[JimR]

Has anyone actually checked the valve lash on their 2022? Well I did and I'm not happy. Brought the bike home new on 12 May. Putzed around following the break in procedure until the 600 mile mark. Did the 1st service and used Kawasaki Brands "house oil" in 10W-40 and their oil filter. I was a little perplexed that no valve clearance check was included in the 1st service. I asked around here and was met with mixed answers, asked the Service Manager about it and he said that 600 miles was way too soon to check the valves. So against my better judgment, I skipped it and just did the checklist. BTW, I do all of my own service.

Then, I took a 12 day 4,200 mile trip from central Ohio to the Four Corners/Navajo Nation/Monument valley/Forrest Gump Hill area. Ran the bike hard as one would with a new bike and got home and decided to change the oil and give it a really good service. Got into the valve inspection portion of the service manual and what a mess. Will never bitch about my BMW F650GS valve check again. This was is awful. At any rate, after pulling about 6 million different sized fasteners off of the bike and playing with the valve cover finally got it off and set piston to TDC following the manual and here are the results for my bike that has 4,943 miles on it:

Left Side Exhaust: Gauge marked .004 inches or .102mm fits.
Right Side Exhaust: Gauge marked .003 inches or .076mm fits.

Left Side Intake: Gauge marked .003 inches or .076mm fits.
Right Side Intake: Gauge marked .004 inches or .102mm fits.

My Manual sez that the range for the exhaust is 0.15-0.25mm (.0059 inches-.0098 inches) and
the Intake range is 0.10mm-0.20mm (.0039 inches-.0079 inches)

Checked it several times with my brand new set of feeler gauges as well as my older set. I'm a little miffed because the cam lobe on the right side exhaust has signs of running hot, it's a little discolored, purple 'ish.

So both exhaust are out of spec as well as one intake. Has anyone ever ordered a thicker shim rather than a thinner shim? Weird. I think I'm going to leave the intake alone, it'll wear in. Anyway, I'm off to the garage to do my math. Thanks for letting me rant a little. I guess that I should take solace in the fact that there was at least a little gap and not closed all the way up!

Regards, Jim.

p.s. If you think that the "Stealership" is checking your valve lash you are sadly mistaken. There's not a shop that I know of that will invest that kind of time on a service. Oh, you'll get billed for it, but they ain't doing it. Next time you bring it in just ask them, "You mind if I watch?" The answer will be a steadfast "No, the insurance company won't let us." Not trying to start an argument, just saying.

 

[OCL]

The valve inspection interval isn't until 14k miles isn't it? For Non-Us Models I believe they push it out to 24k miles. This was true with my other Kawasaki's, albeit they were liter bikes. Why did you bother checking at less than 5k miles? Was it hard to start? The motor was super quiet? Noticed a loss of power?

In order to inspect, you have to remove the fuel tank to get to this point:
Untitled by rogue_biker, on Flickr

I can see how there's a ton of wires and hoses on top of that valve cover. At least there's no air box in the way. How hard is it compared to any other liquid cooled engine?

 

[klr4evr]

It’s not news that the dealerships aren’t checking valve clearances. Heck they don’t even have the shims in stock so even if they did check there would be a further wait to get shims. Leaving the factory the valves were probably in spec. but it’s always better to be on the looser end if possible. In hindsight checking them yourself at the 600 mile service would have given you an indicator of where you were at. The exhausts are definitely on the tight side but I have seen worse. At this point best to pull the shims and see what you have and get new ones. You may be able to use the existing intakes shims on the exhaust side. Adjust your intakes too, don’t leave them alone as you said. You want to be on the looser end of the spec., .008“ on intake and .010” on exhaust.

