Sometimes a Ticker doesn't Tick

[Fred W]

Thanks for the added details, Zac. I hope that you don't mind a few more anal-retentive type questions:

Did you measure the wear on the exhaust valve stems? Or do you just need to replace them since you were doing the guides?

How about the valve seats? Do they get resurfaced / reground?

The main reason for my own interest is to prepare myself for the possibility of having the same issues in the future. Perhaps with the use of "Ring Free" as you recommended, we can avoid this job altogether.

PS - The sun's shining here in New Hampshire too. But it's in the low 30's, and they've salted the roads already, so there won't be any riding for a couple of months now. :angry2:

 

[CISCO]

Did you measure the wear on the exhaust valve stems? Or do you just need to replace them since you were doing the guides?

How about the valve seats? Do they get resurfaced / reground?

No the guides were worn, the stems were polished I rebuild using new valves every time and always re-cut the valve seats.

The main reason for my own interest is to prepare myself for the possibility of having the same issues in the future. Perhaps with the use of "Ring Free" as you recommended, we can avoid this job altogether.

Ring Free is definately the cheaper yet proven way to go if you catch it early enough!

 

[Fred W]

Thanks again, Zac!

Having a professional participate on this forum is of very big benefit to all of us.

Happy New Year,

 

[RadioHowie]

Gunny to what Fred posted! ^^^^^

It's great to having a pro Yamahammer wrench post to the board.

Thanks, Zac, for your participation.

 

[beemerdons]

Gunny to what Fred posted! ^^^^^

It's great to having a pro Yamahammer wrench post to the board.

Thanks, Zac, for your participation.

+1, Gunny; Outstanding, Thanks Zac!

 

[NightShine]

I picked up the bike from Roseville Yamaha yesterday, and it was all shiny and detailed, too!

Zak took the time to carefully go over each of the maintenance items performed on the bike during its holiday visit. And showed me the old valve guides and exhaust valves. On the worst of the guides, you could actually see the "oval"ing at either end of the guide - it was subtle, but still visible to the unaided eye. The valve stems looked "polished", and the valves and guides had significant carbon crud still on them, even after they'd been cleaned up sufficiently for examination.

As far as performance of the engine goes, a clean bike seems to be a very happy bike!

• The bike idled noticeably more smoothly. And it responded quite "crisply" to throttle inputs.
  
• I haven't explored the power envelope at all yet. I've only put a hundred miles or so on the bike on the return trip home, and will "baby" it a few hundred miles more while breaking in the new valves and guides.
  
• As an unexpected bonus, the Audivox cruise control operates much better! It now sets almost immediately. This is evidence that the engine is generating a much stronger vacuum. To set a target speed in the cruise control, I used to have to hit "set", and then immediately hold "resume" until my manual throttle input was no longer needed to hold speed. This used to take 5 or 6 seconds; now it is just about instantaneous. I think I can now completely skip holding "resume", and just hit "set". Cool!
  
• And the brake feel is much more precise due to the brake system TLC and brake line replacement.
  
• And my peace of mind is enhanced due to the proactive replacement of the CCT.
  

I definitely see a bottle of this stuff in my future:

So I now have a "better than new" bike, and am very pleased with the results of its holiday stay in Roseville. So to give credit where credit is due, you guys rock, Zak! :clapping:

 

[wheatonFJR]

Good Job Zak!

 

[Fred W]

I'm a sucker for a happy ending! :yahoo:

 

[beemerdons]

I'm a sucker for a happy ending! :yahoo:

Same here Fred, does this "end" of Eva Mendes make you happy; makes tu Papa Chuy super happy, Hubba!

 

[RadioHowie]

I'm a sucker for a happy ending! :yahoo:

Same here Fred, does this "end" of Eva Mendes make you happy; makes tu Papa Chuy super happy, Hubba!

Turgid Tongue......that's my new handle!!!

 

[Dudewado]

This thread has been very interesting. As an owner of an '03, I have always been curious about the valve guides on my bike.

I have never heard any ticking in ~50,000 miles; but you always wonder.

One good thing for me, I live in Oregon, and have no nearby dealers I trust.

At 26,000 miles I took my bike to what was still Sunnyside Yamaha, a 720 mile round trip, for the valve check.

Now I am almost ready for another check, and I was wondering where to take it this time.

I just realized Roseville Yamaha is only 6 miles from my son's house in Citrus Heights.

I can take it there and wait at my son's until it's ready.

Hey, Zack, I need to make an appointment!

 

[user 6393]

This thread has been very interesting. As an owner of an '03, I have always been curious about the valve guides on my bike.

I have never heard any ticking in ~50,000 miles; but you always wonder.

One good thing for me, I live in Oregon, and have no nearby dealers I trust.

At 26,000 miles I took my bike to what was still Sunnyside Yamaha, a 720 mile round trip, for the valve check.

Now I am almost ready for another check, and I was wondering where to take it this time.

I just realized Roseville Yamaha is only 6 miles from my son's house in Citrus Heights.

I can take it there and wait at my son's until it's ready.

Hey, Zack, I need to make an appointment!

You could always go north....

