TT 600 r valve check
 

Hi,

Currently on the road in Split Croatia. Heading for Mongolia if I can, so long way to go. Bike runs fine but I wanted to do a valve check to be sure.

I called Yamaha shop here in Split in advance and they said "come in and we check your valves". When I got there this morning he listened to the bike and said it runs fine and these bikes just need oil no valve checks after 20k km. mine has done 31k...

I think he was just busy and didn't want the small job, but these bikes are of course supposed to run with little service.

Should I try another shop while in Europe and insist on a check? Or just continue without a check for about 15k km?

Anything else I should check? Change oil, clean air filter etc I can do myself (and have done).

As you can probably figure I'm new to bikes. Thankful for any help I can get!

Yes offcourse valves need adjustment, its so easy do it yourself. Oiling the chain, and check slack. Pull throttle and be happy:scooter:

you mean checking is easy? Adjusting seems like a pain to do on the road but with the tools maybe check is doable.

I don't have tools to check distances though so I would prefer to find a shop if I need to do the check. Maybe I should go through the pain of finding another shop that has time and ability to do it...

Why is it so difficult to adjust? did they make something special on your engine? tools is cheap for measure. Only way this can be difficult on the road if you have shims, else its just loosen the nut, adjust and tighten.

You are probably right. I just checked some YouTube vid where they had to unscrew bolts and open up the engine, including bolt to cam chain that they said shouldn't fall down into engine etc. I know what a cam chain is in theory but have never seen inside of an engine. Maybe it's easier on my bike. I will try to read service manual. Thanks :)

Currently in Dubrovnik. First Yamaha service center here said no due to lack of time. They referred me to some small shop. Going there now. Will also start looking for a place that sells shims to do the check myself.

Also managed to bend handlebar yesterday on overloaded bike and small turns. A lot to learn when you are new to biking... Puh! :taz:

If you are totally unfamiliar with setting valves etc. I would NOT do it my self unless someone can show you and explain the procedure. Get it wrong and it clicks or holds the valves open. This is a critical adjustment and must be done correctly. Go to the small shop and ask to watch so you can learn....

Get the correct manual for your bike. There are electronic manuals available, just ask here or other forums.

I went to shop. He first checked an exhaust valve and said it was ok. I asked measurement and he said 0,05. I checked service manual that I have and it said 0,12-0,17 so I asked and he said "oh ok so it needs change"...

He changed it, I saw him do it so I have some idea now (still no shims though). No time for private lessons though as this was late in the evening and he wanted to do it next day initially.

So I'm not sure. Seems like it was 0,05 where it should have been 0,12-0,17 and it ran fine. All mechanics I have spoke to have looked at me like I'm stupid and asked why I want to check valves on this type of bike... I can maybe see their point but not really... Maybe ok for driving in the city but for going on 20k km trip...

Thanks for input. I'm kind of tired of looking for mechanics who don't really want to do the job anyway. Will buy shims if I run into an opportunity.

I would say that all the mechanics that you talked to are clueless. VALVES DO NEED ATTENTION. If he said .05 MM was ok then he is not OK. Obviously yours needed adjusting. How were the rest of the valves? Loose? Normally they tighten up as the valves and seats wear. Loose is because someone did it wrong last time.

I'm not perfect, I had to re-due the valves on my 84 as I must not have been on TDC and the cam was already ramping up when I adjusted the exhaust valves. The were about .002" too loose. My intakes were ok.

There is a range for the gap. Intake .07 to .12mm, exhaust: .12 to .17mm. I am used to inches so I use .003 " for my intake and .005" for exhaust which is on the lower end of the range. I assume the mechanic had metric "feeler gauges" as I call what you are calling shims...

I always set the valves at the lower end of the range for quieter operation.

Steve

He said the rest were fine and I saw him change the bad one. I didn't want to stick my nose in too much so didn't question him or check shims myself.

A bit unsettling that the first he checked and I only asked measurement he was wrong, then he of course knew that I was going to ask and maybe gave me the answer he thought I wanted. I think I will just have trust him. Despite all he didn't seem completely clueless, just seemed as if he thought valves don't really matter and he wants to go home.

Sound strange to me about the one that was not correct..Buy feeler gauge and check them yourself, cold engine, position on the TDC mark engine and feel the gap. You have manual and its exlain good there how to do it.

The xt600 type engines doesnt need shims. I check mine every 10-20k kilometer, often they need just a little adjustement to be right within spec.

If one exhaust was at 0.05, theres reason to believe the other valves would also need adjustement. The intake valves move more than the exhaust on mine, think its pretty normal.

Service manual for the XT 600 engine says check/adjust 4000km/6months. I check every 5000km with oilservice. With 0,05 on the valve that is 0,12-0,17 its strange the valve are not burned, did the bike run as normal? It is always better to hear valve sound than if its quiet..

For peace of mind, get a set of "Feeler gauges" and a manual. Not hard to check, a bit harder to set. You do not want too small a gap. If one was off that much, the others needed it too.

When you set the engine on TDC put your fingers in and feel the rocker arm is possible to move, if not, turn engine around to TDC mark again. There is a blad of 0,15 its perfect when its like you can move blade with a little resistance. DONT forget to do this when engine is COLD.

