Doing valve adjustment - tool and shim kit needed?

[InfinitySurf]

Hey everyone,

I have a 2012 RSV that I got back in 2021, about 31k miles on it now and has been an awesome bike! Put around 7k miles on it since buying, haven't ridden it as much as I would like since I usually gotta drive my truck for work to carry tools/ladder but plan to pull my trailer more often next summer to be able to also use it during the week.

Started making a little noise at the rear wheel a few weeks ago so I just finished replacing the wheel bearings (which solved the noise)...1st thing I did was remove the bearing covers, clean out the crappy water soluble oem grease and re-pack the bearings with Lucas marine grease. Since I had the rear end apart anyway I went ahead and removed the swingarm to check those bearings, they looked good but very little grease in there so I also re-packed those real well and got everything back together along with a new Shinko 777 tire for the rear. Obviously I also cleaned up the driveshaft & the drive pinions/gears and re-assembled it all with the Honda moly grease. New Amsoil 75w90 severe gear in the final drive, etc.

Anyway... the point of this post is that the rear valve cover gaskets have been leaking since I got the bike and its kept getting worse and makes a mess on the back part of the engine, I need to get this solved asap. I have had the new valve cover gaskets for a while but am finally gonna tear into it in the next month while weather is cold. Since its easiest to remove everything including the carbs for access... I am going to clean the carbs, replace the Iridium plugs and it only makes sense to go ahead and do a valve check/adjustment while I have that all opened up. I doing a lot of mechanical DIY so no issues there but I know that I need a special too in order to pull/replace shims that are out of spec, I have seen mentioned on here several times that there are some members who will loan out the tool and shim kit in exchange for?? Is there anyone who may be willing to do that for me? I am in NC & live North of Charlotte near Lake Norman. If none available to borrow, could anyone point me to link where I could buy the tool and a shim kit for reasonable prices? Since it wont be riding weather I also have the option to check all the valves and figure out what I need and then order only the sizes needed since it wont be an issue to have some down time but I know many times its worth buying a kit vs single shims since cost is not that much higher (I have a Honda 300L dual sport that I bought entire kit after installing new cams since buying single shims was outrageous)

Oh yea... the ONLY issue I have had with this bike since buying it that I have been unable to resolve is my gas gauge not working from day 1. I replaced the entire in-tank system with new OEM in winter of 2021 and it never solved it... still get the flashing gas gauge on the dash (8 blinks), really annoying. When I replaced it the first time and it didn't work I figured I got a faulty one so got the Yamaha dealer return the gauge and send me another brand new one.... same result. Super frustrating and kindof gave up on it since its not a huge issue as I just check track my mileage. Still annoying tho and would like to solve this somehow. When apart last time I figured there must be a broken or grounded wire somewhere between causing this issue so used ohm meter and had continuity on every wire I could find between the gas gauge cluster and the harness for the internal gas float assembly so got stumped on tracking whatever the core issue is... any chance anyone has any other ideas on what else I could look at?

[sleepy2]

Yes there is a member(can't remember his handle ) but he offered to loan the kit but we are in Canada but shipping was an issue! So @Marcarl found some and he had a tool anyways!Between my 2012 and @XV1100SE 2009 we had to change 3 shims(1 on mine and2 on his) I was checking mine as I had same leaking valve cover from when a dealer did(supposedly ,can't remember cost but another dealer that I asked said it wasn't done as they didn't have bike long enough and other tell tale signs---based on information I told them) a valve check at recommended(by manual).I lived with cleaning the mess until I heard that @XV1100SEwas going to do his with @Marcarls help so they let me show up(after I ordered the parts)to do both bikes at once! We picked a weekend and made a day of it!

KNOCK ON WOOD I haven't had any other major repairs to have done besides oil,filter, tires(general maintenance),head bearings,rotors and exhaust pipes(Y-pipes both sides because it has been ridden over 130,000klms rain and shine!!!)

[InfinitySurf]

34 minutes ago, sleepy2 said:

Yes there is a member(can't remember his handle ) but he offered to loan the kit but we are in Canada but shipping was an issue! So @Marcarl found some and he had a tool anyways!Between my 2012 and @XV1100SE 2009 we had to change 3 shims(1 on mine and2 on his) I was checking mine as I had same leaking valve cover from when a dealer did(supposedly ,can't remember cost but another dealer that I asked said it wasn't done as they didn't have bike long enough and other tell tale signs---based on information I told them) a valve check at recommended(by manual).I lived with cleaning the mess until I heard that @XV1100SEwas going to do his with @Marcarls help so they let me show up(after I ordered the parts)to do both bikes at once! We picked a weekend and made a day of it!

