Do you guys check your valve clearance at the recommended intervals?

My friend who is an avid VFR owner has had an 1986 VFR which he had for 84,000 miles and his current bike a 1998 VFR closing in on 100,000 miles. He claims he's never checked the 1998 valves and doesn't feel he ever needs to. What do you guys think? Is he foolish or is his experience typical? He works for a Honda dealership by the way, not as a mechanic but in parts and gear sales.

 

And my next question. Why are bike manufacturer's still going with hard valve trains? Automobile manufacturer's have switched to hydraulic tappets years ago.

 

From what I've read most that have checked them have been found to be in spec. I know a few guys here in excess of 100k and they've never checked them. As of now I'm not planning on checking mine, but I may change that thought one day .....

 

His experience seems to be typical of a lot of VFR owners. I myself have not done the valve check but have thought about doing it myself several times but either laziness or stories of those who did and found none out of spec or few to be close to it. Although that really shouldn't be the way one does their maintenance but it seems to be the way VFR owners do it! Of course YMMV

As far as hydraulic valves go, I heard that, of all Manufactuerers, Harley Davidson use them in the 883 Iron. I have not confirmed that but someone who was interested in one made mention of this.

 

Mine check at 32k and all in spec.
Now at 92K + and have not touch the valves since my last service by stealership :wink:
Derstuka bike is over 100k and I believe his cover never been open

 

Got about 85000 Km on mine and have no intention of opening it up till I have to. It's a big job. I did change the cam tensioners last winter as it was getting noisy but other than that just doing plugs and fluids.

 

HD does use hydraulic lifters on their engines, but those engines redlines at somewhere around 6K rpm. For high rev motors solid lifters aren't as prone to valve float, plus the shim under bucket setup is more of a cam follower than a lifter. HD uses a rocker arm/pushrod setup.

 

I did the 16k and 32k on my new 96 vfr , at 16k there where two exhausts that were just on the edge, so had them reset. on the second vfr which was a used 97 I bought, I waited till the 32k mark rolled up, only found one exhaust off just a wee bit off. Intakes where ok, Now on this used 5th I just picked up, the original owner had done the 16k, no idea if any were off, it just rolled 32k here last month. Just prior I had a dyno tune and used that as a bench mark to get a feel how it was. It ran so freaking assume I didn't look inside, the tuner also confirmed my thinking saying if it runs this great don't mess. Most vfrs once set seem to run ok for many many miles or Km. depending where you're at . Me, I like to know, for the sake of knowing, but in this case being it's not a cut and dry job, I left well enough alone. I might do one at 64k if i still have it.

 

It's just like Dirty Harry asked: "Do you feel lucky?". I've checked mine at the recommended intervals and had a couple that needed to be adjusted. Chances are they are all fine, but the only way to really know is to check.

 

Honda did use hydraulic tappets in the 1985 CBX750F motor (finger followers with a moving pivot point to take up clearance), and I don't believe they ever gave trouble (mine didn't) but the bucket under shim system currently used is a lot more bullet proof and lighter.

 

My friend also redlines his bike at least once on every ride! Well I've got around 14,000 miles on mine and I think I'm going to skip at least 2 or 3_valve checks. A question though, when they wear are they less likely or more likely to hit a piston. I may have heard less likely. Anyone know for sure?

 

Measured valve clearances will usually lessen as the valve seats deeper into the head...but not always.

 

There's intervals? :lalala:

 

Valve clearances on shim-under-bucket setups will usually decrease as the valve seats recede through wear. Ultimately enough of the seat wears away that the valve can no longer seat fully, which then leads to burnt valves. So no valve to piston contact can occur, but serious head damage could, if valve clearances are left unchecked.

My experience is that the valves do lose clearance over time, and need re-shimming, but as I don't have detailed service history for my three bikes, I have no idea how long that takes. I would surmise that the VTEC valves (which only see action over 6800rpm) would have a proportionately slower wear rate unless the bike was operating above the VTEC engagement point for much of it's life, so you might check the regular valves more often and ignore the VTEC valves.

 

No, I don't plan to check valves on my 8th gen. I know too many people with VFR's over 100K miles that have never checked valves and they run fine. I've also never heard of anyone with a burned valve in a VFR. I put a lot of miles on previous generations with no run-ability issues so why fix it if it runs fine? Honest dealers (there are some) will tell you to leave them alone. They don't like doing valve checks on a VFR about as much as we do. They generally don't know how and have to have a manual nearby to do the work. FWIW.

 

I checked the valves on my 98 at about 130,000 mi and all were in spec. I remember the gentleman I bought the bike from told me that he had checked them two years prior (unknown mileage) and they were fine at that time. The bike is approaching 150,000 miles and I'll probably check them again soon. The reason being, my girlfriend just picked up a 98 with 65,000 miles and there is a very noticeable difference in stability of idle, ease of cold start up, and how quickly the bike revs/ returns to idle.

 

Probably has more to do with the varying condition of the fuel systems. Injectors, enrichment circuit, starter valves etc..

 

So a cylinder leak test could be an indication if the valve clearances need to be checked? Interesting. I think I'll save my time and money for now.

 

Sure...when the leak down test shows a leak, you've burned your valves.

 

Yes, because that is the manufacturer's schedule. That said, at the 16,000 mile service my mechanic told me it was impossible to set the valve clearances any better than than they were.










.