Did your FJ09 have tight valves at 26.6 mile/42km Service?

[Dark&Stormy]

I pulled the cams and the two exhaust tappets on cylinder #1, I dont think the shims stayed seated on reassembly. I Re-set the shims with lubriplate to help them stay inplace again and carefully installed the tappets. Ive been using a telescopic magnet to keep the shim inline and to help slide the tappet into place. 

I reinstalled the cams and cct, turned the crank to TDC#1, checked the clearance again. This time the left exhaust tappet is on target but the right is still too tight for any feeler gauge. Maybe what is happening is when I pull the magnet off of the tappet the shim slides out of place? I was careful to pull it off straight but damn this job is eating up all of my free time. The cct removal/install is by far most time consuming part of this job.

[piotrek]

6 hours ago, Dark&Stormy said:

I pulled the cams and the two exhaust tappets on cylinder #1, I dont think the shims stayed seated on reassembly. I Re-set the shims with lubriplate to help them stay inplace again and carefully installed the tappets. Ive been using a telescopic magnet to keep the shim inline and to help slide the tappet into place.

I placed the shim into the pocket on top of the valve spring first (with my fingers), then placed the cup on top. I held the cup down with my finger while separating the magnet from the cup (don't want things to lift again). I think I separated the two before bottoming the cup, but don't recall. I used assembly fluid throughout. Stuffed paper towel into openings to prevent the shims from accidentally disappearing into the crankcase.

[skipperT]

NO magnet use when you reassemble. That’s the issue. 

Use fingers to carefully place the shim and make sure it’s seated correctly. Install tappet with fingers also. Slight amount of oil on shim and on tappet will help for startup and reassembly  

-Skip

[gv550]

+1 on placing the shim in the valve keeper and making sure it is seated, and no magnet when installing the bucket. My dealer doesn't stock Yamaha shims, only had the Hot Cams kit and I found them to be slightly larger than OEM and it took more effort to install them as they easily get cocked a bit crooked in the keeper. I expect they would eventually settle into place with the engine running but maybe not when cranking the engine over a few times to verify the clearances.

Also, in the photo earlier in this thread shows the shim in the bucket with the number exposed (toward the valve). The shim should be installed in the keeper with the number up, touching the bucket. It not likely makes any difference in performance but the valve stem is smaller than the spotface in the bucket and may wear away the number.

[piotrek]

28 minutes ago, gv550 said:

...Also, in the photo earlier in this thread shows the shim in the bucket with the number exposed (toward the valve). The shim should be installed in the keeper with the number up, touching the bucket. It not likely makes any difference in performance but the valve stem is smaller than the spotface in the bucket and may wear away the number.

Yes, should have clarified...I turned them all over during disassembly to expose the numbers. Installed new (aftermarket) shims with etching against the cup (per OE orientation). I think the OE shims had the sizes ink printed.

[Dark&Stormy]

1 hour ago, skipperT said:

NO magnet use when you reassemble. That’s the issue. 

Use fingers to carefully place the shim and make sure it’s seated correctly. Install tappet with fingers also. Slight amount of oil on shim and on tappet will help for startup and reassembly  

-Skip

Will do, thanks.

[Dark&Stormy]

So after the fourth assembly (Thats right!) I finallly got it set right. Thanks Skip for the tip on placing the shims into valve keepers.

[skipperT]

No worries, glad you got ‘er sorted!

-S

[jeff400650]

Just had my first valve check and major service on 2015 bike at 25,500 miles.

All in spec.  Throttle bodies were good too. Bike  runs better now though. New plugs and air filter perked it up, I guess.Brakes better too with new fluid.

[keithu]

I just checked mine yesterday (odo at 25.9k miles). All intake valves were in spec, and all exhaust valves were tight:

|| .152 | .229 || .203 | .203 || .203 | .203 ||

All of them had either 1.88 or 1.89 shims, so I need new shims for all. The Yamaha dealer said a while ago they'd swap shims for me, but when I went over there yesterday I got the regretful look, "Sorry, we don't have enough in the sizes you need..." So I'm just going to order some shims from the shop down the street that I like. 

My quandary: I believe aftermarket shim kits only come in .05 mm increments. I can fix most of them with 1.75 or 1.8 shims, but for the valve that measured .229 that won't quite work:

1.80 shim = .309 clearance

1.85 shim = .259 clearance

Either way I'm out of spec. My thought is I should just go with a 1.8 shim since these valves apparently tend to tighten up anyway. Plus, I need to buy a 5-pack of 1.8 shims for the other valves anyway. Any concerns?

 

EDIT - Maybe I should get a 1.85 shim for that valve. The next size up on my feeler gauge is .254, so in actuality the clearance is somewhere between .229-.254. Thus, if the actual clearance is .235 (for example) a 1.80 shim would yield a final clearance of .315, well out of spec. But a 1.85 shim would yield a final clearance of .265. That's near the minimum, but in spec. I guess it depends on how much I assume it'll continue to tighten over the next 26k miles. 

[piotrek]

1 hour ago, keithu said:

...My quandary: I believe aftermarket shim kits only come in .05 mm increments...

I used Pro-X shims in .025 increments. I opted toward looser end of the spec. May not be optimal, but it is safe and worry free for a couple of seasons or longer.

[ontwowheels]

Yep,  just getting to mine at 26K mi. All intakes were within spec, but all exhaust valves were tight. 
Here are my exhaust numbers:

#1 Cyl :   .10 & .16

#2 Cyl :   .07 & .20

#3 Cyl :   .10 & .08

Not really very impressed. Anyone identified a trend in either carbon buildup, valve seat wear/recession, or even quality control of  factory setup?

 

 

[koth442]

I took the initiative and checked my valves at 8,000 miles. 3 of 6 exhaust valves were between 0.900 and 0.010" (lower spec is 0.0102"). So 3 tight exhaust valves. All the intakes were in spec. 

[v1nn1e]

For anyone that has got to a second check, were all the clearances subsequently OK.

Wondering if there is initial bedding in that gets picked up at 24k?

 

[skipperT]

On 2/24/2020 at 8:15 AM, v1nn1e said:

For anyone that has got to a second check, were all the clearances subsequently OK.

Wondering if there is initial bedding in that gets picked up at 24k?

 

Mine tightened up some more, and I run Ring free periodically so I don’t believe it’s a carbon issue. They’ve moved just outside of spec (ex) but I haven’t had time to pull the cam and loosen them up yet. I’m about 9-10k miles past when I first checked them. (20.5k, now around 30k). 

-Skip