Question, Valve Adjustments

[DanC]

I read that one does not need to worry about valve adjustment on the 1300 venture engine until around 100,000 miles. My bike has about 18,000 miles on it, 2008 but I would like to know just went is the recommended time to go to that length in getting into the valves and shim replacement. Just a ballpark figure so as I know about when to perform the valve job. Thanks, DanC:dancefool:

[V7Goose]

I don't know what you read that said you could ignore it for 100,000 miles, but in my opinion, that would demonstrate an extraordinary lack of intelligence.

 

The maintenance spec says you need to check the valves every 26,600 miles. I do not recommend exceeding that requirement, but I can understand people pushing it to maybe 50,000 miles. More than that is just dumb or exceptionally lazy. Yes, I'm sure that some people do and get away with it, but others try and pay a price.

 

Under warranty, make sure you do it within the required spec. Out of warranty, the ballpark figure I would give you is 30,000 - 40,000 miles, unless you make a practice of regularly hitting the rev limiter and power shifting, in which case I would absolutely check it by 30,000.

Goose

[dingy]

Another warm welcome for a new supporting member.

 

 

Dan,

 

Since you are still under the 5 year warranty, you would need to have the scheduled maintenance done, as Goose so eloquently penned above. This would protect you in case there was a future problem within the 5 year period. If scheduled maintenance is not done, Yamaha may be able to deny warranty service.

 

If you are mechanically inclined, this procedure is something that can be done with reasonable skills and necessary tools. The odd tool would be the valve shim tool plus the required shims if any are out of spec. If you do this, or other maintenance yourself, keep records & receipts, which will protect you under the warranty.

 

Do you know any history of the bike, such as service records. I believe there is a way to get them from Yamaha. This would give you an indication if the bike has been maintained per manufacturers recommendations by a Yamaha dealer.

 

Gary

[RandyR]

if you go to the Yamaha web site you will be able to create an account for yourself, register your bike by serial number and year, and then have access to the online service documents which include the scheduled maintenance items, like the 26,000 mile valve check. In the Tech Section here there is a link to a RSV maintenance manual which describes the valve clearance procedure. There are also articles by both V7Goose and Dingy which talk about doing the check.

 

The engine for all ventures and tours and early Vmaxes use 25mm shims over buckets and the same bucket depression tool to remove and replace shims if necessary. No special tool is required to check the clearance however, just removal of the two valve covers, and possibly replacing the 2 gaskets when doing so.

[Seaking]

The maintenance spec says you need to check the valves every 26,600 miles. I do not recommend exceeding that requirement, but I can understand people pushing it to maybe 50,000 miles. More than that is just dumb or exceptionally lazy. Yes, I'm sure that some people do and get away with it, but others try and pay a price.

 

Under warranty, make sure you do it within the required spec. Out of warranty, the ballpark figure I would give you is 30,000 - 40,000 miles, unless you make a practice of regularly hitting the rev limiter and power shifting, in which case I would absolutely check it by 30,000.

Goose

 

Geesus, I'm due for another valve check soon again?! I just had it done this spring and already pushing close to the 22,000 miles since then.. ouch.. Under Goose's tutelage, I saw it done first hand and though it appeared daunting at first, he showed that it can be done by the back yard mechanic easily enough.. well worth the effort of having it done the last time as the engine smoothed out nicely and works well since then..

 

Well worth going through the process.. got it all done in ONE day at Goose's Garage.. but it would take me a week to go through the process carefully, trying to remember all the little tricks that make the task easier and proper.

 

Another trip to the US to pick up shims and tools next summer =)

 

Cheers

[davecb]

Here the price for valve adjustment is $260.00. I will be needing it in a few monthe, and I will have it done. This is for the warranty, and also to make sure that they were set right from the factory... Peace of mind is a great thing...

[Seaking]

Here the price for valve adjustment is $260.00. I will be needing it in a few monthe, and I will have it done. This is for the warranty, and also to make sure that they were set right from the factory... Peace of mind is a great thing...

