Valve Check Question

[FlyingJ]

Checked my valves today, bike has roughly 73,000 mi. on it. My readings are as follows.

#1 LI=.007, RI=.006, LE=.008, RE=.008

#2 LI=.008, RI=.008, LE=.009, RE=.009

#3 LI=.008, RI=.008, LE=.008, RE=.008

#4 LI=.006, RI=.006, LE=.003, RE=.003

My question is on #4 exhaust valves. With the exhaust valve being so tight should I be concerned or looking for anything else,such as valve seats or valve surface being hammered out of shape.

Has anyone else have one valve or cylinder way out compared to the others? Should I do a compression check or leak down test after shimming?

I just thought it was odd having one so far out from the others. I don't abuse the bike. Mainly slab riding to and from work. Last valve check was done at 26,000 and was in spec.

Any insight on the matter let me know.

 

[Spud]

When I checked mine for the first time at 45K, all were in spec except one exhaust valve was on the edge of spec, and one exhaust valve was definitely out of spec. I shimmed those two. I also recall it was a #4 exhaust. I doubt if you have any problem but will let other mechanical geeks look at the #'s to further opine.....

 

[kaitsdad]

I'm assuming those measurements are standard, not metric. I've adjusted valves on 6 different fjr engines - and all but one had a tight E4-2. They all required shimming. Mileages were between 53k and 125k.

As you are pulling the cam to do this, you may as well shim the others as close to the 70th percentile as you can get.

And 4E-2 is stuffed into the right front corner, which makes access all the more fun.

 

[RossKean]

For every check, including the last one at 110,000 miles, all of my exhaust valves have been pretty close to the middle of the range. From the beginning, the intake valves were on the tight side but still within spec until the last check. As kaitsdat mentioned, its a good idea to bring them all back to middle of the range (or a bit more) while you have the cam out. I ended out adjusting all of my intake valves even though 4 of them were at or slightly above minimum specification.

Not sure why the one out-of-spec cylinder would be different from the others; especially since this seems to be a significant change from the last check. Personally, I wouldn't stress over it as long as the engine seems to be running properly after you get it buttoned up again.

 

[FlyingJ]

Thanks for the input guys.I'm not really too concerned seeing how the bike runs just fine and never had any past issues. Just made me scratch my head a little bit when #4 was off in left field. I'm going to bring the others back in the middle of there range sense I'm in there.

 

[900gc]

"Should I do a compression check or leak down test after shimming?"

Easy enough to do if you have any concerns, though I suspect everything would be OK.

 

[Twigg]

If you are going to do a compression test, it would be most useful to do it before and after shimming.

You only need bother with a leakdown test if the compression is low.

 

[RaYzerman19]

When I get a weird reading, I spin the engine over at least one more time and re-measure.......

 

[blassoff]

Ok. Not to hijack the thread but why does it always seem to be the E4 valve that's tight? I did my first check at 46,000 and E4-1 is tight, everything other valve is at spec. The hardest to get at is the one to replace. That sucks....

 

[Intech]

Ok. Not to hijack the thread but why does it always seem to be the E4 valve that's tight? I did my first check at 46,000 and E4-1 is tight, everything other valve is at spec. The hardest to get at is the one to replace. That sucks....

Because it is closest to the cam sprocket? Just my guess. The forces a little different due to the proximity. IIRC mine and Scot's 4E-2 were the tightest, but were still in spec.