angrygirafe

33 minutes ago, betoney said:

I'm not sure where this idea comes from, maybe from those that get a new bike every 18-24 months and have never had high mileage? 

Myself and all of my riding buddies all have over 50k on our bikes. 

I think people who don’t ride daily assume the lifespan of a bike is the same as the total miles they’ll ride in their life. 50k should be broken in, not one foot in the grave. 

Well, just got off the phone with the mechanic. Valves were in spec (barely), timing was still aligned. It sounds like he was doing the compression test correctly, as he was expecting around 180 psi. 
 

His thoughts are that the piston rings are wearing, and the valve service upset it enough to be noticeable. His recommendation is to put it back together and sell it. Probably another 900$ to rebuild it. Bleh. I was really hoping this was a tech screw up. I know 50k is a lot of miles on a bike, but I know a lot of people here have done a lot more. 

2 hours ago, skipperT said:

Glad you got some more data. Don’t sweat the compression number, being a YCC-T engine, you’d have to MANUALLY prop open the throttle butterflies to get air in for good numbers AND connect a jumper battery.  I’m assuming he didn’t do that, because you should be pushing 175 or so in my mind. Though I should check mine for actual data....
Leakdown test and valve timing inspection will tell all. Fuel pressure check is a good idea too. 
Good luck. 
-Skip

I will readily admit to being of no mechanical mind, so I have no idea how he did it 😂

An update, over a month later. 
 

I did drop it off at a shop I have used before and trust. But it’s smaller, and between being small, holidays, and COVID, they didn’t get to look at it until this past weekend. 
 

He did a compression test, and got about 100psi on every cylinder. The bike does have 50k miles on it, but he was surprised it was that low, and as it wasn’t having problems before the last shop serviced it, he’s checking their work on the valves today. If I’m really lucky, I might have it back this week!

In other news, I’m looking at a 2018 Zero S because this type of headache isn’t worth it on a what is now just a commuter bike. If I was still canyon carving or cross country touring, I’d put up with it. Nothing against Yamaha; it’s been a great bike until I let someone else touch it. 

1 hour ago, mellow said:

Actually, I think it says 'Auto' as well so should be fine.  I have a jetboil and several canisters of fuel that should last me a couple more years at my rate but I may try the MSR after that.  The Jetboil is pretty convenient.

I love the jetboil! I have one I bought in 2006 I still drag camping with me. 

This is scary to see considering my bike just came back from a 50k mile valve service running worse than before 😐

On 12/12/2020 at 7:34 AM, Heli ATP said:

I've got one securing my battery. None came for my tool kit, it just sits in the space. I do see the fastener points though. Now I'm wondering what else I'm missing? 😐

 

I’m scratching my head and wondering if it’s possible the under seat area of my bike was EVER that clean 😂

Thank you @skipperT! I’ll see if I can run the diag tomorrow. If I can’t, I’ll have the other shop do it. I noticed today my fairings weren’t even reinstalled correctly. Amazing.  I wish I had more time to dig into this, but I am moving this weekend. Bought a house last month and have been doing some remodeling, hence the hiring of “professionals” to do the bike service 🤦‍♂️

11 minutes ago, peteinpa said:

I'm looking at the valve sheet going huh? and could we get more oil on the paperwork?

I've been doing ALL my own work on cars and bikes since the late 80s.

I dont think I could afford to ride at those prices.

I wasn’t particularly soothed by the scratched out numbers. I only ever did valves on my Honda CB500X. That little twin was easy enough to figure out, but after the time and cash drain this last month has been, I think I’ll learn the triple. 

Definitely buying a service manual and the few tools I don’t have for the next valve service. Tired of this garbage. I’m taking it to a shop I’ve used before to have them diagnose the issue. After calling the shop that did the work, they offered “to check the sensors”. Dude, you had it for three weeks. Should have checked them then. 

Now with docs. 
 

Initial service, and second service noting my complaint, and resulting in a new neutral switch. 
 

1 hour ago, Ride365 said:

Shim under bucket valves "in particular exhausts" going loose is almost unheard of. Did they provide the previous to new clearances on the paperwork and what all else they did? If it ran fine before they worked on it......very obvious they screwed something up.

I do have some docs including a rough sketch with some measurements from the tech. I'll try and dig it up after work, but yes I was surprised to hear "loose" after literally everyone here has always had tight exhaust valves. Scares me he got it backwards and now they're super ultra mega tight.

1 hour ago, Buggy Nate said:

This sounds very similar to a R1 I had to diagnose and it turned out someone had mixed up the plugs on the map sensor and the atmospheric pressure sensor. Might well be the same issue, all happened when a previous shop had done the valves as well. I’d get the fuel pressure tested too, as well as checking for water in the fuel.

That sounds interesting. Maybe something I can check myself?

28 minutes ago, peteinpa said:

It's sad when you take it to the "pros" that happens. Then they have the audacity to charge $1600 for it.

Improper valve adjustmet, sync, and reassembly all can cause these problems. 

short of you redoing all the above I don't know what's wrong.

Very sad.

Yeah, I tried this shop (licensed dealer) because it was closer than the one I've used here in the past and had solid reviews. Still relatively new to Phoenix, so I haven't needed a lot of service done aside from oil which I do myself. Now I'm going to end up taking it to the smaller, father shop to have them verify/fix the work, and fight these guys to get some money back. Kinda wish I'd just bought a service manual and the few tools I don't already have and done it myself. But then, I don't have the time, which is why I paid them in the first place. Ugh.