 

 

$260 for a valve adjustment?! Wow, if I could get it done for that price here, I'd certainly would prefer letting them do it. it would be worth it

 

I'll call the local shops here and see what THEY charge.. I'll almost have to wager it would be a lot more.. :/

 

Cheers

[RandyR]

A valve adjustment at a flat rate is a gamble for a mechanic. If everything is within spec, then the checking of the clearance can be easily done in a couple hours on a 2nd gen. If the valves are out of spec, then the amount of time to do the job goes up incrementally by # of shims that need replacing and then re-checking. And this assumes the mechanic has enough spare shims of the needed sizes to do the job on the first pass.

 

I'd also make sure any mechanic that quotes you a flat rate like this KNOWS exactly what he is doing, and not quoting you a price for a 1300 Vstar twin. Ask him how many V4's he's done valve adjustment jobs on before?

[V7Goose]

A valve adjustment at a flat rate is a gamble for a mechanic. If everything is within spec, then the checking of the clearance can be easily done in a couple hours on a 2nd gen. If the valves are out of spec, then the amount of time to do the job goes up incrementally by # of shims that need replacing and then re-checking. And this assumes the mechanic has enough spare shims of the needed sizes to do the job on the first pass.

 

I'd also make sure any mechanic that quotes you a flat rate like this KNOWS exactly what he is doing, and not quoting you a price for a 1300 Vstar twin. Ask him how many V4's he's done valve adjustment jobs on before?

Randy, I do not agree with you that the valves on a 2nd gen can be checked in just a couple of hours - there is just too much that has to be removed to even get the valve covers off. This is a MAJOR job, and IMHO any shop that quotes less than $300 is either totally ignorant of this machine or just does not plan on doing the work at all.

 

You are of coarse correct that the amount of time required increases if any valves are found out of tolerance, but in my experience, the amount of time needed to change shims on even six valves is relatively minor to the amount of time required for this entire job.

 

I have no doubts that a good mechanic experienced on this bike and just focused on the work instead of teaching would complete the job is much less time than I do, but I would still be dumbfounded if I ever saw someone do it in two hours! I have not personally seen the flat-rate manual figures for this job, but I seem to recall hearing that is was six hours.

Goose

[RandyR]

Randy, I do not agree with you that the valves on a 2nd gen can be checked in just a couple of hours - there is just too much that has to be removed to even get the valve covers off. This is a MAJOR job, and IMHO any shop that quotes less than $300 is either totally ignorant of this machine or just does not plan on doing the work at all.

 

Goose

 

probably right Goose. The chances of getting a mechanic that knows this job inside and out, and has everything laid out right so he can just do the needed work work flat out, is not likely to happen too often.

 

Having a shim that was stuck in its bucket that took major fiddling around to get out recently has probably slanted my outlook on the time actually needed to change out the shims.

[TomMar]

I just completed my first valve adjustment on my '06 Midnight Venture at 26700mi. I had several valves in spec, several way out of spec and most close to spec. Now they are ALL in spec. I'm kinda anal when it comes to taking things apart, labeling them and reassembling so I won't tell you how long it took me. I will tell you that the learning experience was invaluable and I will do it again in 30000mi.

 

I will aslo say it took me 30 agonizing minutes just to put the air intake gizmos back together. So if anyone can di it in two hours I'd love to see it.

 

 

[Seaking]

Just out of curiosity, I called the two local shops to find out what they would charge to have this done..

 

At the first shop, I had to explain to them what a 1300 Yamaha Royal Star Venture was.. (no joke) and offered that their price of 2 shop hours to have it done was way too low.. After asking someone in the know, the guy comes back and says "Oh I had the wrong RSV type listed..".. (shaking head...) After getting someone competent on the phone, they tell me a realistic 3 hours to do the job at $75/hr rate.. but as soon as they find a need to adjust then it takes time. He was able to go through some records of previous bikes they worked on (not many!!) and found the average was 4 hours.. closer to 5 hours shop time.

