Valve Adjustment Interval

[CoffeeRider]

Guys, I am not mechanically inclined and I know what the stealers are charging for this service. Like many of you, I am in a bad economic place right now and I need to know how long I can go between valve adjustments without any engine damage occuring. Is there any signs or sounds to be aware of that it needs to be done? My bike is an '02 with 34,350 miles and the last adjustment was done at 16 or 18 thousand miles. The bike runs great right now. If I am pushing it, I will have to park her for now until the cash situation improves.

[Pfloydgad]

Hey CR,
You are going to get a lot of ideas on this one. MOB, SISF, TCRO, all will chime in soon. I am on my 2nd. Connie, first had 135k on her and my 01 is quickly approaching 74k. I do an adjustment every Winter, regardless of the previous seasons mileage.
Now I know this time table will get some grief, but I monitor my fuel economy, and sound of my Connie. Even with a 10k yr, and now that she is 10 yrs old, I rarely have ever had to adjust more then 2 ex. and 2 in. with any adj I have ever done.
I don't over rev, I do oil and filter every 4 to 6k, and I use nothing but synthetic oil, ever.
The valves will hit a little louder as they tighten up, especially on colder starts.
You will find out with your first adj., just how much you need to do, and it is not a hard thing at all.
Wait and see what you get with responses, and take the knowledge you want.
Ride safe, and ATGATT all.
Greg

[F-106]

The books say every 6000 miles. My first adjust at 6,000 only 2 were out. However they were way too loose to let go. I am coming up on the 12,000 mile mark here in a few months, so we will see if any thing changes. To be safe I would do what the book says.

[Summit670]

Sorry, you are due for a valve adjust.  Don't know what dealers charge but job isn't that difficult, just time consuming.  May check non-dealer shops for better rates.

I have an 87 with 72k.  Been tracking valves and you can extend the intervals as experience dictates, and riding style dictates, but 16-18k is pushing it IMHO.  I'm comfy at 12k but I don't do a lot of high rpm riding or hard riding.

Oh, and valves on ours tend to get tighter/quieter over time because the valve seats get hammered so I think it makes less noise and would be more of a concern but others chime in on this.  The toyota shops tell me their valves don't need attention unless they get noisy and they have shim under buckets on my 4.7 v8 - I thought that was odd but that is what they all say.

[SteveJ.]

With that new of an engine, I would want to go in and see what's what. As you do not do your own, I assume you have no history of exactly where the valves were on each adjust. Without this history, I would not recommend riding much farther. I see you live in the snow belt, I would finish out the season, then worry about getting them adjusted, assuming no long trips. Then post up for a volunteer to come and show how it's done, ply him/her with pizza and adult beverages, that should work. It really is not that tough once you've done it. And it's free if you learn to D-I-Y.

For my bike, I check at about 12-15k mi, usually have to reset one or three out to the max evert other time in. FWIW, my bike has 151k on it, so things have pretty much stopped moving in the valve train, plus I now have SiSF's Torque cam, which is a bit easier on the valve train.

[midnightrider]

I started out on my new 2004 doing them by the book every 6000. At 20,000 miles I switched to doing oil changes every 5000 and valves every 10,000. It's been easy to remember and still safe for the valves.

[Dan in Grand Rapids]

There is a local guy here with a 1995 Connie that has over 130,000 miles on it and he has never even checked the valves. He bought it new and said that he didn't even pull the tank off for the first time until it had over 100,000 miles and he decided to change the spark plugs for the first time. These bikes obviously can be abused and still continue to roll. I on the other hand check/adjust mine about every 10,000 or so.

[BrianM]

The PO of mine probably felt the same way (27,000 miles when I got it) as when I checked them they were all so tight I couldn't get my smallest feeler gauge in there.  Sure starts and runs fine now.

Historically, my oil breaks down (false neutrals between the higher gears) and tires wear out at about the same time and I'll just check/adjust the valves.  My 87 VFR that went to 119k miles needed adjustments every time.  But I rode that bike hard too....

[MAN OF BLUES]

There is a local guy here with a 1995 Connie that has over 130,000 miles on it and he has never even checked the valves. He bought it new and said that he didn't even pull the tank off for the first time until it had over 100,000 miles and he decided to change the spark plugs for the first time. These bikes obviously can be abused and still continue to roll. I on the other hand check/adjust mine about every 10,000 or so.

semper fi Dan, with 4 posts, and a sugestion someone follows your relative suggestions "based on your pal's bike" , I will say get in there and adjust the valves.....ok?
That fealllow that told you he didn't, and his bike is fine, is full of BS.
we know this bike here, and do not suggest putting this operation/service interval off as ypu suggest can be done.

[cmoore]

Coffee Rider, if you were close by I would help you out. It is time for an adjust. I wouldn't ride the bike much farther at all without a look. My guess is when you get in there you will find the exhausts pretty tight. To do the adjust you need just a few basic tools. There is plenty of information here on this site to help you get it done right. Once you get in there it's all pretty intuitive but I always have my Clymer open when doing mine. Good luck and keep asking questions.