KNOCK ON WOOD I haven't had any other major repairs to have done besides oil,filter, tires(general maintenance),head bearings,rotors and exhaust pipes(Y-pipes both sides because it has been ridden over 130,000klms rain and shine!!!)

Beautiful bike! Mine has been super reliable as well and all my work except for the points on my fuel pump wearing out, the gas gauge issue I havent been able to resolve & the recent bearing replacement for rear wheel has either been preventative or upgrades I was doing to the bike. Working on the bike is a calming Zen moment for me, so I typically do way more than I need to just cause I enjoy being elbow deep into an engine :-). I always have something torn apart in the garage.

[RDawson]

I used @skydoc_17’s shim kit. He’s got the feeler gauges, picks to get the shims out easier, and the cam tool. I highly recommend having a kit like his to save tons of time. Instead of going through all 16 valves to figure out where to move shims I did each one as I went and then rolled it through again to double check each one. 

[Freebird]

I’ve got the tool that I could send you but do not have the shims.

[luvmy40]

 At least one local Yamaha dealership near me will exchange shims for free. One For One. It does mean nearly double the work, but it is nice that they do this.

[RDawson]

2 hours ago, luvmy40 said:

 At least one local Yamaha dealership near me will exchange shims for free. One For One. It does mean nearly double the work, but it is nice that they do this.

Granted I’m in small town America but I couldn’t find a dealer around here with shims. Closest Yamaha dealer asked me what kind of antique I was working on to need 25mm shims. The RSV wasn’t even out of its 10 year service window at that time, that told me they weren’t correctly servicing the bikes they sold. I needed one that Earl’s kit didn’t have, a member here mailed me one 

[InfinitySurf]

Talked to a guy for a while last night who is well known in the RSV world, keeps a yard full of used & old stock new parts and has had hundreds of these bikes and put a couple hundred thousand miles on several of them. He basically said 2 things.

1). Extremely rare to need valve adjustment and if needed the bike will tell you by how it runs so basically a waste of money.....no doubt that if you gotta buy the tool for $75 and then either a shim kit for around $150+ or buy shims 1 at a time for $10+ each it certainly seems like it could get pretty spendy. The bike certainly does run excellent.

2) When you replace the valve gaskets you are supposed to also replace the 16 grommets/plugs under the vavle cover. I have not removed the valve covers yet so I looked at diagram and looks like the part# is 90338-10150-00 and in diagram they are called a "plug" (In the attached diagram it is part# 33). Has anyone else replaced these at same time as the valve covers? They are basically $5 each. He also said that a hack some people use to not replace them is by adding a thin washer under the head of the bolts that hold down the valve covers. Has anyone done this? Have also read in multiple posts that adding a little RTV can help prevent the gasket from leaking again in the future. Just by looking at how the covers are bolted down it seems like its not well designed to keep the seal compressed properly over time due to the lack of bolts holding the cover down.

Personally my mindset on a bike that I never plan to sell is too go ahead and do it right so I don't have to deal with potential future issues. Either way once I have the valve covers open I am definitely going to check the spacing as that is easy enough to do, guess this is the right time of year to do it so if any of the valves are tighter than spec calls for (sounds like exhaust valves are the most likely to tighten up 1st) I can decide what to do at that time. I have bought several things from @skydoc_17 for my bike in the past so I will definitely message him and see if its an option to rent his kit and if any shims need to be replaced obviously add any removed shims to his kit.

[RDawson]

I used RTV at the cam recesses. I didn’t replace the rubber plugs, I didn’t know about them when I did it. My rear cover has started seeping recently (30,000 miles later)but it’s gonna have to wait til next winter, although I’ve heard of some re-torquing the bolts and having good luck. There’s always been an argument whether to do the valves but like you I plan to keep it til either it’s worn out or I am so I invested the time, I took them close to the outer limit to try not going there again. 

