Progress (sic) on the '84 VR

Patmac6075 · April 20, 2015

Well, the stars finally aligned and I have some time and money...so I pushed my Venture into the garage to do a little work.

Since my bike is mostly disassembled, I figured I'd get the valves in spec before I start putting everything back together...guess what? Not a single valve is within spec! One or two are close, but close ain't within spec!

So, now I'll be ordering a shim tool tonight...and hopefully I'll be able to swap some shims around so I won't have to buy/trade/barter too many.

Can somebody tell me, what diameter shims do our bikes take?

Just to throw insult onto injury, I checked the date codes on my tires...the rear (still has the blue protective covering on the letters) shows 229 (May of '99) and the front shows 427 (October of '97), could be '89 & '87...so better safe than sorry. I'll be ordering some new tires soon as well. That's too bad, because those tires both look brand new....very few cracks and almost no wear.

Cheers

Prairiehammer · April 20, 2015

Can somebody tell me, what diameter shims do our bikes take?

All Yamaha 1983-1993 XVZs and Yamaha FJ, VMX take 25mm shims, as do many Hondas and some Triumphs, so don't get fixated on finding shims JUST intended for the Venture.

BlueSky · April 21, 2015

Sounds peculiar that all valves would be out of spec. Make sure the engine was in the correct position to check them.

Way back my 1975 Honda Civic with the 1488cc CVCC engine had solid lifter valves to be checked. The manual said position the engine in one position and check half of them and another position and check the other half. That didn't work. I finally positioned the engine where each cylinder was at TDC on the compression stroke when I checked each of the 4 cylinders. That way I got the clearances right and they didn't click from having too much clearance when I finished.

Patmac6075 · April 21, 2015

While I can't say with Ventures, with other Yamaha's (specifically, XJ's), if the P.O.'s had never checked valve clearance (especially the first time, warranty check up ), it's not at all unusual for all valves to be out of spec (even with a low mileage bike like mine...18k). I know with other Yamaha's having valves in spec is possibly the single most important and most neglected maintenance item. Because these bikes (especially XJ's) are bullet proof and run great....until they don't. Yamaha says valves should be checked after initial break in period (1 month or 600 mi. and then every 7.5K), that's nearly 4 times this bike may have missed...and as we all know that first check up is most important because that's when the most adjustment is usually necessary (after initial break in, valves usually stay in spec through three or four intervals. Never the less, close attention should be paid to this important routine maintenance item). The problem is, checking valves, although not difficult in and of it's self, is time consuming and for some cases outside of our comfort zone....

Valves were checked (actually, in some cases 3x's) exactly as the FSM suggests. Will check one more time just before each shim is pulled and recorded, just to be positive. Really hoping I won't have to purchase more than 3 - 4 shims.

Karaboo · April 21, 2015

I have never heard that the Venture (1200 or 1300) required a valve check after break in. I read in my literature the requirement to check valves came at around 30,000 miles. Some people have stretched this out considerably, but most have reported very few adjustments needed at the factory interval.

My XS650 on the other hand gets a check every year. It is a lot easier to do. No shims.

Patmac6075 · April 21, 2015

That's strange? Perhaps if you check on page 1 of the Factory Service Manual under the heading "Maintenance Interval Chart". You can clearly see that Yamaha requires a check after initial break in of either 1 month or 600 miles, and then every 18 months or 7500 miles thereafter.

I'm interested to see your literature specifying a valve check at around 30,000 miles.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Patmac6075

dingy · April 21, 2015

Attached are pages from owners manual (1983) & service manual (1986-1993).

Both of these show valve check done at 42,000km (26,600 miles.

The chart in the service manual is easier to follow due to format, both manual's uses a dot in column to indicate check required.

Gary

Patmac6075 · April 21, 2015

This is from the service manual downloaded from this site. Shows a dot at 600 miles and 7500 miles

Interesting.

Flyinfool · April 21, 2015

I like the other manuals better.

I am doing my bikes first ever valve check at 58,000 miles, so half are still in spec.

dingy · April 21, 2015

[ATTACH=CONFIG]98921[/ATTACH]
This is from the service manual downloaded from this site. Shows a dot at 600 miles and 7500 miles
Interesting.

I see what you are looking at in 83-85 Service manual, similar to what is in the 86-93 SM, page I posted above is also from Periodic Inspections & Adj.. , interval is 26,600 miles for 1st check.

1st time I have seen this one. There are more than a few error in the service manual though. Be nice to see a compilation of errors.

Gary

Patmac6075 · April 21, 2015

No matter....my bike is 30+ years old and has 18k on it and it's torn apart AND the valves are all out of spec...so I'll be shim'n regardless of whose manual I use!

Prairiehammer · April 21, 2015

Attached are my scans from the various manuals I own. It appears that the MKI have a more frequent valve inspection/adjustment. Perhaps, Yamaha decided after three years that the frequent valve inspections were unneeded?