Resolved!: Screwed up big -- trusted the dealer for the first valve check

[Fred W]

If everything was measted in spec before the adjustment they couldn't have changed the shims by much. I guess it'll be good till the next check.

 

[redzgrider]

O.K., with emotion, but this is the last time:

As I noted before, somehow or other I ended up with two sets of valve cover gaskets and O-rings, etc., so I already had all the parts on hand -- and, as I also already noted, that 52" tool box in my garage has a lot of tools. Far too many of them are SAE for modern times, but that's another story.

After pulling many body panels, draining the coolant, and pulling the cylinder cover, I used a short length of 3/8 inch dowel in association with a CDI 1" travel dial indicator (and Harbor Freight magnetic base) to verify cylinder #1 was at top, TOP, dead center, pulling the motor through TDC several times to note the greatest indicator value (I use the rear tire with the tranny in 5th to rotate the motor). With #1 at TDC, the cam gear markings were clearly parallel to the edge of the cylinder head, just as described in the manual. Using my quite, quite old U.S.A. made set of dual marked bent tipped feeler gages, I verified the clearances were all just right -- i.e. bigger than mid-range, but not OOT.

Then I put it all back together and took the bike to get a cookie at the Yalaha Bakery.

 

[Pterodactyl]

Thanks. I feel much better now.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Nice!!

 

[Abercrombie FJR]

Thanks. I feel much better now.

Nice!!

Geeze! The head games we have to play to make each other feel good around here. Makes you can just feel the love.

 

[rbentnail]

But....did you check the crankshaft sprocket timing mark, since you went through all that fancy measuring to find TDC? You know, the one Mr. Genius mentioned in post #2 of this thread.

 

[eflyguy]

Isn't that redundant if he verified TDC?

 

[escapefjrtist]

^^^^ Yup TDC is TDC on #1. Since timing marks line up, no question cam timing is correct.

--G

 

[redzgrider]

More importantly, the cookie was good. Pistachio short bread. Mmm.

 

[Wm.P]

I too am very uneasy about letting the dealer here in SW FL. do anything on my bike. That being said I needed a rear tire and they had the one I wanted so I had them install it. As I was walking into the showroom to wait I glanced through the shop door window and saw a very young tech? starting to work on my bike. About an hour later the Service Mngr. approached me and told me that caliper bolts that secure the caliper to the mounting bracket had stripped out the threads when the tech removed them with a impact gun. 1) you don't need to remove those bolts to take off the tire. 2) using a impact gun to do this is idiotic. She was looking at me like I was another ignorant customer trying to tell her how to do her job. I guess at 22 yrs old or so she felt very qualified. We went out to the shop with her telling me it would be $$ to fix. At 55 I think I handle stress pretty well. Not this time. I lost my mind and let her and super tech have it. I took the bike home on a trailer and got them to buy me new parts that I installed. Have not set foot in there since. WTF is happening to quality and customer service? Whew! I'm better now. Thanks?

 

[Hammer Down Brown]

Wm.P, The next question to ask is where did integrity go? What happened to, our tech massed up and here's how we're going to take care of it?

If tearing up your bike leads to a higher repair ticket, (and higher profits), on your bike, its pretty easy to see where some dealers would go with that.

 

[eflyguy]

WTF is happening to quality and customer service?

The widening skills gap and propaganda from our education system that everyone needs a degree..

 

[El Toro]

I gotta admit that I'm still having trouble understanding how you strip threads when you're removing them.

That is actually unbelievable.

So .... I don't believe it. Something else is going on here.

I wish that the dealers side of the story would be a required addition.

We all think that dealers are stealers ... but often it turns out that buyers are liars.

This adversarial relationship helps no one.

Sigh....

 

[Pterodactyl]

Easy. Place air gun on the bolt and pull trigger with the gun in the tighten mode. Stare vacantly at the gun while holding trigger and wondering why this damn thing won't come off.... must be really tight.... ah, there it goes. But, how does this explain the second bolt? Dunno. Perhaps, in addition to being inexperienced and slow witted, the tech is a liar and did it while putting the caliper on the bike. No one under 40 years of age should be allowed to use an air gun and in a motorcycle shop the guns should be tightly controlled.

 

[NTXFJR]

Or, the male fastener and aluminum alloy female threads had some electrolysis going on and the threads gall up on the fastener's way out. Some stainless alloys are notorious for galling up stainless on stainless as well.

 

[jammess]

This air gun screw up reminds me of what happened at a Ford dealer who shall remain nameless 5 years ago when I took my '11 Mustang GT/CS in for an oil change. The mechanic apparently used an impact wrench set for wheel lugs to install the oil filter. Then the idiot somehow dumped a quart of oil down the side of the engine block which smelled great every time I drove the car. Since then I have been changing my own oil which is a pain on a low to the ground car but oohhh welllll....

It was not fun getting the over tight oil filter off! I should also say the dealer did steam clean the block for me after I raised pure hell. Grrrrrrrr....

 

[Fred W]

Or, the male fastener and aluminum alloy female threads had some electrolysis going on and the threads gall up on the fastener's way out. Some stainless alloys are notorious for galling up stainless on stainless as well.

This ^^^

There were a rash of DIY guys that were finding the brake caliper pins were seized in the calipers. When they attempted to remove them they pulled the threads out of the calipers with the bolts. Good idea for people to pull the pins when the bikes are new and give those threads some anti-seize compound.

Yeah, the air gun is lazy and not a good idea, but the threads may have pulled out anyway. Why he was pulling those pins to remove a rear wheel is another mystery, and proof of their ineptitude, but the thread damage may have been unavoidable (eventually)

 

[jammess]

It must be too early in the morning. I should have been referring to the oil pan drain bolt NOT the oil filter, duhhhh...

 

[dcarver]

Your very best friend...

 

[BigOgre]

Or, the male fastener and aluminum alloy female threads had some electrolysis going on and the threads gall up on the fastener's way out. Some stainless alloys are notorious for galling up stainless on stainless as well.

This ^^^

There were a rash of DIY guys that were finding the brake caliper pins were seized in the calipers. When they attempted to remove them they pulled the threads out of the calipers with the bolts. Good idea for people to pull the pins when the bikes are new and give those threads some anti-seize compound.

Good reminder. New tires going on before the season starts. Think I'll put a sticky on some tool to remind myself for when the time comes.