Checking valve clearance

As many of you do your own servicing, how important is to to check your valve clearences? Do any of you find that they usually require adjusting by the time the engine has run 16,000 miles or do they find that they are usually o.k? I was intending doing the other servicing work myself but wouldn't know where to start with valves. My Honda dealer wants ?300 U.K Pounds for a 16,000 mile service. which is basicly an oil and filter change and change of plugs, along with the inspection of everything else. My opinion is if the bike is running well, then leave it, with the exception of the plugs, oil and other fluid changes along with keeping an eye out for leaks or wear on the brakes. Any advise would be welcome. regards from a canny Scotsman :croc:

Agree with Paul. Very important to check those clearances.

I didn't check mine at 16k miles. I did check them at 33k miles and found all but three were dead nut right on. The three were only off by .01mm.

In this case, no harm done. If they were off any more, I would have wanted to know if they changed in the last 16k or they were off initially. So I would highly recommend checking them. If you have a little patience and a really good feeler gauge you can save yourself a bundle and have an accurate record of your valve clearances.

Ray

Thanks guys :bow1: So I will have to learn how to check the valve cearence then . I remember when I had my two ST1100 and the mechanic always commented on how he never had to adjust the valve clearence. He also went on to say that most Hondas required little adjustment in this area. Hence the reason I was not going to bother. But I will give it a go, and any problems I will have to go back to pay over the odds to have it done my Honda dealer.

There was a guy over on another board that ignored his valve inspections for 40,000 to 50,000 miles or some such! The bike began running poorly, only 3 cylinders firing, upon cold starting but as the engine warmed up the 4th cylinder would finally join in. Turned out that an intake valve clearance had closed up to less than "0" so there was no compression in that cylinder until the aluminum head warmed up, and expanded more than the steel valve did, allowing in to begin seating. Had that been an exhaust valve instead, it probably would have been burned to the point of requiring a tear down to replace the valve. Clearance inspections are important and cheap insurance.

Hi B11rger. Do the valve check yourself - it really isn't that hard. I think the dealers are a rip-off as you say ?300 !!!

Take the plastic off both sides. Take out the plugs remove the hoses (dont worry, they are breathers and dont contain coolant !) from the covers, then take them off. You will see the pairs of cams on each side.
Turn the engine until you achieve TDC (Top Dead Centre) on each piston in turn, you will see the cams turning and the point where there is most clearance (when the lobe is pointing up) is what you measure. To turn the engine the manual recommends using some hole at the front & checking a marker but you dont need to do that. With the plugs out there will be no compression, so click the bike into 2nd gear and push the back wheel - that will turn the engine over, and it is obvious when you can see the clearance increase to max on each cam in turn.
To get the feeler guage in some will be a bit trick as there isnt a lot of room. Make a note of readings as you go along to compare to the spec.

Fortunately I have only had to check so far, I must admit I'm not looking forward to replacing shims, but I'm still not going to the stealers.

Good luck , Andy

You're right Andy it really is a dealer ripoff and I wont be going there either.
Checked the clearances at 29K Kms- all well within spec. I had trouble trying to find the timing marks through the small hole so I used the traditional method of finding TDC by observing the piston through the spark plug holes and watching the cams like you said.

Finding TDC

I used to use a plastic drinking straw inserted into the spark plug hole and watched for the max lift on the piston. Will this method work on the ST?
thanx,
Gonzo

Gonzo said:

I used to use a plastic drinking straw inserted into the spark plug hole and watched for the max lift on the piston. Will this method work on the ST?
thanx,
Gonzo

Click to expand...

No need to do that as the cam sprockets are clearly marked. With a mirror you can also determine crank position by removing the little cover and looking into inspection hole at the front of the engine. A mirror simplifies this.

Gonzo. I would not try to guage the depth of the space to the piston, just look at the cam lobes themselves, it's pretty obvious when the maximum clearance has been achieved by turning the engine over & thus moving the cams. As it is this clearance between the cam and valve lifter that we need to measure, I think turning the engine (plugs out) to look for this gap is more straightforward and a more visually accurate guage of where you need to measure. This method also works on cars (providing you keep the drive wheels off the ground - and block up the others !). I have used it many times over the years. All you need to be sure of is that you are methodical and record as you go along so you dont miss any clearances. Good luck

I, too plan on checking my valve clearance soon - I've got a good set of Starrett feeler gages........they are 3" long..........will they work or do I need to invest in another, longer set?

3" should be fine. I think that's what mine are.

Can you read down to .01mm?

Ray

nm6r said:

3" should be fine. I think that's what mine are.

Can you read down to .01mm?

Ray

Click to expand...

Can you read in increments of .01mm

dond said:

Can you read in increments of .01mm

Click to expand...

Yup.

The reason that is important isn't so much to see if the valve clearances are in spec but to be able to gauge a change over inspections.

Ray

I've got one. I bought it many years ago so I couldn't even say where. Unfortunately, there isn't any brand name on it either.

I will clarify one thing just to remove any misconception. There is not an individual feeler that is .01mm. There are feelers that will allow readings of .14, .15, .16, .17 for example, yielding a resolution of .01mm.

BTW, a word of caution. Some of the feelers are so thin they can stick together and you don't even know it. I'm embarassed to say that had me going for a little while.

Ray

HuH?

nm6r said:

I've got one. I bought it many years ago so I couldn't even say where. Unfortunately, there isn't any brand name on it either.

I will clarify one thing just to remove any misconception. There is not an individual feeler that is .01mm. There are feelers that will allow readings of .14, .15, .16, .17 for example, yielding a resolution of .01mm.

BTW, a word of caution. Some of the feelers are so thin they can stick together and you don't even know it. I'm embarassed to say that had me going for a little while.

Ray

Click to expand...

Please explain

pmorritt said:

Please explain

Click to expand...

Explain what? I will be happy to elaborate.

Ray

I checked the clearances on my valves today and this is what I found:

All of the intake valve clearances were from .006 to a tight .007.
All of the exhaust valve clearances were from a tight .010 to a tight .011.

Obviously, all were in specfications per the shop manual: .005 to .007 on the intakes and .009 to .011 on the exhaust.

The spark plugs looked good and gapped at .032. They were re-installed with anti-seize lube on the threads.

I cleaned everything under the fairing and it took me about 4 hours at a leasurely pace to check and clean everything.


The bike has 17,202 miles on it, and it is now ready for another 16,000 to 18,000 before I check them again.

Dennis

Dennis/All, here's a clearance thread. You may want to add to it.

https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2923&highlight=54,100mi