 

[Timlang60]

Has anyone actually checked the valve lash on their 2022? Well I did and I'm not happy. Brought the bike home new on 12 May. Putzed around following the break in procedure until the 600 mile mark. Did the 1st service and used Kawasaki Brands "house oil" in 10W-40 and their oil filter. I was a little perplexed that no valve clearance check was included in the 1st service. I asked around here and was met with mixed answers, asked the Service Manager about it and he said that 600 miles was way too soon to check the valves. So against my better judgment, I skipped it and just did the checklist. BTW, I do all of my own service.

Then, I took a 12 day 4,200 mile trip from central Ohio to the Four Corners/Navajo Nation/Monument valley/Forrest Gump Hill area. Ran the bike hard as one would with a new bike and got home and decided to change the oil and give it a really good service. Got into the valve inspection portion of the service manual and what a mess. Will never bitch about my BMW F650GS valve check again. This this is awful. At any rate, after pulling about 6 million different sized fasteners off of the bike and playing with the valve cover finally got it off and set piston to TDC following the manual and here are the results for my bike that has 4,943 miles on it:

Left Side Exhaust: Gauge marked .004 inches or .102mm fits.
Right Side Exhaust: Gauge marked .003 inches or .076mm fits.

Left Side Intake: Gauge marked .003 inches or .076mm fits.
Right Side Intake: Gauge marked .004 inches or .102mm fits.

My Manual sez that the range for the exhaust is 0.15-0.25mm (.0059 inches-.0098 inches) and
the Intake range is 0.10mm-0.20mm (.0039 inches-.0079 inches)

Checked it several times with my brand new set of feeler gauges as well as my older set. I'm a little miffed because the cam lobe on the right side exhaust has signs of running hot, it's a little discolored, purple 'ish.

So both exhaust are out of spec as well as one intake. Has anyone ever ordered a thicker shim rather than a thinner shim? Weird. I think I'm going to leave the intake alone, it'll wear in. Anyway, I'm off to the garage to do my math. Thanks for letting me rant a little. I guess that I should take solace in the fact that there was at least a little gap and not closed all the way up!

Regards, Jim.

p.s. If you think that the "Stealership" is checking your valve lash you are sadly mistaken. There's not a shop that I know of that will invest that kind of time on a service. Oh, you'll get billed for it, but they ain't doing it. Next time you bring it in just ask them, "You mind if I watch?" The answer will be a steadfast "No, the insurance company won't let us." Not trying to start an argument, just saying.

You don't want thicker shims. You're trying to increase the clearance, you want thinner shims.

 

[KLR-Mule]

^^^What Tim said. You’ll need thinner shims. I would advise that you set all valves to their maximum clearances. You don’t want to do that job again in the near future.
My guess is you won’t need to adjust them again for a good bit of time….IF they are all set to their maximum clearances.
I don’t plan on checking mine again until she hits 30,000mi.

 

[JimR]

You're right. Was not LOOKING at my numbers right. I will adjust both intakes as well to the loose side. I don't want to do this again for a long while. This service is a huge PITA compared to other bikes but needs to be done if your going to keep the bike for a really long time. I still have my 2006 BMW F650GS with 81K miles and check valves every 5K miles. Thanks for the feedback guys.

Regards, Jim.

 

[Timlang60]

You're right. Was not LOOKING at my numbers right. I will adjust both intakes as well to the loose side. I don't want to do this again for a long while. This service is a huge PITA compared to other bikes but needs to be done if your going to keep the bike for a really long time. I still have my 2006 BMW F650GS with 81K miles and check valves every 5K miles. Thanks for the feedback guys.

Regards, Jim.

Most of the change in valve clearance occurs during a relative brief period after new or upper end rebuild as the new valves and seats are completing the seating in process. Once settled in, changes will be much more glacial barring odd circumstances.

 

[pdwestman]

I'm concerned about the dis-coloration you mentioned about the RH EX cam lobe. The RH EX cam bearing & lobe are the absolute LAST parts in the entire lubrication system to receive ANY oil. Your engine could have some cam bearing damage from not having Enough oil Volume in the crankcase to make it that far up & forward.
That RH EX bearing cap needs to be inspected. And the engine oil Quantity is & always should be 2.5 Quarts. Top of the window After filling the filter (which drains back out over-night, unlike cars)(Thailand plant again to blame for changing the books).

