Valve Impossible to Adjust

[n4mwd]

I started out this morning to do a valve adjustment on my Ninja and everything went smoothly until I hit one of the middle exhaust valves. No matter what I do, it wont adjust properly.

I get it set perfectly with the nut loose, then tighten the nut and then recheck the clearance and it tightens down so tight even the smallest gauge wont fit.

So then I do it again, only I open it up half a turn before tightening the nut. Still too tight. I have been working on this same nut for over 8 hours and approximately 60+ attempts. No matter what I do, it comes out too tight, or in some cases, too loose.

Has anybody else had this kind of problem and what was the solution?

[Socal5646]

Have you tried leaving the feeler gauge in when retightening the bolt?

[nickjpass]

You've been having a lot of problems with your baby haven't you? I hope it's not the end of it's days

[n4mwd]

Originally Posted by Socal5646

Have you tried leaving the feeler gauge in when retightening the bolt?

Yes, it didn't seem to make any difference. It snaps when I pull it out after tightening the nut.

Somewhere between the 20'th and 30'th attempt, I ordered the valve adjustment tool, but I have doubts as to whether it will be helpful or not.

[n4mwd]

Originally Posted by nickjpass

You've been having a lot of problems with your baby haven't you? I hope it's not the end of it's days

No, there is just something going on with that one valve nut. Nothing serious I hope.

The engines typically go 50K miles and I'm nowhere near that.

[Racer x]

Try making it loose. Can you tighten the nut with a large gap? Some times things get worn in and keep falling back into the old worn spots. Try to tighten the nut with a thick feeker guage under it. Then go back and try to get it into spec.

[n4mwd]

I tried that with some double sized feelers, but it still didn't work. I'm going to use bigger ones this morning and see if I can get something to work.

I was reading the forum archives last night and there was mention of the rocker arms breaking off after a valve adjustment. I'm wondering exactly how to tell that and if a cracked rocker arm could be responsible for what is happening.

[Racer x]

The brocken rocker would be obvious . And the gap would be large. I wounder if you have a broken valve stem. But you said you can get the gap correct untill you tighten the lock nut.

[n4mwd]

I think I figured out what was happening. It looks like the tightening process somehow cocked the rocker so that it bound against the cam. I was able to wiggle the nut with the socket and got it to free. Now the gap appears to be set correctly. I spun the crank two full turns to recheck and its still good.

Here is a link to a guy who says he broke his while tightening the locknut.

I am trying to figure out how tightening the locknut can stress the rocker so much that it cracks. Based on that guy's photos of his rocker with broken dog ears, I am thinking that too much torque can torque the entire rocker, not just the nut, causing the dog ears to snap off.

I checked the dog ears on the problem rocker and they are both still there. I'm glad it didn't break. Replacement ones are $50 each plus its a big job pulling the cam out to replace it.

[Racer x]

The first gen engine has a issue with oil to the rockers . At high RPM they will get out of positiob and cause problems. Glad ypou found the problem

[n4mwd]

I re-sync'ed the carbs, buttoned it back up and took it around the block a few times (7 miles).

I set the valves to the max allowable to improve the idle. It was noticeably better and smoother. I think the 0-60 rate may have been sacrificed a bit though. I didn't measure it, but it seems a bit slower.

The valves are definitely a bit noisier. I read where that is a side effect of setting them wide.