poll on valve maintenance

It would be interesting to know that stat's on the memberships valve maintenance practices. Some possible points might be,, as below. But I am sure there are other relevant points to be quizzed,,,, Cat' How does a poll get set up anyway ??

I do my own inspections and adjustments.

I let the dealer do my valve setups.

I have never done or had my valves done.

I see that they are done every 16,000 miles.

I don't take care of the valves until it is running rough, or the bike needs other service.

The previous owner told me that it is not really needed.

I found the STOC valve videos and spreadsheets very helpful.

That is the same approach I use. Had them checked once in 50,000 miles.

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I did my own inspection at 16, 32, and 48K. I then sold the bike before the 64K check. All were within spec. There was a change in two of the exhaust valves, between the 16 and 32K check. They were the same at 48K. If any shims would have needed replacing, I would have done that work myself. I check them per the manual so I can track if there are any changes over time. I know some people are not comfortable with doing this and the dealer charges big $$ for this service. That I why I am glad I can do it myself. Doing the same on my wing.

I don't have any experience doing the valves on my ST as yet,,, although that is coming very soon. On the other aircooled motors that I have serviced,,, I find that the exhaust valves are more likely to need adjustment, compared to the intakes. That may hold true for the ST's water cooled engine as well,,, but only checking will show. Interestingly,,, I spoke with a local large dealership about doing the job. The mechanic did not have any opinion about how long it might take. And when I asked if they stocked shims he said, and I quote,,, " you don't usually need any shims, because you can just switch them around until it is close enough". It was then that I decided to do my own,,, as I just would not be able to sleep having paid someone big bucks to work under those rules !! Cat'

snowmoer said:

I did my own inspection at 16, 32, and 48K. I then sold the bike before the 64K check. All were within spec. There was a change in two of the exhaust valves, between the 16 and 32K check. They were the same at 48K. If any shims would have needed replacing, I would have done that work myself. I check them per the manual so I can track if there are any changes over time. I know some people are not comfortable with doing this and the dealer charges big $$ for this service. That I why I am glad I can do it myself. Doing the same on my wing.

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I LOVE hydraulic lifters! I am okay with tappets that you adjust with a small wrench, a feeler gauge and a screwdriver. Removing cams to replace shims is a major PITA, especially on an ST, with the plastic and all, so it's something I usually farm out to the dealer. It is indeed outrageously expensive, but you don't have to do it that often. I do worry about getting one of those "close enough" guys referred to in the previous post, but that's true of any service that you have done, rather than doing it yourself. Basically you could say that I split the difference between waiting for signs of trouble and religiously following the book..

I would gladly trade a little performance for reliability and ease of maintenance. I note that the Motus, (http://www.motusmotorcycles.com/mst ) which many in this forum think is the ST carried to it's logical conclusion, (and which would blow an ST 1300 or an FJR into the weeds) uses pushrods; no need for an OHC.

Did mine every 15,000 miles. Minor changes each of the three times. Follow the service manual or roll the dice and take your chances. Another way to think about it --- if you never check them they are never bad, right?

Put me down for:

[ X ] I do my own inspections and adjustments.
[ X ] I found the STOC valve videos and spreadsheets very helpful. {But nowhere near as helpful as having another member actually on hand to guide me through the process.}

But add these provisos:
* I have no idea whether the original owner ever did this, in the 34K miles that he owned and rode the bike.
* I rode another 4K miles before doing it, so the first known-to-me check was at 38.5K.
* I plan to put the bike on the factory schedule, so I'll be doing another check at 48K, 64K, 80K, and so on.

Once the bike changed hands the previous owner's opinion as to what did and did not need doing became irrelevant: the bike is now my property to manage as I see fit.

RCS said:

Another way to think about it --- if you never check them they are never bad, right?

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That's the optimist side, the pessimist says, " if you never check they are ALWAYS bad!" lol
Tore into my a'08 for the first time this weekend with about 40k on the clock. Have been putting off due to the fear of the job.
All were in spec; most were centered, but the front-most intake on #2 needed some persuasion to squeeze in the .005".

