26.6K Valve Adjustment! Dealer says it's a waist of money!

[v65]

B/C, Americans balk at paying for rubber cam-drive belt replacement periodically -- don't even attempt to bring-up a valve clearance check -- never gonna happen.

Can you blame them? My wife took our car in for inspection, they say it needs new wiper blades. She says OK, and for $60 "we" got new blades installed. :angry: A buddy of mine is having trouble with the brakes on his car, I offered to take a look at it for him, but since it was brakes he felt a qualified mechanic should do it. I haven't had a car into a dealer in over 15 years (excepting tire changes and inspections), so I was a bit puzzled when he said new rotors and pads cost him $900! :blink: I thought he was full of it, but figuring msrp on those items and $75/hr for labor and it works out.

 

[Fred W]

Alright, I'll have to admit to being a bit confused. Somehow now it's a bad thing that they have managed to design the FJR engine to not require frequent valve adjustments? What am I missing here?

IMO, the reason to leave those "cheap, easy to replace" rubber timing belts by the wayside was because they did break (even inside their replacement interval), and resulted in costly head work. Oh, and consider what it costs an owner to have a timing belt replaced in a shop on any of those cars. The belt may be cheap, but when the labor is added in, not so much. Timing chains seldom break ever, and when they do there is usually fair warning (noise) to their impending doom, whether we choose to heed it or not is another issue. Give me a chain and sprockets any day.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

<snippage>...Give me a chain and sprockets any day.

See...: The American Consumer "getting what they want".

 

[majicmaker]

Wanna be friends?

Well Yeah! But, Not in the way you might be thinking! Thanks anyway! I like girls very much!!

 

[chrisflock]

Odd that. He would (should) know that if a bike starts "running unfine" due to tight valve clearances, it's already too late-a burned valve isn't fixed with a can of Seafoam. It's off with it's head-and I'd be willing to bet he'll be glad to take your money then too. I really don't get any of this-why change oil, since if the engine explodes due to "abnormal" wear, it's on Yammis dime? The fact that it runs like shit for 5000 miles before it scatters it's guts is irrelevant, since ownership is about saving money, right? Buy Priuses or Allis Chalmers, buck savers, you don't deserve high perf precision machinery.

All ya'll are getting the motorcycle ya'll want.

Americans have campaigned, for years, for NO maintenance. And..., now they're finally getting it. GM has always said, "We build the vehicles Americans want." Ford says, "No maintenance for 100K miles."

Gone are efficient, easily replaceable, low power-consuming (and cheap) rubber cog timing belts -- replaced by chain-drive. B/C, Americans balk at paying for rubber cam-drive belt replacement periodically -- don't even attempt to bring-up a valve clearance check -- never gonna happen.

In fact, dealers don't overhaul/rebuild engines anymore -- for the most part. Try to find a dealer willing to rebuild your FJR engine... Altho, MamaYama must make the parts available. A nice cost reduction could ensue if we'd allow them to forget about engine rebuild hard parts -- rebuild = ain't gonna happen.

This (no hard/internal parts) is now happening with some new cars.

The Motor Company supplies replacement engine assys.

If you want to do it (vlv chk), fine -- but, it may be just so much 'busy-work'?

Rubber cog timing belts? You mean those things they replaced timing chains with back in the 80s and 90s?

A lubed chain is more efficient than a belt, and since in engine applications, chains are bathed in oil, they tend to be lubed quite well...

Also, from working in a auto parts store, I'm not sure I'll believe that rubber timing timing belts are significantly cheaper than chains. Cloyes double-roller, 3 position chain and gear sets ran 20 or 30 bucks when I worked the store, chains alone I saw for as low as 15 bucks, timing belts ran 20 to 150 bucks...Although I'm sure much of the price difference was based on the application, as double rollers for V8s are quite common and small, while belts ranged from small belts for single cam to some really long belts for DOHC v6 applications...

