Checking valve clearances

[peterbaron]

The head tech at my shop who has been working on my bikes for 30 years says to go by symptoms as well. When I ask him if I should get them checked he asks... "Any unusual noises? Is it getting hard to start? Has your gas mileage gone down?" followed by "if you want I'll check them, but you are wasting your money"

Not to offend anyone.... but valve adjustment has no influence on hard starting and fuel economy at all, unless there is at least one valve too tight >> burnt, an engine is not running smooth, produces a"sputtering sound" at a tail pipe, misfiring or low on compression, then in this case it might be already too late for a maintenance and a cylinder head needs an assessment leading into a valve job. Period.

Two Honda dealerships have expressed the offended crowd opinion.

That said, indeed a tight valve is the tougher condition that should be addressed.

Fortunately, there are many Honda owners, including those of the Africa Twin forum not doing their valve inspections after 60,000 and over 120,000 miles. The ones that seem to execute the inspection/adjustment are very hard riders (who adjust it themselves), those just following the Owner's Manual recommended service intervals, and those who are suspicious of a new sound or functional/performance behaviour.

Definitely a rough running condition, especially under harder acceleration/deceleration will reveal an issue.

By the way, what does a "sputtering sound" sound like on a single cylinder Honda lump?

Two Honda dealerships have expressed the offended crowd opinion.

That said, indeed a tight valve is the tougher condition that should be addressed.

Fortunately, there are many Honda owners, including those of the Africa Twin forum not doing their valve inspections after 60,000 and over 120,000 miles. The ones that seem to execute the inspection/adjustment are very hard riders (who adjust it themselves), those just following the Owner's Manual recommended service intervals, and those who are suspicious of a new sound or functional/performance behaviour.

Definitely a rough running condition, especially under harder acceleration/deceleration will reveal an issue.

By the way, what does a "sputtering sound" sound like on a single cylinder Honda lump?
First, do you have a single cylinder lump ?? no, this is why you can not hear engine sputtering. Period

Yep. Four valve single.


So, what is "second"?

Yep. Four valve single.

So, what is "second"?
"Second" is 1/60th of a minute or number two in a sequence.