 

The second shop knew what a RSV was, which is always good, and quoted the book rate of 4.5 hours (roughly $450 plus shop supplies) which would include some adjustment time, but if a lot of adjustments are required, then it starts to add. That was a more confident knowledgeable answer than the first place, but unfortunately this was the same shop who failed twice on maintenance on my bike in the past..

 

So around here, a valve job is closer to the $400-$500 range.. Unfortunately the level of competency worries me. They don't see these bikes very often and well.. I dunno.. I may have to dig deep into the memory reserves and attempt it myself.

 

Goose did a good job of pointing out the little idiosyncrasies of this bike when pulling things off and putting them back together again.. if only my memory will come back alive lol Wish I had video captured the process back then.

 

Alrighty then.. That was fun..

[davecb]

Guess I should check with the Yamaha Guru in Ft Payne on this...

[DanC]

I don't know what you read that said you could ignore it for 100,000 miles, but in my opinion, that would demonstrate an extraordinary lack of intelligence.

 

The maintenance spec says you need to check the valves every 26,600 miles. I do not recommend exceeding that requirement, but I can understand people pushing it to maybe 50,000 miles. More than that is just dumb or exceptionally lazy. Yes, I'm sure that some people do and get away with it, but others try and pay a price.

 

Under warranty, make sure you do it within the required spec. Out of warranty, the ballpark figure I would give you is 30,000 - 40,000 miles, unless you make a practice of regularly hitting the rev limiter and power shifting, in which case I would absolutely check it by 30,000.

Goose

I would have the work done but I really wonder about the people who work on the bike if THEY,truely understand the procedure and use the right shims or even have them on hand for the job. I am very fussy about people working on my bike and like to think that they will do a excellant job. Like someone said some shops if they have problems or not the right shim would just put it back together and claim it was all set. The maintenance manager would be on the person working on the bike to get it done and do not worry about every detail. I believe that the valve adjustment is much more than two hours because one does not know what is in store when it comes to the engine until one tests and looks. Nervous about the value job coming up at 26,000 miles. Still under warranty so I need to document it completed as required. Thanks for everyones reply concerning this issue. DanC:dancefool:

[V7Goose]

Dan, you don't need to worry much about documenting the service. If you are going to buy new valve cover gaskets, that receipt will serve as appropriate documentation if you do your own work or take it to an independent mechanic. Another option is to simply take a picture of the bike with the valve covers off. US law guarantees that you have the right to do your own work without voiding the warranty, and any reasonable evidence that it was done, such as receipts for parts, oil, etc., is sufficient.

 

As for the gaskets, I have mixed feelings there. These gaskets are thick soft rubber, and the torque spec for the cover is so low it does not really compress them, so I suspect they can be reused without problems. BUT, it is so much work to get the covers off, I'd be heartbroken if I had to go back in to fix a leak. Because of that, I generally recommend you spend the $40 necessary to buy new gaskets.

Goose

[DanC]

thanks for all your help concerning the valve adjustment and etc. I would also like to ask about which is better the Vaccum type testers like Carbtune or the Gages. They sell a set of gages at JC Whitney for 120.00. The vaccum type would require no calibration but the gages could get out of calibration over time. what do you think???

[V7Goose]

thanks for all your help concerning the valve adjustment and etc. I would also like to ask about which is better the Vaccum type testers like Carbtune or the Gages. They sell a set of gages at JC Whitney for 120.00. The vaccum type would require no calibration but the gages could get out of calibration over time. what do you think???

There is a ton of information here in many older posts on this subject - here is one recent one:

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53960&highlight=vacuum

 

Many people love the Carbtune, but I think it is a terrible tool, and I have offered detailed reasons why I hold that opinion in many of the older threads.

 

JC Whitney is no longer a good source for the vacuum gauge set - their price got stupidly high several years ago, but those sets can still be purchased for about $50 from several places on the web. I know that a couple of different sources have been identified in older threads on this board; try a search on "vacuum gauges". Here is one reasonable source:

http://www.sportingforless.com/servlet/the-carb-sync-gauge/Categories

Goose

Edited December 9, 2010 by V7Goose