#1 cylinder out of spec on my 2007 ST1300 with 225,000 miles

[970mike]

Wow who would think Honda would make such an unreliable bike! This is the first time any of my valves have been out of adjustment,only the exhaust valves on the #1 cylinder our out. I will go by the Honda shop on Tuesday and get the new shims to bring it back into spec. I will also replace the valve cover gaskets.

 

[dwalby]

when I saw the title I thought compression, not valve clearance.

 

[Tdinova]

Horrible... how could it be.. I could see 230 000 but not 225000

 

[paulcb]

when I saw the title I thought compression, not valve clearance.

Me too.

 

[st1300doug]

Tighter right?

 

[ToddC]

Sell it!! Sell it now!! It is completely worn out.... Dang Honda..!!!

 

[ToddC]

I will give you $200 right now......!!!! No, really, $200........ You better take it.....that bike is falling apart at the seams... Offer good till midnight..!!

 

[Al Gully]

And I thought you had a tapered or oval cylinder after 225,000 miles.
Glad it's only a 25 cent part you have to replace.

 

[Bmacleod]

Wow who would think Honda would make such an unreliable bike! This is the first time any of my valves have been out of adjustment,only the exhaust valves on the #1 cylinder our out. I will go by the Honda shop on Tuesday and get the new shims to bring it back into spec. I will also replace the valve cover gaskets.

Consider changing the valve cover "crush washers" (not sure of the proper Honda term) also. Just as important as new gaskets.

 

[970mike]

Tighter right?

Yes the two exhaust valves on the #1 cylinder are tight.

 

[ToyFan1]

heck, ill give ya $500 and deliver it to St. louis.

 

[Erdoc48]

I think to get 225K out of a motorcycle engine is just so cool (and the engine isn’t toast!). In the old days 50K miles and the engine was done. I have only 42 and 38K miles on the 94 and 00 STs...I most definitely need to ride more.

 

[STinkers]

These engines are incredible, 225 000 miles without a valve shim change is impressive. The first shim adjustment on my 1100 was at 190 000 miles, I did check em occasionally, probably never need to touch them again. I have a GL 1800 with 72 000 miles on it and never even looked at the valves, and as I've had it from new, I can be sure nobody else has either.

 

[st1300doug]

Uuhh....I DO believe Goldwings...have Hydraulic lifters. (Self-adj.)

 

[STinkers]

Some of the earlier wings did have hydraulic lifters, 1200 and possibly the 1500 ( not too sure ) but the 1800 definitely has bucket and shims.

 

[Catmandu2]

But this also tells that there is no mile marker where you can stop being concerned about valve clearances,,,, CAt'

 

[Jjonahjamison]

For some of us, 225,000 miles is around the 30 year mark....

Thankfully, checking the valves is so easy on this bike whenever you have the Tupperware off, why wouldn’t you check?

 

[TourNut]

Some of the earlier wings did have hydraulic lifters, 1200 and possibly the 1500 ( not too sure ) but the 1800 definitely has bucket and shims.

1500 for sure

 

[970mike]

And I thought you had a tapered or oval cylinder after 225,000 miles.
Glad it's only a 25 cent part you have to replace.

No cost at all for the new shims from my local Honda Dealer, after doing the math on the two exhaust valve shims I needed to replace one that was 1.590mm with one that is 1.450mm the other valve needed to change out the 1.570mm shim with one that was 1.525mm. This worked great as both valves are now in spec.

The Honda dealer let me exchange my old ones for new ones in the right size.

 

[dwalby]

No cost at all for the new shims from my local Honda Dealer, after doing the math on the two exhaust valve shims I needed to replace one that was 1.590mm with one that is 1.450mm the other valve needed to change out the 1.570mm shim with one that was 1.525mm. This worked great as both valves are now in spec.

The Honda dealer let me exchange my old ones for new ones in the right size.

I think you made a couple typos in your post, right?

There's no such thing as a 1.570mm shim, it would be 1.575mm and stamped as 1.58. I suspect that's what you had and just typed it in wrong. The 1.525mm replacement would inrease the clearance by 0.05mm, or about 0.002", which makes sense given that you were too tight initially.

The second set is the one that really sounds odd. There's no such thing as 1.590, it would be either 1.575 or 1.600, but I suspect you really had a 1.500mm in there and its another typo. Going to 1.450mm increases the clearance by 0.05mm.

BTW, I used to always swap shims back in the day, but haven't had to adjust much lately because I don't ride as much as I used to. Are shops still doing that, or did you just get lucky, or go to a place where they know you well?