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[Burston]

Hi, been going through the list and noticed the 500 mile valve adjustment is very important.The bike I just bought has 2800 km (1700 miles) on the clock. The valves weren't done at the first service.I've queried the 4 major dealers in my area and all have said that kawasaki recommends adjustments at 6000 km (3700 miles) since the ones that they have checked have all been within specs.Why the difference.Any Ideas. Steve (Australia) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Ted Palmer]

Burston wrote:

> > Hi, been going through the list and noticed the 500 mile valve adjustment is very important.

Yes.

> The bike I just bought has 2800 km (1700 miles) on the clock. The valves weren't done at the first service. > I've queried the 4 major dealers in my area and all have said that kawasaki recommends adjustments at 6000 km (3700 miles) since the ones that they have checked have all been within specs.Why the difference.

Any Ideas. The Kawasaki factory specifies a valve check at the first service. To quote the shop manual: "The initial maintenance is vitally important and must not be neglected." Just about any motor with manually adjusted valve clearances has a clearance check at first service specified by its maker. The KLR650C1 shop manual specs a valve clearance check at 800km, 10,000km and 30,000km. If the dealers are keen enough to check the valves every 6000km then they should be keen enough to wave a feeler gauge in the head at 800km. If there has been a service bulletin of some sort that specifies different service intervals to those published in the factory manuals then we'd be interested to hear about it. Mister_T Melbourne Australia

[Burston]

Thanks Mr_T for your reply.I'm going to adjust the valves now regardless, but I'm going to contact Kawasaki out of curiosity because my owners manual says to adjust at 12000 km ( 7500 miles). One of the dealers said that he had rung Head office and they had changed from 12000 km to 6000 km and another said not to worry, that Yamahas' first adjustment was at 24000 km and this is the way modern engines are going. Cheers Steve, [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[FGJ]

> Thanks Mr_T for your reply.I'm going to adjust the valves now regardless,

but I'm going to contact Kawasaki out of curiosity because my owners manual says to adjust at 12000 km ( 7500 miles). One of the dealers said that he had rung Head office and they had changed from 12000 km to 6000 km and another said not to worry, that Yamahas' first adjustment was at 24000 km and this is the way modern engines are going. Steve-I would think the first or original valve adjustment / head re-torqueing is by far the most important as the initial wear, expansion and contraction are going to be the most significant, once things are settled in it becomes less critical, as far as everything being in spec. With many of these modern engines you could probably never do any of the above and ride the hell out of it as long as you changed the oil and it would be many years before anything actually grenaded. I like the security of having everything squared away, but I end up scheduling adjustments by feel, if you actually followed all of the maint. schedules in the manuals, you'd have to be independantly wealthy, and really enjoy being a mechanic my 1980 BMW R-100s requires removing the transmission to grease the spline annually there's no way I'm going to bother with that, but when I do (every 5 to 8 years) I use a high quality moly. I think many of these factory engineers are either extra-terrestrials or have a different chromosome count than the rest of us Fred J

[Ron Klimoff]

HELP! I just called my local Kaw dealer, Woodbury Powersports in Woodbury, NJ, to find out how much it was going to be to check my valves since I just turned 1000 miles and it hasn't been done yet. They quoted me $180. That seems high, right? What does it normally cost? And what happens if I don't do it? Thanks in advance... Ron K A16

[Devon Jarvis]

It's pretty common for KLRs to get a "wall service" for the 500mi check- They change the oil, check coolant, oil and adjust the chain, then lean it against a wall while they work on something else and charge you for a valve adjustment. If you don't have it done now, nothing will happen immediately. Eventually (depending on how off the valves were on assembly, and how they wear in your specific case) you will have hard hot starting, less low end power, and eventually burn an exhaust valve or two. I adjusted my valves at 750mi, changed shims on all four, and haven't had to touch them since (21,000mi now, checked them at 6,000 and 16,000, still in spec). If the dealer actually does the valve adjustment, $180 is not too much if it includes an oil anf filter change, chain adjustment, and going over the bike looking for loose bolts. Some people have secretly taped a hair across the valve cover joint, some have secretly painted a white-out line across the joint (you can't see it if you don't remove the tank to do the adjustment). Some ask the dealer to write down the checked clearances, the shim size removed, and the shim installed. If the dealer gets pissed off about writing this stuff down, then he wasn't planning on actually doing the work. Devon A15 Ron Klimoff wrote:

