Tips for 5th Gen Valve Clearance Inspection

Hey all,

Finally got done last night doing a valve inspection. They all pass, thank god, I was NOT looking forward to pulling the shims out.

Anyway, just thought I'd share some tips that I learned. First, a great tool for checking valve clearances is from Sears and you can check it out online at this link: Craftsman 26 Leaf Offset Gauge - Model 40802 at Sears.com

For that tool the thinnest feeler gauge is the minimum allowable valve clearance for the intake valves. (.13 mm). What's also cool about this tool is it's bent so that you can easily access the valves.

Assuming that you've already taken the cylinder covers off and that you have the service manual one thing to watch for is the intake and exhaust valves are on their own camshafts. When I first started on this I thought the intake valves were on one side and exhaust on the other side but fortunately, that's not the case otherwise I'd be ordering shims.

Below illustrates the location of the valves for the #1 and #3 cylinders:


Likewise for cylinders #2 and #4 the locations of the intake and exhaust valves are illustrated below:


When you rotate the crankshaft to get the TDC for each cylinder make sure to also note the tiny marks on the gears and that they are as noted in the service manual as illustrated below:


If you don't know what I'm talking about with the tiny lines see the below screencap from the service manual:


Oh, and when you have to put the cylinder cover back on put a tiny film of the silicone sealant around the gasket so it won't move as you put it back on.

And that's all for the tips! Thank god we only have to do this every 16,000 miles. The Kawasaki Concourse needed this kind of work every 6,000 miles!!

EDIT: Since a member here asked thought I'd post for everyone's benefit that for the gasket sealant I used a product callled "Hondabond HT Hi-temp silicone liquid gasket sealant". You can get that at the local honda motorcycle dealership or you can google for it online.

If you don't have a service manual you can download one from this link: http://vfrworld.com/forums/parts-service-manuals/3161-downloadable-parts-catalogs-service-manuals.html

You can just print out the pages you need and have them for handy reference when you're in the garage.

EDIT: May 20, 2009. It's valve adjustment time, I'm at the 32K mile servicing and found some valve clearances are too tight. So for the benefit of everyone thought I'd share some more things I learned.

First, you don't need a micrometer to measure the thickness of the shim. Thoughtful honda prints out the shim thickness on the shim themselves. They look something like this:



Note that even though the number printed is 3 digits it's really X.XX mm. So for example if you see a shim with "175" printed on it that's really 1.75 mm thickness.

Now, you're probably thinking you'd have to buy new shims, right? As it turns out you can just go to the honda motorcycle dealership and you can exchange your shims for whatever size you want. That's a real money saver there, especially if you screw up!

Once you've got the new shims installed, an easy way to confirm the clearances is to only install 4 bolts on the camshaft holder as illustrated below:



Make sure the 4 bolts are snug enough so that you can't really tighten them enough without considerable force. This is important to ensure an accurate valve clearance inspection. If you leave one bolt loose then your inspection won't be guaranteed accurate because the camshaft isn't held down properly, resulting in a false reading of too loose clearances.

 

Joey Dude, thanks for the tips.
I've just crossed 16k and have been dreading shelling out $400+ for the service.
I think I can handle at least checking them myself.

 

Cool beans. I may do this tomorrow.

 

Ha ha, from this forum I've seen VFRs go up to 50K miles before they need a valve adjustment. It's gonna cost you a plane ticket if you want that done! :lol:

 

Plus he is about 50k over due now....

 

also to make it a snap pulling the cams and doing it, just mark all the sprockets and shafts where they mesh and then a no brainer to assemble, I never have needed the manual for any of my bikes this way.took longer pulling the plastic and lines than doing the valves this way..

 

Thanks nitronorth for that tip. I'll make use of that if I ever have to adjust them!

 

Just "bumping" this to let you know that I've added some extra notes because this time I have to adjust some valve clearances instead of just checking them.

 

Joeydude, thanks for this thread!! I'm about to tackle this job this weekend or the next, since the weather is crap. I'm at a little over 38k miles and the valves have never been checked, so it's time to see how they're doin'. How does one mark the sprocket so that they "mesh?" I'm thinking a sharpie or something? I'm all about making this easier, if this helps, I'm down.

