How many have never adjusted the Valves

Joined
Aug 11, 2013
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kankakee
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R1200rt
What price would you put on having the engine give up the ghost while leaned over in a turn where loss of power would result in a wreck?

--Mark
valves adjustment and valves in real time , unless one dropped into a cylinder, will not cause sudden die out. You should be more concerned with a crank sensor, spark module, Ignition switch or relay, fuel pump or relay. These are just a few things that can cause a sudden die out, better change them all at 50k so they don't cause a wreck..
 

TPadden

Tom Padden
Joined
Apr 25, 2006
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Brooksville, FL
What price would you put on having the engine give up the ghost while leaned over in a turn where loss of power would result in a wreck?

--Mark
Lower than the price of getting struck by lightning, while being chased by a bear, and running into a jealous husband with a shotgun., who saw my bike in his driveway and just wants to know where I get it serviced.
 
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Joined
Aug 17, 2012
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547
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Washington
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2005 ST1300
Its really the question of the thread. How many ST's go out of adjustment? How many ST's burn a valve? How many ST's bang a piston? From what I have read the answer is almost none for all questions. AND considering the mileage some ST's get then WOW awesome
That is exactly the point I was trying to make. Sounds like if you check them once they are good for a long long time.

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thekaz

haz gone feral
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Jul 29, 2014
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canadian west coast
In post #93 ... I said I believe the reason the gap decreases over time is because the soft aluminum head material is being compressed incessantly by the hardened valve seat every time the valve springs shut. I stand by that belief after reading about ST-owners who performed follow-on gap checks found no further change. Sure, the valves and seats may wear a bit, but usually a minuscule amount if the hardened steel is of good quality. So how does Mother Honda install the valve seats? Do they push them into the heads until a pre-set amount of pressure is built up? Or do they merely press them in to a constant depth dimension? Regardless, I agree that they should be checked at least once ... probably around 40k or 50k miles. After that, fuhgeddaboutit.
valves will hammer themselves into the seat reducing the clearance. thats an "all engines with valves&seats" concept :D
seats are usually pressed in then machined or stoned. if the seats move in any way other bad things can happen like stem seat misalignment or valve seats leak no matter what the clearance. the other fun part is a burned valve can happen for reasons other than it not seating properly due to unadjustment :p
 
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Fortunet 1

Fortunet1
Joined
May 7, 2010
Messages
801
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Gilroy, Ca.
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06 ST 1300
I am happy as hell that I took some time to do the check (and adjust one) myself. I never quite felt satisfied that the other two checks were done properly at a dealership, so I dove in head first and went slowly through the process using the valve clearance sheets available to us here. It was also much easier with the front end off for service at the time.

Now I am totally confident that my engine has the proper clearances designed for it and I can now think about the next maintenance chore inline for it.
 
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