> > HELP! I just called my local Kaw dealer, Woodbury Powersports in > Woodbury, NJ, to find out how much it was going to be to check my > valves since I just turned 1000 miles and it hasn't been done yet. > They quoted me $180. That seems high, right? What does it normally > cost? And what happens if I don't do it? Thanks in advance... > > Ron K > A16 >

[ATO137528@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/7/2003 1:45:45 PM Central Daylight Time, jarvisd@... writes:

> Some ask the dealer to write > down the checked clearances, the shim size removed, and the > shim installed. If the dealer gets pissed off about writing > this stuff down, then he wasn't planning on actually doing > the work.

That's what happened to me at MY 500 mile check up. Besides my NEW bike got left in the weather for a week out back! Other than the 500 mile check, which I had done at a dealer thinking if I had a problem later I could show where a DEALER did the required work, I do it all myself. While the "mechanic" didn't write down any clearances, I saw where the valve cover bolts had been mangled like he took them off with his teeth, so I assumed he at least looked at the clearances. Last time I checked clearances, I went to the "new" dealer and asked to buy shims. They told me at first the didn't sell them but I could bring the bike in and have the work done there! Can you believe it??? I can't blame Kawasaki for poor dealer service. I have the same trouble with the dealer where I bought my car. I don't think ANYONE cares about service any more... Lamar A14 (valves nicely at loose end of spec) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Mark St.Hilaire, Sr]

> HELP! I just called my local Kaw dealer, Woodbury Powersports in > Woodbury, NJ, to find out how much it was going to be to check my > valves since I just turned 1000 miles and it hasn't been done yet. > They quoted me $180. That seems high, right? What does it normally > cost? And what happens if I don't do it? Thanks in advance...

Dealer's prices are steep, but if they actually DO the check and adjustment, if necessary, then I guess that's about what you could reasonably expect. I thought I'd heard of something in the ballpark of $75, but I wonder what was actually done for that amount. Alternatively, it really isn't a big deal to just check them yourself. It seems scary when you're in the "thinking about it" stage, but once you actually jump in and do it you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. There is plenty of help available to do this; my procedure with pictures has been very well received: http://klr6500.tripod.com/valves.htm and is, of course, absolutely free. I checked my valve clearances for the first time at 500, and they were quite out of whack. I checked them again at 3250, or thereabouts, and found that only one had changed - and that by only .001. The valve clearances are inclined to close up over time, which is a bad thing. In *my* opinion, I think you'd be well advised to adjust the clearances to mid or upper range of the spec. I'd bet you'll find in the miles to come that adjustment will be minimal, or not even necessary. I would set them now to not have to worry about it. You can order shims in whatever sizes you need from Fred Hink at http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/index.html Also, to save time and aggravation, you can download ShimCalc - software that will do the math for you, and tell you what shims you need - from http://home.austin.rr.com/ironjungle/sw.html If you get stuck, or need any further information, give a yell... Mark KLR650 Motorcycle Pages: http://klr6500.tripod.com/ HomePage: http://home.adelphia.net/~msaint/index.html My Adelphia Email can be "iffy." If you don't get a response, please try: KLR6500@...

[Jason Smith]

Mark, Having just completed my valve check via your directions I want to thank you for the directions. They are very straight forward. My only question is why do you say remove the front sprocket. I did not remove it and got the chain off with little fuss. Thanks, Jason -----Original Message----- From: Mark St.Hilaire, Sr [mailto:msaint@...] Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 2:39 PM To: 1 - KLR650 List; Ron Klimoff Subject: Re: [DSN_klr650] Valve adjustment

> HELP! I just called my local Kaw dealer, Woodbury Powersports in > Woodbury, NJ, to find out how much it was going to be to check my > valves since I just turned 1000 miles and it hasn't been done yet. > They quoted me $180. That seems high, right? What does it normally > cost? And what happens if I don't do it? Thanks in advance...

