Hi people, I'm still a bit new to these forums and admittedly haven't search them real well so I'm going to ask the question. My ZX will be due for it's 15,000 mile service in about 3,000 miles. My question is how in depth is checking the valve lash? Will they typically be on the tight side or even out of spec after 15,000 miles or possibly still in spec. I realize the importance of having this done so I'm not asking if it's something that can be put off, I'm just wondering if some with an above average amount on mechanical aptitude can do it easily enough. I do all the service on my '82 Yamaha but that's much less complex (shims on top of the buckets, easy to change).

Thanks!

Here are my rides if you're interested.

* Last updated by: biggs500 on 5/22/2012 @ 8:53 AM *

My question is how in depth is checking the valve lash?

Will they typically be on the tight side or even out of spec after 15,000 miles or possibly still in spec.

Most of mine were close to spec after 27K miles. People who actually have this done at 15K don't usually make any adjustments at all. I have heard of people going to 60K before ever doing a valve adjustment. ...but that, I thnk is prolly taking a risk.

At 27K, my valves were in spec or just barely tighter. There was really just one that ought to have been changed and to tell ya the truth, I could have bolted it back up and waited until there was a couple more that got tight. You really won't have engine failure until you get close to 0 clearance is what I have been told....again, not a good risk to try to wait that one out.

I would wait to winter or some time when you don't need the bike so much. Never heard of any bike blowing up because the valve clearance waited too long.

If you want to know what you might be getting into have a look at this. If you have a shop do the job, take your time to find a good one and I would highly recomend that you insist on coming in to check with the feeler gauge before the adjustment and after if it was necessary. I hear stories of guys using utraviolet pens and such to mark their bolts only to find none of them were ever turned. It's an easy rip off and nothing bad is likely to happen for many thousand miles---especially if you do the service early, according to the schedule.

well click this and see what you think. VALVE CLEARANCE CHECK AND ADJUSTMENTIf you're up for it, I can help you through it. ....but remeber that is time waiting for replies. ...but all the info is there. you might have a couple questions.

I agree with Rook. I had a 04 ZX10R with 30,000 miles and had 1 shim barely out of spec.Don't fret it until you want to take some time with it.

Mad

Thanks for the responses! Rook, your walk through is very helpful and informative. As I said I am still about 3k away from 15k and am researching the options as to whether it's something I want to tackle myself or not. I suppose it's like the first time I did my Yamaha's shims. Very daunting at first but now it's gravy (keeping in mind these are two different kinds of apples).

Thanks.

Big I had 21,000 miles and mine were just out a little and it was really only two. It's very in depth job for sure. Wait till winter and if you've never removed cam shafts and shimmed valves don't get into it. I did mine and I've done all sorts of stuff and it was a big job....Good luck and cheers!

Agree with all. I had mine done at a little over 14k and they were well within spec and my 14 don't get the princess treatment. You should be good. I would wait around 25k.

I had mine checked at 26k all in spec so I'll probably have them checked again at around 50k

I think it was around 20,000km when I did my valves and I found a good number (i think 8-10) needed to be adjusted by 1 shim size, the job isn't technically very difficult and if you've changed shim and bucket style shims then I think you could do the ZX14's adjustment no problems. For me, the scariest part was removing the cams, I was petrified that the timing chain would skip a tooth and result in massive damage to the valves.

As with everyone else, I'd recommend waiting until winter as most of the time you'll spend is removing the parts to get to the valves.

Why the hell Rook couldn't have written that how-to a couple of years ago is beyound me ;) That write up looks awesome!!

I was petrified that the timing chain would skip a tooth and result in massive damage to the valves.

Other than setting TDC after the cams are reinstalled and then checking to see if you have maximum clearence, is there any other way to verify that you haven't changed the timing? I can't image that method being very precise (feeler gauges aren't exactly precise to begin with).

...is there any other way to verify that you haven't changed the timing?

If say the chain drops away from the crank, it moves a tooth... Well, you did mark both the crank and chain. Right there is one view to verify you haven't changed the timing, you walk the chain back to the painted mark. When the cams line up with that link to tooth, you look at the 3 points again. You already know your initial 1-4 came around to the timing marks to check clearances. So there is the second view of the cam's timing.

You do not have to count links. You line up the painted marks once again. Plus, they drop in as where you removed the cam caps, meaning, less struggle thinking it may need to move a tooth either way?

Nightmare look at my tutorial. Hub gave me the same advice and it worked fine. I did not bother to mark the crank pully because the crank does not need to be removed but good idea just in case.

Sounds like you already removed your camshafts and now want to reinstall to proper timing. Got me on that one. Might be tough to get the Cshafts to the exact degree they are meant to be.

This was a while ago now, but i had marked the cams, didn't mark the crank (didn't think of that) and I was just concerned that if the chain skipped a tooth or 2 that it would result in serious damage but i couldn't think of another way to verify the timing.

The crank sprocket and both cam sprockets have index marks.
All of those marks will line up with a feature on the block when the #1 cylinder is at top dead center of the compression stroke.
If you ever have doubts, turn the crank by hand with the spark plugs removed. If you feel sudden resistance STOP!!
You can always uncap your cams to let all the valves retract, reset the crank to #1 cylinder to TDC, recap the cams with
their index marks where they need to be, and relace the chain.

There are diagrams of the index marks in the manual.