Noisy valves (94,500 Miles on engine)

My bike starts up great.

Fast as snot on takeoff and easy on gas.

(Also has that good "whislte" sound from the engine)

But when it warms up the valves sounds a little noisy...

(Click,click,click,click,click,click.....)

My local dealer says its probably my valve shims need replacing ($5 each)

He said it would be around 2 to 4 hours labour ($300 to $400 Cnd) depending on what he sees when he gets in there.

I just finished replacing my broken oil pump chain and feel the valves may be a bit over my head. (nothing to do with the noise, the valves are noisy because of the high mileage)

Can these shims be replaced without a major valve adjustment?

Maybe the shims replacement and the adjustment is worth the money from the dealer? (They rebuilt my two front forks for $275 and did a great factory job, seals, springs and everything, I just dropped the bike off to them.)

I already have 100's of dollars in this bike, no looking back now?


Is this best left to the pros?



eye_share

8)

 

The shims are EASY there are several threads on doing them - I just did mine. Shims are the only adjustment ot the valves. Save yourself the money.

FYI the XJs are always noisey - remove the valve cover and you will see why - your sitting on the valves with a thin metal cover..

Also they tend to wear to tight. Rickomatic has said when you can't hear them you have issues!

Do some research them dive in! lots of great folks to help you.

By the way - I thought I had high mileage a 40k miles!

 

I am a clicking sound, but I had no idea if it is this problem, or just the engine. I will have to look into it...

 

Best thing to do is isolate the source - you can use a dowel or long screwdriver as a listener. If it is your valves I would recommend you check the clearances and adjust as required. If your clearances are fine then no worries there.

I have read where others have reported clickings that turn out to be exhaust leaks among other causes.

 

Valve shims adjustments are a fairly easy IF you go out right now and buy a Haynes Manual for Yamaha XJ Fours. Then you'll take your time be sure it was done correctly. OR you can go out and spend lots of money and never be what was done.
Do yourself a favor and buy the Haynes book - then use this website as backup. That way you can't go wrong.
thx,
baz

 

Hey, Eye_Share. I'll second (or fourth) what others have said. The valves are pretty easy to check and replace. I've done it on a Maxim 750 and am steeling myself to do a valve job on my X. (5 valves/cylinder compared to 2 on your bike!) I'm in Ottawa too, so if you decide to do it yourself and want a hand I might be able to make myself available. I also have a Haynes Manual, the XJCD, some tools and a handful of shims, depending on what sizes you need.

John

 

Agreed; piece of cake if you are CAREFUL especially not to rotate the cam the wrong way with the tool in place, and NEVER use a magnet to pick the shims out. (Shims themselves easily magnetized, will then attract fine metallic particles...)

 

Good advice, Fitz! But when I did it there was no way a magnet was going to lift the shims. I ended up using a little hobby chisel-thing that fit perfectly into the notch in the bucket.