Value on valve adjustment and carb. sync.....

Okay guys, my local bike shop, who have a good reputation, quoted me $270 to do a valve adjustment and carb sync. Now my bike runs pretty good but it does tend to sputter just slightly in 1st and 2nd. gear. This doesn't really bother me much though bcause it is really smooth still. I would like for it to run at its best however so I have been thinking about having these 2 things done. My bike has under 12000 miles on it and seams to have a lot of power. It is an XJ550. I am one of these guys that could possibly do this work myself but I feel as though this is something I could let the pro's do. What do you think...... Is $270 a fair price for this?
Feedback from you guys would be appreciated. Thank you!

Old Biker Dude

 

My mechanic quoted me 70 bucks for the vavle adjustment minus the gasket.

 

Friend of mine paid $200 for a carb cleaning and sync on his '82 seca. Gotta remember that the shops are just like a car service shop, they get anywhere from $50-$80 an hour for labor, so if they spend four hours on your bike it could cost 2 to 3 hundred, and that's not including parts.

 

Ya, there's no way you'll get that done for that little, after you need shims, and new valve cover gasket plus all the pressure washers.

It's really not hard, just learn to do it yourself, there's a few excellent how to's on here. We know you can do it, just get all your information and know how in before you try it.

 

Seriously. Read this: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14827.html and you'll see that the valve adjustment's not difficult, you just have to be careful.

Carb service is a matter of degrees. If the carbs are clean and just need to be adjusted, that too is quite simple; the "special tools" required can be fabbed.

Otherwise, you'll need to pull the rack, and do a cleaning and assessment. The basic carb service is covered in both the factory and aftermarket books, as well as in a few good articles on this site.

I'd be wary of the shop; few people actually know their way around these bikes. You could end up spending a bunch of money only to have them make things worse.

Don't put off the valve adjustment; if it's never been done you're approaching the mileage where it could become critical and you don't want to burn a valve.

 

Ya, they said that it would be around 3.5 hours to do so I guess they get around $70 per hour plus parts. I know that I could do it myself also but it is a time factor for me as well. Plus, I want it right the first time. So far it seams as though this may not be to far off on price. I know I could never find a place around here to do a valve adjustment for $70 that's for sure. Because I am self employed, time is money in a big way. Wanted to try and see if anyone else out there had these 2 things done on there bikes and if so, how much they paid. Or to those that have done these things themselves would think that $270 is actually pretty reasonable.

 

First off, it's not a "valve job." That's something entirely different, requiring engine surgery. You're talking about a valve adjustment and carb sync.

Yes, $270 is quite reasonable but it's also a cause for concern. Parts alone are going to come close to $100 (if done right) on just the valve adjustment so I tend to suspect they may not know exactly what's entailed in doing it right. I don' think it's going to be "done right the first time" for $270 is all.

 

Thanks for clarifying that. I changed my post to read correctly. It is only 4:30 in the morning here and I just opened my eyes. I think I will call around to some of the bigger places in Portland and talk with them also. Thanks for the heads up.

 

OBD, it's all a matter of the infamous cost/time equation for you. Yes, 270 is a decent, but not a giveaway price to adjust the valve clearances and clean the carbs.

As far as parts, I paid 12 -14 bucks or so for a rubber gasket for the turbo(different animal) but the shims are the same and I paid 5 buck apiece for them. I think I bought 8 so 40 dollars. You will probably need parts but I do not know. The dealer however, will not shop for the best value for you and you will pay list price.

The biggest consideration to me, would be the quality of the work. Too many times it seems that dealers do a quick & dirty (pun intended) job of "cleaning carbs" where they simply shoot a can or two of cleaner through them maybe add a can of Sea Foam to the tank and call them "clean". For clearance adjustments, they only actually replace/shuffle shims when the delta between factory spec and actual exceeds a certain amount meaning you could be riding on a valve barely opening, leading to an early demise by it burning. I had one dealers tell me that they can always say that the shims "settled" after they worked on it causing the short clearance, hopefully all dealers don't work that way.

When you make those calls, ask what they actually do when they clean a set of carbs, and again when a valve is barely under spec. Also, and it's just me, I would stay away from the large dealers where they are bottom-line driven. A good, honest self employed mechanic will do a much better job because he knows his only advertizing is YOU!!


Good luck,

jeff

 

Trust yourself, you can do all the work for a FRACTION of the price.
All the info to do a thorough job is a finger tip away on this site.
We all had to start somewhere. I for one did not know ANYTHING about bikes until this site and still have troubles but, I know I can find solutions here.

 

Hi BillB,
Right now I just don't have the time to do something like that. I know that I could probably do it and I do most of the work on the bike myself but I am just pressed for time.

 

$270 (plus parts) is a reasonable price to get the valve lash set and sync the carburetors.

Their price probably does not have include the valve cover seal and donuts since they are supposed to be reusable. If they're original they're probably dried out and you're looking at North of $100 for replacements.

If you have them do the job request that they pay attention to the condition of the seal and donuts and replace them if they're questionable.