Do I feel better now? Most DEFINITELY! Ignorance is bliss, but not an excuse for responsibility. It really too hard, and if you do some other items while under the hood makes it all worth it. I used all the info I could find on this site, and filed the valve worksheet for future reference. I know people who would have gone through the shim changes to "center" everything, but it's not worth the risk of all that can go wrong at this point.

For those that have never checked, find one of us local to help help out your confidence! Checking isn't any harder than pulling the wheels off once the plastic is off (speaking of which, have done it enough times now that I didn't need the tupperware worksheets!)

I bought my ST1100 with 19,000 miles on it. At 30,000 I checked the valves. One was a half a thousandth out of spec. I didn't change any shims at that time and the next time I checked the valves at 40,000 that same one now was at .001 out of spec so it was changed.
I serviced another ST1100 for a forum member and ordered a shim kit. There were six out of spec at 49,000 miles. I took them all out and used the photo chart to note all the sizes. After the service the owner and I each took the bike for a ride. I could not believe how much power it had, even compared to my bike ~and they are the same color.
I don't feel you need 16,000 mile intervals. But it is easy to CHECK the clearances. If you do need an adjustment. Take note of all the sizes. Then if you later check clearances and see one out of spec, you can order exactly which size shim you need. Also, the shim kits are going to have incremental sizes .05mm apart. I found that Honda original shims can be sized between those increments, so if you put one of those odd sized ones in your kit, they may come in handy later. If you are only a half thousandth out of spec, a .05mm jump may be too much, so an odd size would be handy, if you happen to have the right one.
All 16 shims fell within a narrow range and depleted a couple sizes in my kit. I wonder how often this happens. Kits have a minimum of three same size shims in each compartment.

My St is at 54,000 miles, never been checked by me or the previous owner as far as I know, going very well, mechanic here says if she's going well just leave her alone,I wouldn't have the mechanical ability to check them myself,so for now anyway I'll just continue on as she is.

I do my own valve adjustments...all scheduled maintenance as well...to factory recommendations. These intervals are probabilistic intervals, based on engineering experience, computed wear, expected time-life, etc....and set where the probability of 'failure' is minimal. Can't have expensive warranty claims popping up regularly. Also can't afford poor reliability records to frighten customers away.
Result is...when you do an adjustment, change a belt, change oil, etc. at recommended intervals...you are likely to find nothing wrong. That's an expected result of good reliability engineering.
But...the longer you put off scheduled maintenance, the more likely something is to fail.
Your choice.

playfair said:

That's the optimist side

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I did not want to use the word ignorance.

My concern with experience is that the ST1300 valve clearances on the exhaust valves tend to close. One guy who enjoyed spirited accelerations required 8 new exhaust shims on a valve check. He is the one in our How To video.

So far I've farmed it out to the shop three times now, last time 42,000 miles. Shop doesn't give me the measurements, just they're within spec. Not so sure that'll continue, since I've had some unfortunate results from their maintenance. Next check, I'll perform. Of course I'll have to take it apart and put back together several times as part of my normal learning curve. I'm such a mediocre mechanic. :

If you don't mind me asking what is an average expected price from a Honda Dealer to do this? Just curious as I am pretty mechanically inclined so I could do it myself but I am time challenged...lol so wondering which way to go. Thanks in advance for info.

My last valve check was just over $400. They told me a check and change would be about $800.

Checked mine at 30k all within spec, now at 99.5k should be checking soon. I have no issues in checking them, it will start being an issue if needed adjustments are required. Should I order new gaskets?

What gaskets?

--Mark

I do mine fairly regularly but after the first couple of times at 16 & 32K I got a little more relaxed about the intervals, letting them go 20-25K. Didn't have any valves out of speck until close to 150K, though I re-centered a couple exhaust valves that were at the minimum limit before that.

Blrfl said:

What gaskets?

--Mark

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Valve cover.

TMUS said:

Valve cover.

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No need. If they don't get damaged, they last the life of the bike.

--Mark