But I get your point, people don't want to do maintenance on their vehicles, and who can blame them? Most people don't keep their cars very long, so they want to be able to give it no maintenance until they decide to get whatever is hip in a few years...They don't want to pay a few hundred bucks to have their timing belt/chain changed, or a hundred bucks to have their coolant or transmission flushed. I know plenty of people who've never had brake pads replaced on a car, and even some who've never even replaced tires!

 

[zzzzip]

For what it is worth--
Mine was in for ignition recall last week and it has 24,000 on it. I mentioned the 26k valve check coming up, and the head mechanic said the same about not needing it, as he has never had one out of spec, but that he would take my money if I wanted to spend it. He said he'd leave it alone if it was his bike unless it wasn't running fine.

I mentioned my YES is good for another couple of years, and would it affect the warranty if I didn't have it checked at 26K? He said they (Yamaha) have no way of keeping check of service intervals. I could have one dealer check it at 26K (or not) and bring it in to him at 50K with a problem, and they would not know if it had been checked or not. So if it was beyond normal wear, as stated in the warranty, they'd fix it under warranty. If it was normal wear, they would not, per the warranty.

B)

He did say he'd would wait until 40-45K to do a valve check unless something seemed wrong. Whatever....

 

[RadioHowie]

Wanna be friends?

IT'S A TRAP!!! RUN AWAY....RUN AWAY!!!

 

[Bustanut joker]

Wanna be friends?

Well Yeah! But, Not in the way you might be thinking! Thanks anyway! I like girls very much!!

I'll take the liberty of speakin' fer odot ...

We can do the "Girl" thing for the right money

ya know ya wanna now

:jester:

 

[Karl]

For what it is worth--
Mine was in for ignition recall last week and it has 24,000 on it. I mentioned the 26k valve check coming up, and the head mechanic said the same about not needing it, as he has never had one out of spec, but that he would take my money if I wanted to spend it. He said he'd leave it alone if it was his bike unless it wasn't running fine.

I mentioned my YES is good for another couple of years, and would it affect the warranty if I didn't have it checked at 26K? He said they (Yamaha) have no way of keeping check of service intervals. I could have one dealer check it at 26K (or not) and bring it in to him at 50K with a problem, and they would not know if it had been checked or not. So if it was beyond normal wear, as stated in the warranty, they'd fix it under warranty. If it was normal wear, they would not, per the warranty.

B)

He did say he'd would wait until 40-45K to do a valve check unless something seemed wrong. Whatever....

I just had my '05 checked/adjusted for the 1st time at 40K. All the intakes were in spec, but all the exhaust were tight. Not bad, but did need to be re-shim. Got the whole deal including TB sync and plug change for $380 by the local wrench here in SJ, Cal. Bike does seem significantly smoother, probably due to the new plugs and TB sync more than anything. I'll take it for under $400. BTW, the local Yam dealer quoted $700+ for the same thing. Obviously told them they were smoking crack.

 

[zorkler]

Did mine at 25 k all in spec. the teck said i put hes initilas on them ( I dont know what he means by that ) . aLSO a t.b.c ,and tighting the stearing head . All for 350.00 bucks which i think was a steal . The reason i think he did it for that price was when i went down with my bike i sliped him a $100 bucks to wright up a very great crash report on my bike and i made out like a bandit . And the adjuster agreed . i could not belive it my cans looked new and i only needed 1 he threw in the other one at 900 a peice they were blue flames .

 

[Fred W]

Did mine at 25 k all in spec. the teck said i put hes initilas on them ( I dont know what he means by that ) . aLSO a t.b.c ,and tighting the stearing head . All for 350.00 bucks which i think was a steal . The reason i think he did it for that price was when i went down with my bike i sliped him a $100 bucks to wright up a very great crash report on my bike and i made out like a bandit . And the adjuster agreed . i could not belive it my cans looked new and i only needed 1 he threw in the other one at 900 a peice they were blue flames .

Man. I wish I could get $350 for about an hour's total labor...

The tupperware was already off and the tank was propped so the TBS was a 2 minute job. The most time he spent on the steering head was finding the torque and spanner wrenches in his tool box.

 

[Constant Mesh]

Cam chains and sprockets do require replacement after many miles. I had a 1995 V-6 Nissan Maxima with chain driven cams. Had to replace the chains and sprockets just before 200K miles.

