Valve check/Valve adjustment in Dallas-Ft. Worth

Having a hard time finding a tech that has actually done a valve adjustment or valve check on an FJR in the Dallas area. The tech that did my last one quit wrenching and is now in the parts department. I found another guy in Plano that had done quite a few and he quit and went God knows where before I could get my bike to him. Had one recommended by the guy that did my last one and he also quit within a few days of my bringing my bike to him. Anyone here that lives in the area have any recommendations?

GP

How many miles on the scooter?
Is there any other maintenance work you want done in conjunction with the valve check?
Do you have a garage and / or some work space?
Do you have some metric wrenches, sockets and feeler gauges?

You could do it yourself, it isn't that hard. You might save yourself $500 that you could then spend on tires, fuel, travel, ice cream , bourbon.
There are several experienced FJR riders in the DFW area, and one of them might be available to give a hand.


dan

I respectfully disagree with Dan- if you're not comfortable with it, don't do it! You'll be spending either way more money to fix the screwups or way more time trying distance repairs via internet. If you can find a mentor you'll see (as DAN says) that it's not that difficult with a little experience.

GPRIDER said:

Having a hard time finding a tech that has actually done a valve adjustment or valve check on an FJR in the Dallas area. The tech that did my last one quit wrenching and is now in the parts department. I found another guy in Plano that had done quite a few and he quit and went God knows where before I could get my bike to him. Had one recommended by the guy that did my last one and he also quit within a few days of my bringing my bike to him. Anyone here that lives in the area have any recommendations?

GP

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I used Lone Star Yamaha in Irving TX for my 16k adjustment. I don't have any specific knowledge of the tech's skillbase. Phone; 972-445-0825

Grapevine TX FJR said:

I used Lone Star Yamaha in Irving TX for my 16k adjustment. I don't have any specific knowledge of the tech's skillbase. Phone; 972-445-0825

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Did the valve clearances actually need adjustment or were they just checked (unusual to require adjustment at just 16,000 miles)?

@GPRIDER , How many miles since valves were last checked? Not terribly hard to check clearances but it is more complicated with a greater chance of a problem if adjustments are required. I figured it out with help from various threads on this forum and did a couple of checks before I had to do any adjustments. Definitely would have been helpful to watch it being done, before attempting it by myself.

Just depends on having the tools, facilities and confidence to do it yourself. I fully understand that many people are not comfortable with this stuff.

Might call Maxim Honda/Yamaha in Allen on Hwy 75 Central Expressway (972) 359-0202. I'm competent (with check at least) and going to do a check on my new-to-me 2013 here in about 2000 miles. I'd offer to do the check, but it will be another 506 weeks before I retire and could do anything like this for anyone else.

RossKean said:

Did the valve clearances actually need adjustment or were they just checked (unusual to require adjustment at just 16,000 miles)?

@GPRIDER , How many miles since valves were last checked? Not terribly hard to check clearances but it is more complicated with a greater chance of a problem if adjustments are required. I figured it out with help from various threads on this forum and did a couple of checks before I had to do any adjustments. Definitely would have been helpful to watch it being done, before attempting it by myself.

Just depends on having the tools, facilities and confidence to do it yourself. I fully understand that many people are not comfortable with this stuff.

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Owners manual has valve check/adjustment at 16k. Per your question I meant to follow up and find out if the valves needed adjustment or were checked and found to be within tolerance but did not.

The FSM indicates valve checks at 26,600 miles. I usually round off to 30,000 miles. Have never had to change a single shim in 20 years of riding 4 different FJRs and checking valves on 4 -5 others.

Again, how many miles on your scooter?

Let me tell you a little story.
A friend with a different brand scooter once checked his valve clearances and decided to make some adjustments.
Went to several dealerships to find the specific shims needed. Several of the mechanics asked why he was bothering to adjust the valve clearances. At least 2 of the mechanics said they never bother to even check the valves unless the scooter wouldn't start from a no compression condition. Meaning less than zero valve clearance. But did charge for the valve check service.

He, and I, would never trust a dealer shop mechanic to work on our scooters. Even if we might sometimes make a mistake, we considered it to be the price of learning. And we owned our mistakes as well as successes, try to get that from a dealer shop.