Thank you all.

I will try to find feeler gauges.

It ran perfectly fine (me as a beginner couldn't tell anything was wrong for 3000 km even though it seemed to have been 0,05 where it was supposed to be 0,13-0,17.

Good to know there are ppl on xt600 engines that don't check every 6k km anyway. It sounds a bit too often given bike type and age.

Given everything I honestly think best thing is that I get the tools and sacrifice a day to check myself with time, service manual and two beers. I just need to find a place that sells the feeler gauges. In Albania currently...

You went to the shop, did you ride to the shop for checking valves? Or was the bike left over night at the shop? Iam just thinking about temp on engine when check valves.

thanks for your concern. The bike stood for a couple of hours before check. No hot engine :)

Engine needs to be stone cold when setting valve clearances. I just had a 10.000 km service done on my TT. The Yamaha dealer insisted on me bringing the bike in the day before, so as to be sure the engine was cold when setting the valves.

It starts with one kick from cold now, whereas it took 2-5 kicks before.

good to know thanks. My bike had been on the beach for about 4 hours and then driven literally 200meters to mechanic to rest another hour.

However it's 30+ degrees C here so not sure anything ever gets really cold here :)

It typically needs more than one kick. But my technique isn't perfect either.

Doesnt matter if its hot or cold, the clearences wont change because of that.

As for the job itself, theres tutorials outhere, I would reckon youtube would be a good place to start. Be sure you know what you're doing. The job itself doesnt take long. I do it on about half an hour, and dont have to rush things. But theres some stuff you just need to have sorted out before you start.

Theres 2 tdc's, and only one is right when you set the valves. When you turn the engine ower, be sure to have all valvecovers removed (one for the intake, and two for the exhaust) As you turn the engine, you can se the valves move up and down. The WRONG tdc, is when the intakevalves goes down, and as they go up, the exhaustvalves go down. At this tdc, theres pressure on the valves, making no, or very little slack in the valves. Turn the engine further to get the CORRECT tdc...You turn the engine over further, and the intakevalves go completely up, and the exhaustvalves go all the way down and up. Turn it further, you will see the intakevalves go down and up, and the exhasutvalves doesnt move, and now comes the correct tdc. Now theres no pressure on either set of valves. Hope it makes sence.

Just turn the engine over a couple of times, so you can see the valves move.

The caps/valvecovers can seem very tight when you remove them, but please resist the urge to overtighten them at assembly. They only need something like 10Nm. Theres nu preassure on the covers, you just need to tighten them enough for the o-ring to seal. A short spanner, and toighten with two fingers is about right.

Also, the exhaustvalves can be a bit tricky to meassure, as they sit in a bit of an angle. So people often set them a bit too loose by mistake.

Do you know how to strip the bike down for the job? Mainly remove gastank and seat..? I also remove the coil to gain more access.

I think I'll have some time on my hand in the upcoming weekend, i suppose I could make a tutorial, or some sort of videoclip to show the wrong tdc, how to meassure the valves ect ect...My spokens english doesnt come so natural, but I could give it a go if you reckon it would be helpfull?

Just found this, use this and you will be home safe. Its the same for the xt600: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJHdyxLjwxY Notice how hes at the wrong tdc at first.

Differences:

In the video, theres 2 valvecovers for the intake, the xt600 only has one.
In the video, he uses a screwdriver to tighten the valves, the xt600 doesnt have a slot like that, so you need a little set of pliers or simular instead.
Be sure to use the specs for the xt600 to set the valves. Intake at 0.10, exhasut at 0.15.

Im no authority on motorcycle valve setting, but ive never seen valve clearing specs for a hot motorcycle engine. On cars, yes, but not on motorcycles. The TT manual specifically states that the valve clerance is when cold/ambient temp.

Again, im no Yamaha oracle though.

To the OP, there's a pretty good tutorial in the Yamaha TT600RE service manual with pictures and all. I can send it to you, if you dont have it?

Hot or cold same?no thats not true, adjust them cold! intake is 0,05-0,10

I guess that means you have checked if theres any differences cold or hot? 'Cause I have, and theres not. :innocent:

Its not like you have to wait several hours, days or weeks to adjust valves. :scooter:

Well i quess you would say that the metal stays the same cold or hot.. Adjust as you like, its common sense for all mechanics to do the job when they are cold. And dont tell me you know excactly the distance cold/hot engine with a feeler gauge.

My feelergauges go from 0.08 to 0.10 to 0.12. And i cant tell a difference hot or cold.

When adjusting valves on bikes with shims, they often jump in 0.05 increments, so this should be precise enough.

So all I meant to say was, it doesnt matter. Its easier to work on the bike when its not burning hot, but thats about it.

I just checked mine, its been almost 20.000km since last, i had to tighten both intakevalves 0.04mm, and tighten one exhaustvalve 0.05mm. I could hear them tapping a bit, but the bike could easely have driven a lot more before adjustments HAD to be made :)

Thank you very much for all helpful comments. I have service manual with photos etc (it even says it's for tt600r 98-07, but it shows battery in some parts...). it's just that I don't have tools yet (or experience).

I'm somewhere in Serbia now, after some amazing off road in Albania. Saw a bike shop here that I will visit tomorrow.