I like the timing belt on my earlier Hondas. I changed one myself -- fairly easy. Nothing wears out except the belt and maybe the tensioner.

A bike engine with a belt would be quite a bit wider I'd expect. The belt is wider than a chain and it's located outside away from the oil. I think the Honda ST1100 V-4 engine used two timing belts, one for each bank of cams.

 

[majicmaker]

Wanna be friends?

Well Yeah! But, Not in the way you might be thinking! Thanks anyway! I like girls very much!!

I'll take the liberty of speakin' fer odot ...

We can do the "Girl" thing for the right money

ya know ya wanna now

:jester:

Dude!! If I were struck by a Bolt of Lightning while the earth was spinning backwards, I'll still get better booty than that!! But, Thanks Anyway!!

Oh by the way! Killer Outfit! Love that shade of blue! What was the Occasion? Casual Friday at work?!?! You boys have a nice day now!

 

[Bustanut joker]

Wanna be friends?

Well Yeah! But, Not in the way you might be thinking! Thanks anyway! I like girls very much!!

I'll take the liberty of speakin' fer odot ...

We can do the "Girl" thing for the right money

ya know ya wanna now

:jester:

Dude!! If I were struck by a Bolt of Lightning while the earth was spinning backwards, I'll still get better booty than that!! But, Thanks Anyway!!

Aww Come on Man! It's only a Measly Dollar.... and it's for a good cause. Odots Mental Health Fund :dribble:

:jester:

 

[Fred W]

Cam chains and sprockets do require replacement after many miles. I had a 1995 V-6 Nissan Maxima with chain driven cams. Had to replace the chains and sprockets just before 200K miles.
I like the timing belt on my earlier Hondas. I changed one myself -- fairly easy. Nothing wears out except the belt and maybe the tensioner.

A bike engine with a belt would be quite a bit wider I'd expect. The belt is wider than a chain and it's located outside away from the oil. I think the Honda ST1100 V-4 engine used two timing belts, one for each bank of cams.

Same here. I had a '92 Saab 9000T that the chain was loose and slapping at only 130k miles. But the beauty part was that I heard it getting louder for 20 k miles so I could plan the repair. Replaced the chain and tensioner in my garage. Cost me about $100 in parts altogether. But that was by far the anomaly, and I think it was due to a lack of regular maintenance by the PO. I have heard of chains breaking or skipping teeth occasionally, but the number of occurrences is much lower than belts and at higher mileages.

I think maybe I understand the thrust of the discussion now. I guess the point is that the (original) purchasers demand lower maintenance costs, so that is what is built into the vehicles at whatever the end cost. In some cases, the manufacturers are just claiming improvements that aren't really there. Like saying, sure our engines can go 25k miles between oil changes. Which is true, no doubt, so long as you will only be keeping it for 2-3 oil changes. But clearly that is not in the best interest of maximum longevity.

Am I on track?

 

[Bustanut joker]

Am I on track?

Unfortunately, Yes. This thing is back on track.

Thanks for ruining my fun Fred

:jester:

 

[Fred W]

Am I on track?

Unfortunately, Yes. This thing is back on track.

Thanks for ruining my fun Fred

:jester:

Any time, BJ.

:nerd: ..

 

[JR'SFJR]

Did mine at 25k, all ok. I just want the peace of mind knowing it's correct. Only cost me the price of a valve cover gasket.

 

[Old Bear]

One of the real selling points of the FJR to me was the LONG interval on valve adjustments. 26k per check is nothing in the big picture. My poor old Ducati requires adjustment of it's "desmo" valve system every SIX thousand miles-and those adjustments are pricey, especially considering that this is just a "twin". :glare:

 

[just roy]

do it yourself. if you can't. find someone in your area who is willing to teach you. then you can do it yourself and teach someone else. if you can't find someone in your area, come to my house and we will get it done. but if your going to wear that blue dress don't wear that gaudy purple eye shadow. i may puke in your top end. all in all though if your not willing to do it yourself you don't have much room to bitch about what it costs.