My 05 has 100,000 and never checked valves. Runs strong as new and same gas mileage. A friend of mine has a 07 silver with 140,000 on it and never had it done...no issues. Not saying it's the proper treatment at all.Just saying.
I prefer grape myselfChecked the valves at 16 and 32 thousand. In spec and no change. Skipped the next two checks and ate Milky Ways and drank Kool-aid!!
Well lots of piston with holes in the top would beg to differ but good luck on your choices.Well, you raise a good point - but - I suspect that if the valve clearance closed up like that, the engine would begin to misfire quite badly loooong before the valve got near the piston crown because the valves would be open at the wrong time in the cycle. That's what they meant when they said...."sounds funny".
Anyway, your point is well taken Ziamon.
the difference between a normal gap and too tight gap will not change timing enough to notice any difference in running. The valves won't open at the wrong time, they will just open a tiny bit more because of the tighter clearance between the valve stem and cam, which will have no real effect on the engine performance.I suspect that if the valve clearance closed up like that, the engine would begin to misfire quite badly loooong before the valve got near the piston crown because the valves would be open at the wrong time in the cycle. That's what they meant when they said...."sounds funny".
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 awesomeMaybe a better question would be "How many ST pistons have holes due to valve problems?"
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Most of the STs on this list are well maintained, which contributes to that statistic. I think Jeff B. had a valve burn on his ST1100, at pretty high mileage, and he maintained it well.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
Based on my limited experience with valve checks and shim changes on the ST1300, I have found that mostly the exhaust valves clearances tend to close. If left unchecked the exhaust valves may not close completely on the compression stroke which would likely cause a lack of compression and heat rising into the valve stem and melting the valve stem seals causing oil to leak into the cylinder, carbonize on the exhaust valve stem, and then causing the exhaust valve stem to stick and potentially burn.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
Given Honda's penchant for over-engineering things on this bike, I suspect you're right. The tolerances are probably on the conservative side to allow for some neglect in maintenance without causing the engine to go kablooey, which is a good thing. Most manufacturers do that.However, since the exhaust valves start out at .010" to begin with, I wonder how far out of spec they'd have to get before any real trouble occurs. Since it takes years and tens of thousands of miles to get them to move by a couple thou, I have a suspicion that even if you never checked them the chances that they would get far enough out of spec to destroy the engine are still quite low.
For those of us who do their own valve check/adjustment work, the call is easy. When you have to pay the dealer to do it the decision gets a bit tougher. I'm not sure what they charge, but I'm going to use $400 for the sake of argument, correct me if I'm wrong. After 100k miles you'd have paid the dealer over $3000 to do valve adjustments. If you choose to never have them checked, and the engine blows, you're probably still money ahead using that $3000 you saved to buy a used engine and have it installed. Even at 50k miles, you've probably saved enough to cover the engine replacement. And by the time your $15k motorcycle blows its engine, its more like a $3-5k used bike, so if you decide to just throw it away, you're really only out $3-5k. This doesn't even take into the account the sheer horror of an 18-year old m/c mechanic pulling your cams and throwing them back in correctly if you need an adjustment.If you can stomach the possibility that your $15,000 motorcycle could become a boat anchor, that's not any different than riding in a three-quarter helmet because you don't mind the prospect of losing parts of your face in an accident.
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?If you choose to never have them checked, and the engine blows, you're probably still money ahead using that $3000 you saved to buy a used engine and have it installed.
I've crashed about a dozen times on various bikes over the years, so what's one more? But that's just me, others here aren't quite as indifferent about crashing as I am. If I start running those scenarios through my head I might as well give up riding altogether.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