1800 Valve check. How often?

[bkwildman]

Originally Posted by mojoguy

I just did mine at 10k. My buddy who was a tech for Honda for years says that after the initial check and adjustment, you can pretty much forget about them for many many miles.

I was also told that by the local dealer whom I've known for years. He said to do them at around 10k - 12k and you should'nt need to do them for many years if ever again.

[LasPulgas]

Wow lots of bad advice being given from dealers. What a shock! I especially like the one about not needing to adjust valves unless they "become noisy".

My feeling is that if you check the clearance two or three times on schedule and they're stable, i.e., staying in spec you probably don't have anything to worry about for a long long time, if ever.

The big enemy of valves is the seats deforming. As that happens the clearance gets tighter and eventually they don't close, allowing gas to get by and burn 'em.

BTW, when the clearance gets tighter, they stop making noise. There's a reason behind the old saying "a tappy valve is a happy valve"

Anyway, my experience with VTX's would indicate that the valve train is pretty well designed and that they don't have soft seats. But I had to check mine a few times to get that warm fuzzy

[midegim]

I'm sure it will cuz I'll never do it again. The intakes were a touch tight but within spec, the front exhaust was the same so I didn't even attempt the rear. There was no getting to it anyway. What a waste of a day. Between what I experienced and the snickering from the Honda tech I will not touch them again. Luckily it rained this morning so it was only an afternoon riding lost. I can only guess that those that find this possible have much smaller hands and much better eyes than I do.

[texastevel]

Originally Posted by LasPulgas

Wow lots of bad advice being given from dealers. What a shock! I especially like the one about not needing to adjust valves unless they "become noisy".

My feeling is that if you check the clearance two or three times on schedule and they're stable, i.e., staying in spec you probably don't have anything to worry about for a long long time, if ever.

The big enemy of valves is the seats deforming. As that happens the clearance gets tighter and eventually they don't close, allowing gas to get by and burn 'em.

BTW, when the clearance gets tighter, they stop making noise. There's a reason behind the old saying "a tappy valve is a happy valve"

Anyway, my experience with VTX's would indicate that the valve train is pretty well designed and that they don't have soft seats. But I had to check mine a few times to get that warm fuzzy

Mine seem to be a little "noisier" lately but not excessively. I've got a little over 7100Mi. I'll probably tackle it around 8K this winter even though I can usually ride right through here in TX.

[texastevel]

Originally Posted by danater

I have found that if you buy a regular set of feeler guages and take the 5 that corrolate to the correct #'s given by honda, then jb weld them to a piece of 1/8" flat aluminium bout a foot long. it makes the job almost trivial for the back exhaust valve. (keep in mind ive done the desmog with flat plates) the middle valves are simply easy to get to. make sure you have a string so you can get your feeler out when you drop it (believe me you will drop it). front exhaust if you bend the feeler into an long u shape you can get it in there and keep ahold of it pretty easy (string of course) once thats done put it all back together.

I check my valves, rotate the plugs, check anti freeze level, go over the crucial fasteners, and do the retro clutch clean everytime I change the oil (5k)

danater, is there a cheat sheet or a listing of all these maintenance tricks and key points you are mentioning? (i.e. retro clutch clean etc.)

[danater]

ok the retro clutch clean that I mention is this. the floor boards on the retro seem to collect grime and crud in the shifter pivot that is closest to the ground. I ride my bike daily in rain and every other weather so mine gets NASTY. but what the crud and grim do is makes the shifter bind up and can make it VERY difficult to shift up and down in gears. so I clean the shifter every time I change my oil for that specific reason, you pull the left (sitting on the bike left) floorboard, pull the shifter lever and all that off. clean the shift level pivot point, lube it with white lithium and put it back together.

if you did the desmog (www.bareasschoppers.com has a great riteup) with just the dimple plate then it makes doing the valves sooooo much easier.

all in all I spend probly 4 to 5 hours when I change the oil because I do screw around alot and take water brakes and such. but if I really got after it id get everything checked and done in probly an hour or so.