Dealer's prices are steep, but if they actually DO the check and adjustment, if necessary, then I guess that's about what you could reasonably expect. I thought I'd heard of something in the ballpark of $75, but I wonder what was actually done for that amount. Alternatively, it really isn't a big deal to just check them yourself. It seems scary when you're in the "thinking about it" stage, but once you actually jump in and do it you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. There is plenty of help available to do this; my procedure with pictures has been very well received: http://klr6500.tripod.com/valves.htm and is, of course, absolutely free. I checked my valve clearances for the first time at 500, and they were quite out of whack. I checked them again at 3250, or thereabouts, and found that only one had changed - and that by only .001. The valve clearances are inclined to close up over time, which is a bad thing. In *my* opinion, I think you'd be well advised to adjust the clearances to mid or upper range of the spec. I'd bet you'll find in the miles to come that adjustment will be minimal, or not even necessary. I would set them now to not have to worry about it. You can order shims in whatever sizes you need from Fred Hink at http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/index.html Also, to save time and aggravation, you can download ShimCalc - software that will do the math for you, and tell you what shims you need - from http://home.austin.rr.com/ironjungle/sw.html If you get stuck, or need any further information, give a yell... Mark KLR650 Motorcycle Pages: http://klr6500.tripod.com/ HomePage: http://home.adelphia.net/~msaint/index.html My Adelphia Email can be "iffy." If you don't get a response, please try: KLR6500@... List sponsored by Dual Sport News at www.dualsportnews.com. List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html Unsubscribe by sending a blank message to: DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com . Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[zrod73026]

I kinda enjoyed buying my bike from my dealer and everything, but: They also told me it would cost 180.00 for the 500-1000 mile check. I've studied the procedure for the valve adjustment and I don't know how much you guys make at your jobs, but I don't think I would be able to do the kind of quality job I would like to do without getting in a hurry and loosing parts or scratching the tank while it was laying around the shop. I can't believe they were going to adjust the valves, lube the cables, tighten everything and all that other stuff they claimed was on there checklist for 180 skins! Hell, they didn't even put my scooter together properly. Chain, WTFTight, Triple Tree crooked, overinflated tires, fairing offcenter, headlight pointed at the ground, loose shit everywhere! Glad I borrowed their trailer and didn't drive it home! Oh, and good thing I checked how they tied it down on the trailer! I smell more damage than service performed for my 180! Nooooo Thanks!!!!!! To hell with the warranty, you guys can help me fix it if it breaks!

--- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, Devon Jarvis wrote: > It's pretty common for KLRs to get a "wall service" for the > 500mi check- They change the oil, check coolant, oil and > adjust the chain, then lean it against a wall while they > work on something else and charge you for a valve > adjustment. > > If you don't have it done now, nothing will happen > immediately. Eventually (depending on how off the valves > were on assembly, and how they wear in your specific case) > you will have hard hot starting, less low end power, and > eventually burn an exhaust valve or two. > > I adjusted my valves at 750mi, changed shims on all four, > and haven't had to touch them since (21,000mi now, checked > them at 6,000 and 16,000, still in spec). > > If the dealer actually does the valve adjustment, $180 is > not too much if it includes an oil anf filter change, chain > adjustment, and going over the bike looking for loose bolts. > Some people have secretly taped a hair across the valve > cover joint, some have secretly painted a white-out line > across the joint (you can't see it if you don't remove the > tank to do the adjustment). Some ask the dealer to write > down the checked clearances, the shim size removed, and the > shim installed. If the dealer gets pissed off about writing > this stuff down, then he wasn't planning on actually doing > the work. > > Devon > A15 > > Ron Klimoff wrote: > > > > HELP! I just called my local Kaw dealer, Woodbury Powersports in > > Woodbury, NJ, to find out how much it was going to be to check my > > valves since I just turned 1000 miles and it hasn't been done yet. > > They quoted me $180. That seems high, right? What does it normally > > cost? And what happens if I don't do it? Thanks in advance... > > > > Ron K > > A16 > >