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Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #1  
Old 30 Nov 2010
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Location: Pretoria, South Africa
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KLE 500 Headache
On 13, 15 and 16 September 2010 my KLE 500 wouldn’t start. I took into a bike shop and they discovered that there was no gap on the exhaust valves. The valves were actually under strain and popped out when the adjustors were released.
After this the bike went well. I had been advised to use some valve ease just to help remove the carbon that may have built up on the valve seats during the time that the valves were not closing.
I did this about 3 weeks ago. Then about a week ago I noticed that it would not idle again, and I gradually began having difficulty starting it.
Last Thursday I took it back to the bike shop. Again there was no gap on the exhaust valves. And again the valves sprang back when the adjustors were released. It is only 9 weeks since I last had to have them set.
The owner of the shop, who has raced bikes and has been in the business a long time, says it may be the valves that have become soft and are pulling into the head, although he says that this should not happen with the KLE 500. He knows of newer bikes doing it, but not the KLE.
I can’t afford to keep having this problem every 9 weeks.
Can someone please shed some light on what the problem could be?
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  #2  
Old 5 Dec 2010
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valves
try another bike shop ?
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  #3  
Old 6 Dec 2010
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Sydney - Australia
Posts: 39
Sounds like this particular bike shop is trying to take you for a ride before you can take your KLE for a ride?
Never ever heard of this or valve seat recession happening to KLE engines.
The only thing I have noticed on my KLE is very minor wear on my camshaft lobes but definitely not enough to effect engine performance yet. If you were were experiencing valve seat recession or camshaft lobe wear, a reputable mechanic would be able to tell you so and recommend the correct repair method.
My 2c worth anyway.
I agree with robs5230, find another mechanic.
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  #4  
Old 7 Dec 2010
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Location: Pretoria, South Africa
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The concerning thing is that the owner of the shop, who trained the mechanic used to race bikes, as I said in my previous post, and I was referred to them by some other guys after a bad experience that I had at another bike shop. Also, he did say that he had never heard of it before on a KLE.

I was wondering. When I had the gap set in September, I was advised, and I got a few confirmatory opinions, to run 1 tank of fuel with valve ease in it to burn out the carbon buid up that may have collected around the valve seat, stems etc, with the valves not closing properly.

Due to financial reasons, I was only able to do this about 3 weeks prior to the second episode of this problem.

I was wondering if, perhaps, when they set the valves in September, there was a carbon build-up on the valve seats, and then after using the valve ease, when the carbon was gone, there was again a gap around the valves.

I dunno if it's possible.
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