[Cybercraig]

The hope system doesn't work too well especially on long trips. A valve adjust takes minimum tools and will acquaint you with a lot of what you will need to learn. Most guys here can help you out and there is a step-by-step tutorial. You are overdue now so take heed. 

[BrianM]

.....and there is a step-by-step tutorial.

Don't think so, or at least I've been completely unable to find it while searching for the very specific thing.  I'd still like to know how most people get the cover out ~ I ended up draining the coolant and removing the T-stat housing to get enough room. 

[roadkoan]

Don't think so, or at least I've been completely unable to find it while searching for the very specific thing.  I'd still like to know how most people get the cover out ~ I ended up draining the coolant and removing the T-stat housing to get enough room.

I bring er out the left side. If you haven't removed the front/top/main fairing, you at least have to remove the lower bolts from either side, both the ones that hold the plastic to the fairing frame as well as the ones that hold the lower edge of the fairing frame to the actual motorcycle frame.  You then lift from the front with your one hand while stretching the fairing edge away with your other hand, then simply slide the the valve cover out to the left with your other two hands...
(Shiva and the art of motorcycle maintenance?)
There is one write up over at the other site. Here.

[CoffeeRider]

Thanks for all the great information. I have had to cut back on the riding now due to the hurricane that just passed through here and the flooding has either broken up the roads or spread a lot of thick grit over them making it dangerous to ride. I am one of those people who drops nuts or screws into those unaccessible places when trying to work on things. I can do simple stuff but I have never dug into an engine. If I had someone to work on it while I watched/helped it might be different but for now I will just have to wait until the financial situation breaks and I can take it to the dealer.

[Strawboss]

Don't be intimidated by engine work. I was at first. Buy or borrow a shop manual, feeler gauges and an inch pound torque wrench, look over the comments, theres a tutorial somewhere, its here. There are guys that posted tech pages with pics and step by step instructions. I know theres got to be some Coggers near you to help out, if I was closer, I'd ride over and help you. Heck, you were close enough you coulda come up to Vermont, stayed in our room and we coulda done your valves right there at the national! The hardest part is actually getting to the valves themselves, the actual adjusting takes about an hour if that when you go slow. Some valve covers come of easy, some not so, but WILL come off, its an art. After my first job, I couldn't believe I really did it and how easy it actually was. Since then, I've tackled things I never dreamed I'd do to my bike, forks, springs, coolant, mounted and balanced my own tires, suspensions, brakes, everything. And its all because of this forum and the people on it. Go slow, take your time, stop if you come to a problem and post it here, you'll get your answer in minutes usually, depending on day and time. Its EASY, do it. Take the down time now because of the roads and start to get things ready. Do it, you can. Keep us posted and good luck. 

[Strawboss]

Try these for starters

http://www.delp.net/Concours/

http://web.newsguy.com/vrooomm/Connie/index.htm

http://www.cog-online.org/clubportal/clubstatic.cfm?clubID=1328&pubmenuoptID=29654

I used the COG page for my first adjust, it had pics, Brocks is a little more for folks who know a little more about the bike you can copy all the files if you don't want to buy a manual, I just searched around on yahoo typing in Concours tech pages.

[CoffeeRider]

I found a bike mechanic within 10 miles of my house who said he would work on my bike in his off time and would keep it cheap for me if I would have the Connie stripped down of all the body work so he could easily get to the engine.  He is a race mechanic for Buell bikes as well as working on regular street bikes. He found the valves a bit tight and got them back to specs, changed my oil and filter, mounted and balanced a new rear tire, flushed all the hydraulics and put on new rear brake pads and charged me $350 in labor and it was another $88 for parts. The bike runs great when I brought it home and we even had to turn the idle down. I think I found a keeper with this shop as the stealer quoted me about $400 just for the valve adjustment.

[Mettler1]

I found a bike mechanic within 10 miles of my house who said he would work on my bike in his off time and would keep it cheap for me if I would have the Connie stripped down of all the body work so he could easily get to the engine.  He is a race mechanic for Buell bikes as well as working on regular street bikes. He found the valves a bit tight and got them back to specs, changed my oil and filter, mounted and balanced a new rear tire, flushed all the hydraulics and put on new rear brake pads and charged me $350 in labor and it was another $88 for parts. The bike runs great when I brought it home and we even had to turn the idle down. I think I found a keeper with this shop as the stealer quoted me about $400 just for the valve adjustment.

 Sounds like a keeper!!   Found out a long ago,"take care of the people that take care of you" You know, like coffee and donuts, 6 pk, etc.

[T Cro ®]

 Sounds like a keeper!!   Found out a long ago,"take care of the people that take care of you" You know, like coffee and donuts, 6 pk, etc.

WHAT   You came to my house and drank my beer whilst I worked on your bike........... 

[Mettler1]

WHAT   You came to my house and drank my beer whilst I worked on your bike........... 

    And I did appreciate the fact you take good care of your customers. And both Corona's tasted very good