From a different marque forum on the subject of valve checks.
The majority of owners who took their scooters to the dealer shop for a valve check reported "no adjustments needed, all in spec", and paid $400 - $500 for that service.
The majority of owners who did their own valve checks (or took their scooters to a known trusted independent mechanic) reported at least several valves out of spec and needing adjustment at both of the first two checks.
That particular brand was not particularly known for long term valve train stability.

The FJR IS known for long term valve train stability.

Make your own choices.
But I did mention earlier there are several FJR riders in the DFW area who could be available to assist.
I wasn't volunteering someone else.


dan

Dan Cooper is correct. Just double checked my 2013 Owner's Manual. Where they came up with 26,600 as opposed to 26,000 even is beyond me... I still have 2000 to go. IMO, what DOES need to be at least checked and likely done at 16k is the lubrication of the "Swingarm pivot bearings" and "Rear suspension link pivots". Pages 7-6 and 7-7 in my 2013 Owner's Manual (didn't check FSM).

I would volunteer to do this for you (if I had the technical/practical experience), but then I may have to quit my day job like the others.

Thanks for all the input. I have 32,327 miles on my 2016. Still under warranty till May. This is my 4th FJR. The first valve check on my other 3 did not need any adjustments at 30,000 miles. And yes Dan, Ive been on the forum long enought to know of the valve train stability. It's one of the reasons I've stayed with the FJR for 20 years. It's just a great bike. I watched a video of a guy doing a check on his FJR. I could do it, but I'd rather be out riding one of my bikes than spend that kind of time doing it myself. Unless I had someone that was versed in doing valve checks and adjustments to help me. I've done a valve adjustment on my Vmax before. Took a while to do it, but I was taking my time as it was the first time I'd done a check/adjustment. Adjustment is a little easier on the Max because you dont have to take the cams off to replace the shims.
I could just keep riding it and I'm guessing it would be ok for another 30,000 miles.

I see a lot of DFW area owners on this thread, we should do a RTE ride to eat this spring.

GPRIDER ride it check them at 50K save the $.
I purchased my 2008 AE from Dan in 2019 it had 43,000 and the clearances were still in spec.
It has 62,000 miles on it now runs great. I'll check them again at 75,000 Dan showed me the procedure
on several FJR over the years.
Dan and I use to do this on our FJ1100/1200 back in the day and your right shims on top
is much easier.

Louis

2GENAE said:

I see a lot of DFW area owners on this thread, we should do a RTE ride to eat this spring.

GPRIDER ride it check them at 50K save the $.
I purchased my 2008 AE from Dan in 2019 it had 43,000 and the clearances were still in spec.
It has 62,000 miles on it now runs great. I'll check them again at 75,000 Dan showed me the procedure
on several FJR over the years.
Dan and I use to do this on our FJ1100/1200 back in the day and your right shims on top
is much easier.

Louis

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I might be up for a ride, meet and eat this spring as long as I didn't have to get on I35 lol

If you were in San Antonio I’d give you a hand. I’ve done three checks on mine over the years and still gave not needed to replace any shims.

*have not

I have close to a 127,000 miles on my 07 and have done all the required checks, I have two intakes that are close to being to tight and have been that way since the first check. I'm lucky to have had a good mentor for the first one, it's also a good time to put new plugs in (Iridium plugs) and do a coolant change. Doing the first check is good to set a baseline of what the valves are doing, the second check is good for checking to the baseline. And yes we had a few folks burn a valve or two and have to replace the motor.

I guess the bottom line is I don't mind letting a good mechanic do it if I know I trust them. Every time I find one, they head for greener pastures. If someone here on the forum, that has good experience with it and wants to help me do it, I would consider it. DFW tech day?

There was a guy on one of these forums who decided to do his own valve check. He posted, received a lot of valve-uable (see what I did there?) advice and went at it. You could sense the terror in his next post asking how to retrieve a shim he had dropped into the engine! Point is if it is not ticking (valves too loose) or if it is short on power (valves too tight), leave it alone. Just my 2 cents. Jevers

Jay Evers said:

Point is if it is not ticking (valves too loose) or if it is short on power (valves too tight), leave it alone. Just my 2 cents. Jevers

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Loose valves are happy valves. Tight valves cause damage. Err on the side of loose.