 

[FJRay]

This thread has been very interesting. As an owner of an '03, I have always been curious about the valve guides on my bike.

I have never heard any ticking in ~50,000 miles; but you always wonder.

One good thing for me, I live in Oregon, and have no nearby dealers I trust.

At 26,000 miles I took my bike to what was still Sunnyside Yamaha, a 720 mile round trip, for the valve check.

Now I am almost ready for another check, and I was wondering where to take it this time.

I just realized Roseville Yamaha is only 6 miles from my son's house in Citrus Heights.

I can take it there and wait at my son's until it's ready.

Hey, Zack, I need to make an appointment!

You could always go north....

You can bring it to my shop and I will help you do it yourself. No charge.

 

[SkooterG]

You can bring it to my shop and I will help you do it yourself. No charge.

Damn Ray. I may have to take you up on that. It's the one thing I don't know how to do on my FJR. Nobody around here to show me how, and I ain't trying it by myself without a bit of guidance from somebody who knows wtf they are doing. Luckily, I do have a Yammie tech do mine who I trust completely, he is just a bit expensive however and the checks usually run around $500. Ouch. I have them done at or near the proper interval, so that is once every 8 or 9 months for me. Ouch.

BTW, that same outstanding tech diagnosed my poor departed Dirty Ol Whore with a bad #1 cylinder during a valve check at 205,000 miles. Compression across all cyliders was acceptable if not perfect, but leak-down test was down 80% on cylinder #1 and the problem was on the exhaust valves side. His guess without tear-down was that the exhaust guides in #1 were worn and the valve seat was getting worn unevenly from the valves moving around a bit.

Of course I was all freaked out. But I kept on riding it for another 21,000 miles before I totaled it and observed zero oil consumption nor any loss in fuel mileage. The bike *might* have been down in power a bit, but ****, for a 226k motor that had been ridden hard and put away wet, I wouldn't expect it to be 100%. At any rate, after riding for a while and realizing the sky wasn't falling, I had no immediate plans for a top-end rebuild though I figured that was coming eventually. Really wish I could have kept the bike - I would have loved to see what the top end would have looked like upon disassembly with the miles it had.

Oh, and 90% or more of the time Chevron gas. Occasional gas treaments with either Techron, Seafoam, or this stuff my tech likes called 'Supercharger' which I can not find except for his shop. Also had a PCIII for whatever difference that does or doesn't make. Personally, I wonder if the PCIII in general richens the FJR's mixture allowing it to run cooler and therefore extend the motor's life in the long term?

Now, with FJR#2, it's CostCo gas almost all of the time and no PCIII and it definitely runs hotter.

 

[FJRay]

You can bring it to my shop and I will help you do it yourself. No charge.

Damn Ray. I may have to take you up on that. It's the one thing I don't know how to do on my FJR. Nobody around here to show me how, and I ain't trying it by myself without a bit of guidance from somebody who knows wtf they are doing. Luckily, I do have a Yammie tech do mine who I trust completely, he is just a bit expensive however and the checks usually run around $500. Ouch. I have them done at or near the proper interval, so that is once every 8 or 9 months for me. Ouch.

BTW, that same outstanding tech diagnosed my poor departed Dirty Ol Whore with a bad #1 cylinder during a valve check at 205,000 miles. Compression across all cyliders was acceptable if not perfect, but leak-down test was down 80% on cylinder #1 and the problem was on the exhaust valves side. His guess without tear-down was that the exhaust guides in #1 were worn and the valve seat was getting worn unevenly from the valves moving around a bit.

Of course I was all freaked out. But I kept on riding it for another 21,000 miles before I totaled it and observed zero oil consumption nor any loss in fuel mileage. The bike *might* have been down in power a bit, but ****, for a 226k motor that had been ridden hard and put away wet, I wouldn't expect it to be 100%. At any rate, after riding for a while and realizing the sky wasn't falling, I had no immediate plans for a top-end rebuild though I figured that was coming eventually. Really wish I could have kept the bike - I would have loved to see what the top end would have looked like upon disassembly with the miles it had.

Oh, and 90% or more of the time Chevron gas. Occasional gas treaments with either Techron, Seafoam, or this stuff my tech likes called 'Supercharger' which I can not find except for his shop. Also had a PCIII for whatever difference that does or doesn't make. Personally, I wonder if the PCIII in general richens the FJR's mixture allowing it to run cooler and therefore extend the motor's life in the long term?

Now, with FJR#2, it's CostCo gas almost all of the time and no PCIII and it definitely runs hotter.

Be glad to help out if you get this direction. Its not all that hard but it helps to have some guidance the first time around.

I have thought about a tech day but I am a long way from anywhere and don't know that people want to travel that far.

 

[beemerdons]

You can bring it to my shop and I will help you do it yourself. No charge.

Damn Ray. I may have to take you up on that. It's the one thing I don't know how to do on my FJR. Nobody around here to show me how, and I ain't trying it by myself without a bit of guidance from somebody who knows wtf they are doing. Luckily, I do have a Yammie tech do mine who I trust completely, he is just a bit expensive however and the checks usually run around $500. Ouch. I have them done at or near the proper interval, so that is once every 8 or 9 months for me. Ouch.