Hey all. Bit of a problem. About a month ago, I dropped my 2016 off for service with 50k miles. Asked for a full service with valve adjustment, and asked them to look into my neutral indicator, which was failing to work about 10% of the time. Okay, sure. 
 

Picked it up a couple days later, tech remarks were that intake valves were good, most exhaust valves were loose, the battery is on its way out, and my clutch is super noisy. Okay, great. Didn’t care about the clutch; it’s always been noisy. 
 

For the next two days on my commute, after the bike got warmed up, the idle would be low when in neutral at stops, and once it stalled on me. Called the shop and told them and they said to bring it back. On the way back to the shop, it had the same weak idle problems, and revving it at one light to keep it from stalling, it hung at about 2k rpms.  Dropped it off and told the tech. They said they’d look into it in a couple days. 
 

Days go by. Get a text saying the bike runs fine, they can’t duplicate the problem. Text back instructions to go ride for twenty minutes, and then let it idle and observe it. I call and leave a voicemail saying the same thing because I didn’t get a response. Almost a week goes by and no response.

 I call for an update. Leave a voicemail. Call the next day. They say they still can’t duplicate the problem. I say I’ll be there the next day to demonstrate it. 
 

I show up, hop on the bike, and go ride a few miles. Stop and fill it up. Fire it back up and it’s immediately a weak idle and then stalls. The whole way back I have to give it throttle when idling to keep it from dying. Get back, and it stalls as I coast into the lot. 
 

I go find the shop manager, he grabs a tech and we come out. I described what happened, fire it up, and it idles fine. After a minute, it just dies without warning. I suspect that was related to the neutral switch problems. They say they’ll get it figured out. 
 

Get a text the next day the neutral switch is shorting. I tell them to replace it, and ask if that could also cause a weak idle. They say yes. Days go by. 
 

I got a text it was done, and managed to get there before closing, but enough time for a test ride. Fires up fine, and for 15 minutes, no problem. But after it’s warmed up, at a few light, it idles weak, like 500 rpm. Doesn’t stall, and doesn’t do it every time, but it’s definitely the same problem. 
 

My question: how likely is this related to the valves being off, or the throttle body sync being off? Does it sound like it would be damaging to keep riding it until a) I recover some of my 1600$, and b) get to a different shop to look at it?

Thanks for reading. Been a frustrating month. It’s starting to remind me of my Triumph 🤮

I’ve always thought Spyders where the ugliest “motorcycles” on the road. Today I was proved wrong. I don’t see that being anymore of a competition for the Niken than the normal Goldwing is for the normal Tracer. Waaaaaay different markets. 

Man, y’all are crazy. I don’t use they key or killswitch ever. To start the bike, I sacrifice a goldfinch and recite the pledge of my soul to Yamaha, and it fires up on its own every time. To turn it off I sacrificed a parakeet and curse Harleys. It’s in the fine print in the back of my manual. 

Got the bike back from service. Intake valves were all in spec, some of the exhaust valves were good, but most were loose, which was surprising.

More surprising, was that the bike almost died a few times during idle on the commute this morning. They did mention my battery was failing, so hopefully that’s the problem, and not... something else they did. 😕

Dropped it off last night for the works, including valves. Just a hair over 50k miles now, so it seems like a good time to check. 

Did the 50k mile service on my Ram mount; new strap and rubber feet. Although, I think I replace the straps every 10k miles. The rubber feet come in blue, which will go great with my blurple rims and blue accented levers and bar ends. The feet also come with super glue, which I liberally applied to my fingertips. 
 

I’ve shimmed mine with washers. Didn’t do anything for me. I think to get any noticeable difference, you’ll need enough shims to require longer bolts, and then you might want to bend the bracket to avoid weird gaps/pressure points. 

Man, if I’m going to buy light up velcro shoes, they’d better AT LEAST have dinosaurs on them

2 hours ago, Stew said:

Twice , in the past 20 years, that I can remember, I have been stuck at the side of the road.

BOTH TIMES out of stupid petrol.

Once coming back from Amsterdam via Eurotunnel, which was around 2011 ish, and today.

I'll take that , operator error.

At least you got stuck from having too much fun. Both times I’ve been stuck on the side of the road it was because I was on a Triumph 😂

For me, this usually just means I need to clean the contacts at the switch. I have to do my high beam switch pretty much once a year. Could be your issue is as simple as that. 

Chain wax is great, and I use it exclusively. But grit does stick in it, and if you aren’t cleaning the old wax off before applying the new, you’re kind of just sealing in the debris. Maybe it’s working its way to your rings. I think I got around 17k out of my OEM chain, cleaning and chain wax every 500-600 miles

7 minutes ago, nhchris said:

I washed my FJ today and got it all sparkly clean.

Then I grabbed the wrong can off the workbench, shook it up, and sprayed Chain Wax all over my spotless windscreen.

Question: Is it time for me to stop riding due to senility? 

At least it was chain wax instead of traditional lube; it won’t fling off the screen into your visor. And it will offer superior windscreen protection in my opinion. 😂

Good luck with the cleaning though ☹️

2 hours ago, maximNikenGT said:

Got my Loctite and Nylock bolts. No way in hell I'm losing a fourth set of bolts. 

That should about do it 😂