How many have had valve issue and and what mileage?

[Lug Nut]

Curious as to who all have had valve issues and what mileage

Also, if you checked and/or adjusted valves and at what mileage?

[djh3]

29K I had 2 maybe 3 rite at max. Still with in limits just at low end.The rest were all over the board. So I put the ones that were at one end of scale closer to high end. The valves have a tendency to "pull" themselves into the head and clearances decrease. So I went thru, measured them all at least twice probably 3 times and reset all the ones I didnt like. More to middle or larger side of gaps. I had a bag full of shims so I could do this.

For the most part I have read of fellows not checking valves until 40k and still not have specs out. Very few that at say 25k and were messed up. It is quite a chore to do. You will feel like your disassembling half of the bike to just get at the valve covers. Be sure to measure the shims, dont rely on the markings on the shim.

[Flyinfool]

I agree with Djh3.

 

Checking them is not a difficult job but it is very time consuming as they are not real easy to get to. I checked mine at 50K and there were several exhaust valve right at the point of ready to blow the engine. They we under .001 clearance. If you hit zero you will burn the valve out of the engine. As mentioned there are others like @cowpuc that have gone 300K miles and never checked them and had no problems. Do you feel lucky???

 

As far as actually have valve problems other that scheduled maintenance, it is very very rare and usually tied to abuse.

[Lug Nut]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't want to spend all weekend doing this if not necessary. My 98 has 40k miles and runs great and gets 42-45 mpg in town and ha had ALL other maintenance done very recently. This is something i would probably take to a mechanic and didn't want to waste $300+ doing this work.

[Kirby]

The bike may run really well until it burns a valve. Like the man said, "Do you feel lucky?".

[Kirby]

One more thing. The clearances are set on a cold engine. Now when the engines warms up and gets hot , some of that clearance goes away. I think the manual says to check the clearances at about 26,000 miles. So really you may have already been lucky.

[ragtop69gs]

Checked mine at 71K and 4 were almost at the limits.

[cowpuc]

I agree with Djh3.

 

Checking them is not a difficult job but it is very time consuming as they are not real easy to get to. I checked mine at 50K and there were several exhaust valve right at the point of ready to blow the engine. They we under .001 clearance. If you hit zero you will burn the valve out of the engine. As mentioned there are others like @cowpuc that have gone 300K miles and never checked them and had no problems. Do you feel lucky???

 

As far as actually have valve problems other that scheduled maintenance, it is very very rare and usually tied to abuse.

 

This is gonna sound nuts but Fool is hitting it here - I just retired Tweeks with well over 300k on her and I never touched the valves in her (and she actually still ran pretty dog gone strong - used/leak some oil but still ran) - she had 30k on her when I got her and I have NO idea if some previous owner ever did have the valves done before I got her.. She was number 5 for me in a long history of short shifting (no 2nd gear) low mileage 1st Gens out to retirement.. My other scoots all made it well past 200k and never did valves on them either.. I know - I am one abusive, mean person for doing so BUT - I been riding em cause - well,, cause I liked to take vacations away from fixing bikes and always figured these ol Yams were the PERFECT scoot to do it on!!

All that said,, here is something I find VERY interesting... I have the books on this latest sweetheart 83 I got from Carbon One that belonged to Denden - a past member I believe.. According to his amazing maintenance records, he did the valves on this thing regularly!! It will be interesting to see if Tip n I can chase this one out to 500k

[Bert2006]

I am the 3rd owner of my bike, had no idea what the PO's did for maintenance. Got valves done last year at 46k miles and they were all tight. All shims had to be replaced, so I would not ignore it.

[2WHEELSFORME]

No responses as to someone having a problem just warnings. 112K here checked once at 45k and it was within specs.