How often should your valves be adjusted on a 6th gen ?

I have an 02 800 with 36k miles on it. I really want to guess that they have never been adjusted.
The bike runs great, I am just curious how often you guys think they need to be taken care of?

 

I do my 5th gen according to the service manual. I just did the 30,000 mile check. YMMV.

 

Did you do it yourself? If so, did you just go off the manual? Difficulty level?

Thanks.

 

The 5th gens don't have the V-tek so it isn't as big a deal to do. FWIU the v-tek is a pretty involved project and requires a special tool.

 

I've done the valve clearance inspection and even have a thread on tips for it here: http://vfrworld.com/forums/mechanics-garage/16474-tips-5th-gen-valve-clearance-inspection.html

The actual valve inspection isn't that hard, you just slide the valve clearance tool under the valve and confirm it fits. The hardest part really is just putting it all back together. It can be a little scary turning the key to ignition and crossing your fingers it's going to start. When I did that the bike wouldn't start and I was dreading taking apart the whole bike again until after a 5 minute chill I realized I forgot to put the bike in neutral. duh!

 

Bet that made you shit your pants temporarily. Phewwwwwww. That neutral will get ya!

 

16k mile interval on the 6th gen (2002 on up models) I do believe.

 

Cool. How long did it take you and what special tools (other than the valve clearance tool) or supplies does one need to get it done? You talk about silicon sealant, did it mention this in the manual? Thanks. I plan on doing this next week end.

 

Well, take into account that this was the very 1st major job I did on the bike it took me a whole weekend. I was pretty anal about taking it apart, even taking pictures at every stage so that I can refer back to them in case I forgot where that part goes. (By the way that saved my ass several times!)

Now that I've done it when it comes time to do it again I estimate it'll take me half a day with most of the time being just taking apart the bike and putting it back together.

The silicone sealant is Hondabond HT Hi-temp silicone liquid gasket sealant. You can get that at the local honda motorcycle dealership. If there isn't one nearby I'm sure you can google for that and buy it online.

You will need to replace the gasket rubber seal as well unless you like having oil shoot out of your engine. Plus there are some internal seals to replace as well. If you don't have the service manual you can get some at this thread: http://vfrworld.com/forums/parts-service-manuals/3161-downloadable-parts-catalogs-service-manuals.html

What I would do is look through the service manual and go through the process, make any notes of new parts to replace and make sure to have them all ready by next weekend.

As for other special tools, well, if all the valves pass clearance the only tools you need are the ones that came with the bike, yeah cool isn't it having a tool packet that can literally take apart the whole bike? But if it's shim time, then you got to get a micrometer, which you can get at sears or most auto parts stores.

 

IT'S pretty easy to CHECK clearances .....much more involved to CHANGE them.

 

Wtfwasthat, you should check your valves every 16,000 miles. SO technically they should have been checked at 32,000 miles. Would be a good idea to check them. If they have never been done, probably going to need some adjustment. Good luck.

 

Honda says 16K...I think that's plenty often...30K would be my choice.

It's much more involved to even inspect 'em on a vtec than to change them out on a gear driven model. You have to remove the cams, disable the vtec lifters with Honda's special little pucks (you need at least four to do one cylinder at a time), take your measurement, if you need to adjust remove cams again, if you want to verify your adjustment reinstall once more, then remove and reinstall the cams one last time to enable the vtec lifters again.

 

GOLLY, guess i'll keep my '86 700s.

After the valve covers are removed a valve adjustment could be done in under 2 minutes per valve......

AH, progress!

 

Thanks guys, especially Hondawolf.

 

Squirrelman...yup, the gear driven ones sure are nice in that way. The six gen models are encroaching on Desmo territory for valve adjustment. It's not that hard, just time consuming and working with those tiny parts around open cam chain tunnels precludes that extra cup of coffee.

 

so who's paid a shop to do a 6gen and how much? my valves have been long overdue!!
runs great so I'm in no rush to spend a bunch of $$$ I'm not sure with that vtec ill tackle job myself

 

In Canada...expensive on the 6th gen