BTW, that same outstanding tech diagnosed my poor departed Dirty Ol Whore with a bad #1 cylinder during a valve check at 205,000 miles. Compression across all cyliders was acceptable if not perfect, but leak-down test was down 80% on cylinder #1 and the problem was on the exhaust valves side. His guess without tear-down was that the exhaust guides in #1 were worn and the valve seat was getting worn unevenly from the valves moving around a bit.

Of course I was all freaked out. But I kept on riding it for another 21,000 miles before I totaled it and observed zero oil consumption nor any loss in fuel mileage. The bike *might* have been down in power a bit, but ****, for a 226k motor that had been ridden hard and put away wet, I wouldn't expect it to be 100%. At any rate, after riding for a while and realizing the sky wasn't falling, I had no immediate plans for a top-end rebuild though I figured that was coming eventually. Really wish I could have kept the bike - I would have loved to see what the top end would have looked like upon disassembly with the miles it had.

Oh, and 90% or more of the time Chevron gas. Occasional gas treaments with either Techron, Seafoam, or this stuff my tech likes called 'Supercharger' which I can not find except for his shop. Also had a PCIII for whatever difference that does or doesn't make. Personally, I wonder if the PCIII in general richens the FJR's mixture allowing it to run cooler and therefore extend the motor's life in the long term?

Now, with FJR#2, it's CostCo gas almost all of the time and no PCIII and it definitely runs hotter.

Be glad to help out if you get this direction. Its not all that hard but it helps to have some guidance the first time around.

I have thought about a tech day but I am a long way from anywhere and don't know that people want to travel that far.

+1, Gunny! So, mi Hijo Skooty: Are you saying road trip planning to Ray's house? FJRay lives in Paradise up in Oregon, Seth and I were there last July before WFO.

Here, let me check my Work Day Planner to see when I am available: March 10-13 in Death Valley with Fairlaner; April 1-11, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico; mid-May - picking up Yamaha Super Tenere from Alabama; late-May - WheatonFJR arrives in the West; mid-June - CFR 2011 with a sexy red headed nurse in New Brunswick, Canada (Hubba, Hubba!); SW-FOG first week of September; either Guatemala or Morocco for my 63rd Birthday in October.

OK Son, your Dad has checked his Work Calendar and I'm almost wide open to go visit FJRay in LaPine, Oregon! Please check your "Work Schedule"!

 

[wheatonFJR]

+1, Gunny! So, mi Hijo Skooty: Are you saying road trip planning to Ray's house? FJRay lives in Paradise up in Oregon, Seth and I were there last July before WFO.

Here, let me check my Work Day Planner to see when I am available: March 10-13 in Death Valley with Fairlaner; April 1-11, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico; mid-May - picking up Yamaha Super Tenere from Alabama; late-May - WheatonFJR arrives in the West; mid-June - CFR 2011 with a sexy red headed nurse in New Brunswick, Canada (Hubba, Hubba!); SW-FOG first week of September; either Guatemala or Morocco for my 63rd Birthday in October.

Man Don,

Now THAT is the life. :yahoo:

I'm happy for you man...yer a good man and deserve it.

 

[beemerdons]

+1, Gunny! So, mi Hijo Skooty: Are you saying road trip planning to Ray's house? FJRay lives in Paradise up in Oregon, Seth and I were there last July before WFO.

Here, let me check my Work Day Planner to see when I am available: March 10-13 in Death Valley with Fairlaner; April 1-11, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico; mid-May - picking up Yamaha Super Tenere from Alabama; late-May - WheatonFJR arrives in the West; mid-June - CFR 2011 with a sexy red headed nurse in New Brunswick, Canada (Hubba, Hubba!); SW-FOG first week of September; either Guatemala or Morocco for my 63rd Birthday in October.

Man Don,

Now THAT is the life. :yahoo:

I'm happy for you man...yer a good man and deserve it.

Thanks, Mark; the nicest part about being retired is being able to do more things with my Son Seth (14), and my other Son Greg (45)!

 

[meosborn]

Wow, this place has always been a little weird. 7 pages worth of posts with about 1 page of useful information. If you call a guy an egocentric idiot enough times because he had the gall to question your friend's motivation I would imagine you'll get the same response every time.

At least no one was claiming that Capitol Yamaha or Folsom Yamaha has great service. Then I might have had to join in the fight. THEN look out! *sarcasm* (in case you didn't recognize it.)

 

[Dudewado]

This thread has been very interesting. As an owner of an '03, I have always been curious about the valve guides on my bike.

I have never heard any ticking in ~50,000 miles; but you always wonder.

One good thing for me, I live in Oregon, and have no nearby dealers I trust.

At 26,000 miles I took my bike to what was still Sunnyside Yamaha, a 720 mile round trip, for the valve check.

Now I am almost ready for another check, and I was wondering where to take it this time.

I just realized Roseville Yamaha is only 6 miles from my son's house in Citrus Heights.

I can take it there and wait at my son's until it's ready.

Hey, Zack, I need to make an appointment!

You could always go north....

Be still my beating heart.

You do valve checks Barb?

[insert sexual innuendo comment here]