09-05-2015, 10:30 AM
welp I decided to jump in and tackle my valve check today.......and I'm VERY glad I did. Sorry for the long post haha.
I'm just shy of 8k miles, she runs great, but I noticed i'm getting poor gas mileage (like 37-40mpg,and honestly I don't ride it that hard). Even when I'm just cruising all highway, I never get better than 40mpg. I do some googling an it says that could be a symptom of tight valves.
I decide to take a look at the plugs first, they are all a gorgeous tan color - so far
. I put the feeler gauge on my #1 intake - it's PERFECT. I'm even happier, I say to myself "man this is going to be CAKE I'll be riding in an hour". hahahhahahhaha then the fun part starts, oh boy..........
I check #3 per the manual.....tight, really tight. I check the next one, even worse. So tight I figure I'll try a thinner gauge just to see if maybe i'm crazy, no go. These things are so tight now I'm starting to second guess myself. I backtrack and start the whole process over, man i don't think there is any room at all between the cam and the bucket. Gulp.
After about 2 hours of messing around I finally decide to throw in the towel. At this point I'm just hoping the valves being that tight didn't hurt anything. I have an appointment Tuesday morning at the shop for them to check it out and get it fixed up.
Luckily I bought a 5 year warranty, so if anything is bad they will fix it (the shop manager is one of my best friends so I have no worries about having to fight over the warranty).
I'm just really, really, REALLY unhappy that my bike is in about 6 pieces, it's going to be a perfect 85 degrees for the next two days, and I just sold my VFR 2 weeks ago.
Moral(s) of the story - Do your maintenance, 9 out of 10 may never have to have their valves adjusted, but if you own that 10th bike you'll be sorry if you skip it!
and - more importantly -
DON'T EVER, EVER, EVER SELL YOUR 2ND BIKE!!!!!
Guess I'll just spend my long weekend shooting guns....could be worse I suppose
I'm just shy of 8k miles, she runs great, but I noticed i'm getting poor gas mileage (like 37-40mpg,and honestly I don't ride it that hard). Even when I'm just cruising all highway, I never get better than 40mpg. I do some googling an it says that could be a symptom of tight valves.
I decide to take a look at the plugs first, they are all a gorgeous tan color - so far
. I put the feeler gauge on my #1 intake - it's PERFECT. I'm even happier, I say to myself "man this is going to be CAKE I'll be riding in an hour". hahahhahahhaha then the fun part starts, oh boy..........I check #3 per the manual.....tight, really tight. I check the next one, even worse. So tight I figure I'll try a thinner gauge just to see if maybe i'm crazy, no go. These things are so tight now I'm starting to second guess myself. I backtrack and start the whole process over, man i don't think there is any room at all between the cam and the bucket. Gulp.
After about 2 hours of messing around I finally decide to throw in the towel. At this point I'm just hoping the valves being that tight didn't hurt anything. I have an appointment Tuesday morning at the shop for them to check it out and get it fixed up.
Luckily I bought a 5 year warranty, so if anything is bad they will fix it (the shop manager is one of my best friends so I have no worries about having to fight over the warranty).
I'm just really, really, REALLY unhappy that my bike is in about 6 pieces, it's going to be a perfect 85 degrees for the next two days, and I just sold my VFR 2 weeks ago.
Moral(s) of the story - Do your maintenance, 9 out of 10 may never have to have their valves adjusted, but if you own that 10th bike you'll be sorry if you skip it!
and - more importantly -
DON'T EVER, EVER, EVER SELL YOUR 2ND BIKE!!!!!
Guess I'll just spend my long weekend shooting guns....could be worse I suppose