I've never seen a cam lobe over-heated from lack of lube that didn't have bearing damage preceding it.

Everybody else has got you covered about valve tappet clearances.

I think the Thailand plant is setting up these engines like one would have set up OLD rocker arm systems on a '55 Chevy 6 cylinder.
On the Minimum end of specs, because the old rocker arms & their shafts wore faster than the valve faces & seats when we had Lead in our gasoline.

 

[klr4evr]

I'm a little miffed because the cam lobe on the right side exhaust has signs of running hot, it's a little discolored, purple 'ish.

Pictures would help a lot.

This service is a huge PITA compared to other bikes but needs to be done if your going to keep the bike for a really long time.

The KLR isn’t a hard bike to work on. Try working on a Goldwing. It’s your first time. It will be easier the next time. Once done you should be good for awhile.

 

[JimR]

Getting there, both exhaust shims were marked 2.55 and happily they will work moving them to the intake tappets. The intake shims were both marked 2.60. Ordered a 2.40 for the right side exhaust and a 2.45 for the left side. Priced a tube of that sealant the manual wants you to use when assembling the cylinder head cover.....$92.00!!!! Probably will use some left over Suzuki sealant. Thanks again guys, hopefully I'll get her all back together before August!

Regards, Jim.

 

[KLR-Mule]

Wait what? I wouldn’t use any sealant on the valve cover gasket surface. Just re-using the OEM gasket will work just fine (with the valve cover/surface properly cleaned & torqued to the correct specs….of course).

I’ve adjusted the valves on 3 klrs so far, and not a one has leaked. You can re-use the gasket, just make sure it’s aligned properly.

 

[PeteK]

I reuse the top cover gasket all the time. Hasn’t leaked yet, and that’s with some 30+ year old gaskets.

 

[tdf-texas]

$92.00 seems a little high. Kawabond, Hondabond, and Yamabond are all the same stuff.

Amazon.com

 

[JimR]

"The Book" sez to "Apply liquid gasket to the cylinder head cover gasket as shown."

Sealant-Liquid Gasket, TB1216B: 92104-1064 AKA $92.00 tube of goo!

It definitely sez to reuse the gasket, just add some sealant in a few spots around the gasket itself. No biggie, I'm guessing it's just to keep the gasket in place while I fumble getting the head cover back on. Ordered the shims today, hopefully get the thing back together and on the road. I do enjoy riding it, it's a whole lot more comfortable than the BMW.

Regards, Jim.

 

[PeteK]

I don’t even use sealant. I just get the old stuff off. It doesn’t leak.

 

[JimR]

Don't know why my font size changed, I sound a little angry! But I'm not.

 

[PeteK]

I’d be angry about paying $92 for a tube of sealant too!

 

[Timlang60]

Wait what? I wouldn’t use any sealant on the valve cover gasket surface. Just re-using the OEM gasket will work just fine (with the valve cover/surface properly cleaned & torqued to the correct specs….of course).

I’ve adjusted the valves on 3 klrs so far, and not a one has leaked. You can re-use the gasket, just make sure it’s aligned properly.

I believe Jim is referring the round plugs that block the line boring holes. Kawi recommends a small amount of sealant on those two spots. I use Permatex Ultra Copper high temp silicone for that.

 

[PeteK]

I don’t use sealant there either.

 

[pdwestman]

I have NEVER used RTV silicone on the eye-balls of a KLR650 valve cover gasket, and never had a leak on a 'reasonably pliable' gasket. (I replaced my personal old/hardened KLR valve cover gasket a of couple years ago, first one I've EVER replaced!)

But I learned the hard-way to ALWAYS use RTV on the Suzuki/ Suzisaki DRZ400/KLX400's!