[InfinitySurf]

1 hour ago, RDawson said:

I used RTV at the cam recesses. I didn’t replace the rubber plugs, I didn’t know about them when I did it. My rear cover has started seeping recently (30,000 miles later)but it’s gonna have to wait til next winter, although I’ve heard of some re-torquing the bolts and having good luck. There’s always been an argument whether to do the valves but like you I plan to keep it til either it’s worn out or I am so I invested the time, I took them close to the outer limit to try not going there again. 

Thanks for the reply, if I get 30k out of the new gaskets I will be pretty happy with that! I am guessing those bolts must have a shoulder and why the "hack" is adding a thin washer under the head in order to be able to push the valve cover down a little extra. Have also seen a couple posts tho that talk about the leak getting worse when torqued beyond the spec so not sure how I feel about. Guess once I remove the covers and can see everything I will have to make a decision then on the route I will try. I sent skydoc an email about the tool & shim kit, will see if he is open to renting it out once he sees it. 

Wife is still loving those passenger highway pegs I got from you a while back! Love that Wolo horn too, damn thing is LOUD which is exactly what I wanted!

[luvmy40]

The valve cover bolts are indeed shouldered.

I had badly leaking cover gaskets on my '83 and did did the shims when I replaced the gaskets. None of them were very bad, but a couple exhaust shims were just slightly out of spec. I have no idea what the odometer said at that time.

My '86 had 75k+ miles on it when I sold it and it had never had the valves adjusted. The valve cover gaskets were just starting to seep a bit 2 years ago.

My'06 has 120K on the clock and has never had the valves adjusted and the gaskets are tight as a drum. No seepage at all. It runs great.

 

 

Edited November 23 by luvmy40

[Marcarl]

2 hours ago, InfinitySurf said:

Thanks for the reply, if I get 30k out of the new gaskets I will be pretty happy with that! I am guessing those bolts must have a shoulder and why the "hack" is adding a thin washer under the head in order to be able to push the valve cover down a little extra. Have also seen a couple posts tho that talk about the leak getting worse when torqued beyond the spec so not sure how I feel about. Guess once I remove the covers and can see everything I will have to make a decision then on the route I will try. I sent skydoc an email about the tool & shim kit, will see if he is open to renting it out once he sees it. 

Wife is still loving those passenger highway pegs I got from you a while back! Love that Wolo horn too, damn thing is LOUD which is exactly what I wanted!

I would look for a complete kit for the gaskets and plugs, either Earl or maybe Pinwall Cycle

[RDawson]

7 minutes ago, Marcarl said:

I would look for a complete kit for the gaskets and plugs, either Earl or maybe Pinwall Cycle

Junior told me a couple days ago that Pinwall sold out at auction. No idea who bought it or what the future is. 

[InfinitySurf]

5 hours ago, Marcarl said:

I would look for a complete kit for the gaskets and plugs, either Earl or maybe Pinwall Cycle

I have actually had the gaskets since late 2022 and just been procrastinating cause I have been spending more time wrenching on my duel sport bike, the kids quads & been going thru my truck since I am about to hit 100k miles. I removed the RSV swingarm last week to re-pack the bearings (was very little factory grease left on those things after 31k miles). Already had the rear apart to replace the rear wheel bearings and with the swingarm removed it gave me a direct view on how much oil has seeped out over the last 2 years since I did a deep clean on the bike. I mean, nothing crazy of course and no noticeable drop in engine oil level but for an OCD guy like myself it was looking pretty bad, lol. It all seems to leak out of the very back of the lowest place on the valve cover just over the exhaust outlets so most of it drips down the middle of the bike. Odd since I have never seen a single drip on my garage floor. When I built my current house I plumbed in a hot water hose bib and man that is nice to have when washing the bike (or bathing the dog) but a little earlier today I changed the fuel filter which is always a fun chore in such a PITA spot and looked really closely at the valve cover gaskets and you can see that the cover is not pushing down tightly on the outer edges of the gasket. So my only viable option if those bolts are truly torqued down properly may be adding a washer under the bolt heads in order to bring those covers down some more. I am gonna stop procrastinating and get it done, I ordered the 2 twinkie gaskets earlier today from Partzilla since easy to do with the valve covers out of the way and as soon as they get here I am gonna tear it down & get the job completed. Will change coolant, engine oil/filter since I gotta drain that anyway for the twinkie gaskets. Also gonna do brake/clutch fluids since the last time I did that was when I got the bike in 2021. Might as well go thru the carbs too since I gotta pull them off tho I doubt any issues there since I run ethenol free fuel 95% of the time. Don't think I am gonna worry about those plugs inside the valve covers since I believe those act like shoulders to hold the valve cover up, they are clearly still doing their job, perhaps a little too well since those covers are not sitting down flush onto the gaskets.

