The OBSERVED Valve Clearance thread

[dave]

[quote='PowerDubs' pid='205826' dateline='1526654716']
VW Phaeton.

Wow! You weren't kidding! I am Ok when it comes to mechanical repairs, but when it comes to electrical issues I really struggle. This explains why my daily driver is a 1981 VW, diesel rabbit, and my other 4 wheel vehicle is my 1991 Toyota truck. My wife drives a Toyota Avalon and refuses to ride in the rabbit. I owned a 2011 VW Golf TDI, but returned it to VW because of the emissions scandal.

As long as you got the bike apart and back together with no lingering issues- what happens in the middle doesn't matter to anyone other than you, your time and wallet. We've all had stuff break.

I figure I must have saved at least $500.00 in labor on the IACV replacement I just did, and at least $300.00 in labor on the valve clearance inspection I just completed. I just might use the $ I saved to buy new read shocks (I'm thinking about a Ohlins, like I have on my VFR800).

[Cormanus]

Some of you don't trust anyone to work on your bike. I don't have enough knowledge to do the more difficult bits of maintenance, and so I have to to trust others to do it. Luckily, I think, I have a good mechanic and I took my bike to him today to do a valve clearance check.

My bike has done nearly 87,000 kms (54,000 miles) and the valve clearances have been checked 5 times prior to this. I missed one scheduled check on the basis that there'd never been a problem and reports here and elsewhere that the service frequency is too high.

I asked the mechanic to tell me what the observed clearances were so I could report them here. They were:

Ex: .25 .33 .30 .30 .25 .30 .33 .28 (spec .28 +-.03). Two were out of spec.
In: .18 .18 .18 .18 .15 .18 .18 .20 (spec .15 +-.03) One was out of spec.

The mechanic 'pulled the cams' and returned the lot to spec on the basis that there was no point in not doing them all while the cams were out. I may well be wrong, but that seems reasonable to me. The cost of shims was all of $AU1.50.

I hope this adds to the knowledge base on this issue. For me, it seems that checking from time to time is sensible as it appears they do go out of spec.

[PowerDubs_imp]

Thanks for the update. Just curious, did you need adjustments any of the other times?


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[dave]

Ex: .25 .33 .30 .30 .25 .30 .33 .28 (spec .28 +-.03). Two were out of spec.
In: .18 .18 .18 .18 .15 .18 .18 .20 (spec .15 +-.03) One was out of spec.
Thanks for the update Cormanus. Can you tell us how long it took for the mechanic to do this work? And this is a question for all: I thought that it was typical for the type of valve system these bikes have for the valves to become tighter (clearances decrease) due to wear, but it seems that we're getting reports of the opposite happening. If the clearances are increasing does this mean that the cam lobes, or the buckets, are wearing?

[Cormanus]

Thanks for the update. Just curious, did you need adjustments any of the other times?


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No. Never before. I confess I was a bit surprised this time.

Ex: .25 .33 .30 .30 .25 .30 .33 .28 (spec .28 +-.03). Two were out of spec.
In: .18 .18 .18 .18 .15 .18 .18 .20 (spec .15 +-.03) One was out of spec.
Thanks for the update Cormanus. Can you tell us how long it took for the mechanic to do this work? And this is a question for all: I thought that it was typical for the type of valve system these bikes have for the valves to become tighter (clearances decrease) due to wear, but it seems that we're getting reports of the opposite happening. If the clearances are increasing does this mean that the cam lobes, or the buckets, are wearing?

He billed me for 5 hours, but he also changed the brake and clutch fluid and gave the bike a good check over.

[max]

Thanks Cormanus, thanks for your update.
Because Pterodactyl wanted to keep the thread brief i made a ( my primitive first ) spreadsheet and will try to attach it to this post, see if it's any good







or;



Did i mention it was primitive?
max

[Cormanus]

Nice one, Max. You could do it in Google Sheets and just provide a link so those who wanted to could update it.

[dave]

Max, this is great! My bike is a 2014 Dlx.

[max]

Thanks for the advice Cormanus, i was hoping you would come up with the idea ( clairvoyant ? ) .
Had no idea google sheets existed so googled it and bungled my way around it, turned out i could just copy my"valve.ods" file and pasted into google sheets, gave it a name and there it is.

Have created a link that says everyone can alter the sheet;
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

To enter data just click on the cell, it highlights in blue and type in what is required, it auto saves as far as i can understand, so you can just walk away from it and it's done; neat and easy.
All done Dave.

Ahhhm kinda don't know where to put it now so it is easy to find for everyone else......help!

max

[Cormanus]

Well done, Max. I’ll give some thought to where to put the link.