Tight intake valve adjustment from dealer???

[codinn]

I did my first valve adjustment at 6200 miles yesterday on my R1200RT.

 

The existing adjustment on both intake valves on the right (throttle side) cylinder was so tight there was no way that the 0.15 feelers would slide in. (I adjusted everything and the bike runs great.)The left side was in good adjustment but I readjusted anyway just for the practice.

 

Question: Is it possible that the valves "bedded in" since the 600 mile service thereby taking up the lash that was set?

 

Any chance the intake valves could have been burned? There WAS a tad bit of wiggle, just not enough to get the feeler gauge in.

 

FWIW the bike was stone cold having not been ridden or run for several days.

 

P.S. The valve cover protectors turn a simple valve adjustment into a full tupperware strip party.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

First, yes the valve could have bedded in a bit. The 600 is supposed to allow for that but maybe nobody told your motor.

 

A tight intake won't burn. It's not like an exhaust valve. At worst it will leak a bit and that cylinder might be down on power. If you still had some wiggle you had at least 0.003" worth of clearance and that's probably OK as the clearances tend to open rather than close with temperature on these motors.

 

The fact that it was pretty cold could account for a thousandth or so as well. Depends on where/how it spent the night before the adjustment on the 600.

 

In all, I wouldn't fret overmuch. Since your doing them yourself now, you no longer need worry about it.

[Emoto]

Forgive me for asking, but are you certain that you had the right side cylinder at TDC?

 

To answer your question, anything is possible. Your dealer may have found the RH side to be just a lttle tight and decided to leave them that way instead of spending the time adjusting them. Or, then never checked them. Or, they tightened up over the miles.

 

The first few thousand miles of operation of any engine are likely to see the most changes, as parts wear in and go through many heat cycles for the first time.

 

It is likely that the next adustment at 12k miles will not be as far out.

[codinn]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

 

Yup, TDC on the firing stroke.

 

Ed, the fact that it loosens as it heats may explain several things. For the 600 I rode 200 miles to Seattle. It may have been a bit warm still when they got to the valve adjust. This time it was probably 50 degrees or maybe a tad less.

 

I had imagined that things tightened when the motor warmed, so that's what the concern was over. It's all good now!