Thanks.

 

No problem Jaime, this forum has helped me a lot with other technical problems and this is one of my ways of contributing back :thumbsup:

As for marking the gears any cheap paint will do. You could even get nail polish. Just make sure to wait until it dries first! :biggrin:

I also saw on another thread you ask what other special tools you need. A purely optional tool I'd have to say is a torque wrench for putting the camshaft back on. Note I say optional because if you are careful enough you can just tighten it enough so that it's firm but not so tight that it'll require a power tool to untighten. The service manual states how tight the bolts should be and a torque wrench can provide a peace of mind.

And I know it's not quite a tool but ZipLock bags work great for storing parts; you don't want to end up with "spare" parts when you put the bike together if you know what I mean.

 

Thanks, Joey! I have a torque wrench, so if I buy the leaf gauge, silicone, and use some nail polish, I'll be good to go. Was thinking about having a shop do it for about $350, but I'd like to take this on, plus if I'm not riding, I'd at least want to work on my bike.

 

I have yet to look through the manual regarding this subject, but I've got a couple of preliminary questions before I dive into this (in case the info's not in there), and I'd appreciate some advice.

1)When marking the gears, what exactly is the process. Do you mark where the gear teeth fit into each other?

2)How difficult is the installation of the silicone sealant and is this the same/better/worse than an OEM gasket?

3)Are there any precautions/warnings I should be aware of prior to beginning the work? By this I mean, any mistakes any of you have made when you first attempted the job that you did not/would not repeat on subsequent valve checks.

Thanks in advance for any info. You guys are great in helping the less-experienced mechanics (which includes me) get things done.

 

You paint the whole gear while it's rotating to give it that cool tie dye effect. Of course, you paint a small section of the gears where they mesh so that way you know where they go back. Are you somehow related to GoForARide? :biggrin:

A little correction here, the sealant is NOT a replacement for the OEM gasket. It is to be used WITH the OEM gasket, specifically on the half-circle area on the cylinder head.

The installation of the gasket isn't that hard really, you just have to be careful to ensure that the gasket seals up completely. Once you have the bike all together and you start it up make sure to look around the gaskets to ensure there are no leaks.

Hmm... take pictures of the bike at each stage of dissassembly so that way when it's time to put them back together you can refer to the pictures in case you forget where they go. True there is the service manual but it doesn't have extremely detailed pictures.

And look in the service manual for all new parts that have to be replaced. I recall that you have to replace several o-rings and gaskets. Before even starting with the job, order all the parts you need so you won't be held up waiting for parts. shspowersports.com has some really good prices along with fast service! :thumbsup:

 

Yeah, Gopher's my dad. He's pissed that he was banned but now he's at another site. I think it's VFRD. :biggrin:

See, I'm glad I asked these questions because you never mentioned anything about replacing several o-rings and gaskets. Next time do a better write up!:biggrin::wink:

 

Joey, you can't escape my questions!!!

Just kidding. But, no really, I have another one. This is what happens when you start threads like this.

I've checked the service manual extensively and I've come to the conclusion that no o-rings or gaskets need to be replaced if one is only inspecting the valves (removing the head covers). If you need to adjust any valves (which requires head removal), then you need a bunch of o-rings and sealing washers.

Do you agree??

 

Even with only checking valves I still had to replace O-rings and gaskets. For adjusting the valves there a few more o-rings to replace. Check the service manual again. There's a reason why I didn't do a complete 1-2-3 write up; it's so involved that a complete write-up would take forever, and this is just a supplementary text on doing the adjustments.

The first time I did this I literally only had the service manual plus a good friend who's good with motorcycles. Even HE got stumped a few times especially on the lining up the TDC for each cylinder; (He didn't know that you have to line up the tick marks on the camshaft gears) If I can do this you'll be able to do this. IMO the hardest part about this is putting everything back together; you have to do it in a perfect sequence otherwise parts won't fit together.

And no more questions for a week!!! :biggrin:

 

Thanks, Joey. Fine, no more questions for a week.