil change, so why not?...

And an oil change is a handy time to do it as you'll drop a dollop of oil out of each cover anyway.

I think some people set too much store by the "they'll run for ever on chip fat - fix them with a hammer when they're broke" tosh that you regularly read on here.

Still, as Steptoe says - your bike, your choice but I'll make sure I never buy a vehicle off you

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Genuine question on this subject

I allways drain the oil when the bike is warm so it runs out nicely but doesnt the engine need to be stone cold to check/adjust valve clearances ???

 

[Myke Rocks]

Don't really know

My bike has circa 40,000 miles on it.
I have never had the rocker covers off it, so if it burns out a valve in the next 40,000 or so, then I guess I should have done so and checked the clearances.
I haven't checked the valve clearance in any car I have owned in the last 20 years & 500,000+ miles so why should I need to do so on this relatively untuned engine?
Possibly another BMW means of extracting money from the pockets of the gullable.
Myke