18,000 mile valve clearance check....

I have read in several posts about the 18K service and it's expense. I've already changed my oil, FD fluid, front and rear brake pads, spark plugs and air filter. The dealer changed all the other fluids (brake, clutch lever fluid, radiator) 3 months ago at the 12K service. Others have said that it would be rare to need the valves adjusted till way later. How do you know if they need adjustment or not?

The reason I ask is that at 12K the dealer changed the oil. I just changed it (now at 17,900 miles) and found that the mechanic did not put a crush ring on and clearly did not use a torque wrench on the sump drain inside the engine. It is to be tightened to 12NM and it was so tight that I had a hard time getting it lose with a ratchet!?!?! Do I want this monkey in my engine if he cant even do an oil change correctly?

What is the danger of not doing the valve measurement? What are the symptoms if you have a maladjusted valve?

The valve check/adjustment isn't hard to do at all and there are video's on Youtube showing how it's done, or you can buy Jim Von Baden's maintenance video's to help do your own work. I used to wrench on my own oil-heads all the time and when I found out how ridiculously expensive wet heads are to maintain by the dealer, my brother and I bought a GS-911 and several tools needed to do all the work.
I refuse to pay $600 or more for a bike as none of my cars ever cost me more then $300 for maintenance. Seriously if you already did and oil change and other work you can check the valves and adjust them to.
YMMV

RIDERR1150GSADV said:

The valve check/adjustment isn't hard to do at all and there are video's on Youtube showing how it's done, or you can buy Jim Von Baden's maintenance video's to help do your own work. I used to wrench on my own oil-heads all the time and when I found out how ridiculously expensive wet heads are to maintain by the dealer, my brother and I bought a GS-911 and several tools needed to do all the work.
I refuse to pay $600 or more for a bike as none of my cars ever cost me more then $300 for maintenance. Seriously if you already did and oil change and other work you can check the valves and adjust them to.
YMMV

Click to expand...

Be Careful RIDERR1150GSADV, the K1600 is not a boxer engine and is more labor intensive to check the valve clearance as drain coolant, remove radiator(good idea at this time to have it cleaned at the radiator shop), remove fuel injection rail, remove coils (6 of them) and the spark plugs and remove the valve cover.

JVB does a good job with his DVD and online video for the boxer type engine but his website does not list any information for the K1600 engines.

Best regards from Montreal, Canada

Robert

frenchnew said:

Be Careful RIDERR1150GSADV, the K1600 is not a boxer engine and is more labor intensive to check the valve clearance as drain coolant, remove radiator(good idea at this time to have it cleaned at the radiator shop), remove fuel injection rail, remove coils (6 of them) and the spark plugs and remove the valve cover.

JVB does a good job with his DVD and online video for the boxer type engine but his website does not list any information for the K1600 engines.

Best regards from Montreal, Canada

Robert

Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that we were talking about a K 1600, which is indeed a different animal than the boxer motor, as I just realized in what forum I posted my reply..
Still even though it is a LOT more labor intensive, the principles remain the same...