ninjette.org - View Single Post - Bike done about 24000 miles, never a valve adjustment, feels weaker.

Keithb7 · June 29th, 2018, 03:35 PM

I skimmed through the thread, it seems a service at some type of qualified service shop got the bike performing well again.

In the future, for other readers of this thread there is a few things you can do to hone in on valves. Check your engine compression. Valves that are tight may not seal properly resulting in lower compression readings. Once a compression reading has been confirmed in 1 cylinder, then put a teaspoon of engine oil in the spark plug hole. Then take a compression reading again. The compression should read higher as the piston rings are sealed tighter by the oil introduced in the cylinder. If your compression does not measure higher, it may be very likely do to valves that are not sealing.

Setting the valves on these bikes is not really a quick easy thing to do. A fair amount of parts must come off and out of the way to access the valves. Valve cover must be removed. Engine timing set properly and then valve clearance measured. Shims are replaced with either thinner or thicker sizes to adjust clearances. I would expect that if you someone had paid to have valves checked and 10,00 KM, 20,000 KM, 30,000 KM...Etc it would add up to a considerable sum. It's fairly time consuming.

June 29th, 2018, 03:35 PM	#25
Keithb7 2008 & 2010 250cc Name: Keith Location: Western Canada Join Date: Jun 2018 Motorcycle(s): 2008 and 2010 Ninja 250 Posts: 10	I skimmed through the thread, it seems a service at some type of qualified service shop got the bike performing well again. In the future, for other readers of this thread there is a few things you can do to hone in on valves. Check your engine compression. Valves that are tight may not seal properly resulting in lower compression readings. Once a compression reading has been confirmed in 1 cylinder, then put a teaspoon of engine oil in the spark plug hole. Then take a compression reading again. The compression should read higher as the piston rings are sealed tighter by the oil introduced in the cylinder. If your compression does not measure higher, it may be very likely do to valves that are not sealing. Setting the valves on these bikes is not really a quick easy thing to do. A fair amount of parts must come off and out of the way to access the valves. Valve cover must be removed. Engine timing set properly and then valve clearance measured. Shims are replaced with either thinner or thicker sizes to adjust clearances. I would expect that if you someone had paid to have valves checked and 10,00 KM, 20,000 KM, 30,000 KM...Etc it would add up to a considerable sum. It's fairly time consuming.