[dueyk1111]

i replaced  my bolt washers when i checked  n did my valve adj along with new gaskets. 50 or 60 thousand miles ago, no leakage. i found out that honda uses the same valve shims as the venture does. went to my local dealer n they just traded shims with me. no charge. reason i did my bolt washers was valve covers were just starting to leak. good luck!!!!😉

[InfinitySurf]

 

11 minutes ago, dueyk1111 said:

i replaced  my bolt washers when i checked  n did my valve adj along with new gaskets. 50 or 60 thousand miles ago, no leakage. i found out that honda uses the same valve shims as the venture does. went to my local dealer n they just traded shims with me. no charge. reason i did my bolt washers was valve covers were just starting to leak. good luck!!!!😉

I noticed that Honda also has some 25mm shims when I was looking up the costs for new shims and definately gonna keep that in mind if I end up needing to change any of the shims. I have both Yamaha and Honda dealers not too far from me but no relationship with them since I always do my own work but would be super cool if I could find a dealer who will be willing to swap shims with me if needed.

I actually got a full shim kit set for my dual sport Honda 300L since I was replacing the oem cams to add some top end (along with several other engine mods) but those shims are 7.48mm, so tiny compared to the 25mm needed for this beast. I really only got the full set for the Honda since I have several other family members with the same bike so figured in the long term it may pay off to have a full set in-hand.

[InfinitySurf]

On 11/23/2024 at 7:27 AM, Freebird said:

I’ve got the tool that I could send you but do not have the shims.

I really appreciate the offer! If I end up finding some valves that are too tight and it makes sense to just get them changed while the bike is all opened up I may connect with you on this if you don't mind. I live in North Carolina, are you in the USA or live in Canada?

[Freebird]

No prohlem.  I’m in Ohio.  Just let me know.

[skydoc_17]

Sorry for the slow reply gents, was out of town, and just got back. Here is the link in the Member Vendor's section. 

This kit has the shim tool, picks to remove the shims, About 80 assorted shims and feeler gauges. I also send out a set of new Valve Cover Gaskets, and instructions for a flawless gasket install. Feel free to PM me if I can help. Check out the link for more info about what is in the kit.

Earl.

[InfinitySurf]

47 minutes ago, skydoc_17 said:

Sorry for the slow reply gents, was out of town, and just got back. Here is the link in the Member Vendor's section. 

This kit has the shim tool, picks to remove the shims, About 80 assorted shims and feeler gauges. I also send out a set of new Valve Cover Gaskets, and instructions for a flawless gasket install. Feel free to PM me if I can help. Check out the link for more info about what is in the kit.

Earl.

Hey Earl,

Thank you for the reply, I didn't think to check the member vendors portion! Haven't gotten into this yet as work has been pretty crazy, I have been doing a lot of traveling & I leave again for a week on Dec 4th so likely wont start tearing the front end apart until the middle of Dec but will absolutely PM you if I have any valves out of spec. Would definately love the valve cover gasket install instructions, I have seen quite a few people post about still having leaks after doing the work and that is the last thing I wanna deal with since its fairly time consuming to remove everything in order to get this job done. I do already have gaskets in-hand for the valve covers as I have had this on my to-do list for quite a while and also recently got the 2 twinkie gaskets for preventative measures. Was thinking I would take the carbs apart for a cleaning while out & I have ordered one of Ivan's jet/needle kits as I have heard nothing but good things about them. I am guessing everything else in the carbs will likely look pretty good or at least be easily cleanable since I run ethenol free fuel w/ stabilizer 90% of the time but know from experience that its always a good idea to replace the bowl gaskets. I have done many carb re-builds in the past but have never taken these apart, I do have the gauges to do a carb sync once its all back together. Do you know if the K&L carb float bowl gaskets are good quality? I know 95% of aftermarket stuff for carbs these days are crap. Will post link to the kit I was looking at getting, basically 4) K&L carb kits for $80. I intend to keep this bike long term so I keep doing little upgrades to keep it in top shape. Appreciate you!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/192095629148