DIY - Adjusting Valves on '08+ 250r (WITH Pictures)

[Nemesis]

Thx guys. I'm a bit nervous about tackling this job but it probably just sounds harder than it is.

Don't you guys order the shims from a Kawi dealer (not fuss about the wrong shims and what not)?

[indr]

Each single shim is ~5$ at the dealer. while you can get something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HOTCA...ht_1854wt_1167

or

http://www.amazon.com/CAMS-VALVE-SHI...9798133&sr=8-1

3x of a whole bunch of widths

[Nemesis]

Omgosh...I took off the CCT last night then went back to this thread and re-read the whole thread and I'm freakin' confused.

Do I buy the shims first or take them all out and measure them? WTHeck is with the conversions? LOL!

Where do you buy the tool to measure shims? Harborfreight?

I understand the shims but what's this "lash" talk?

[Momaru]

I'd suggest buying a shim set before even starting. Otherwise you may be waiting a while to get shims (and either have your bike open, or have to reassemble it,then disassemble it again) if you don't have a local shop that keeps them stocked.

There's a few levels to the conversions. First there's the metric-SAE conversion, but that's just between fractions of an inch and millimeters. Then there's the math that relates the valve clearance (the 'lash') and the shim thickness. There's an excel file posted on the Yeager's ninjette page that will do most of the math for ya. I think it's linked on this thread or a related one.

The tool to measure the shims is known as a micrometer. I bought mine at Sears, but you should be able to find one at most hardware stores.

The lash is just the other half of the important measurement in valve clearances. It's the greatest gap between the top of the cap that sits on top of the shim and the cam with its lobe facing away from the valve

[indr]

THis is the kit I bought from Powersport Superstore: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WJWTM6/

You can use a micrometer or a caliper. Get one that is digital (easier to read) and does metric. Then get feeler gauges that are labeled in metric. That way, you own't have to convert.

http://www.theyeagergroup.com/2008_n..._clearance.htm

[indr]

Also, I did the valves a week back and it's still fresh in my head so post up any questions.

[Racer x]

Thanks for that link.I have been looking for a set.

[Momaru]

Originally Posted by indrish

You can use a micrometer or a caliper. Get one that is digital (easier to read) and does metric. Then get feeler gauges that are labeled in metric. That way, you own't have to convert.

http://www.theyeagergroup.com/2008_n..._clearance.htm

Much agreed; buy metric, save some pain. The Hot Cams set is also what I used. just make sure to measure each shim before you put 'em in. In my experience they vary a little bit shim to shim.

Thanks for posting the Yeager link; was @ work when I replied earlier so didn't have time to hunt it down.

I also did my valves recently for the third time, so +1 to the 'available for questions' list, if the DIYs don't get it and Indrish doesn't beat me to it

[Nemesis]

Okay, next question: How in the world do you take off the top valve cover? I've taken out the four bolts and the cover loose but it's such a tight area there the cover won't come off.

It looks like the radiator hose is preventing me from completely taking it off. Do I have to remove the hose? I rather not...is there another way?

[littledog]

Originally Posted by Nemesis

Okay, next question: How in the world do you take off the top valve cover? I've taken out the four bolts and the cover loose but it's such a tight area there the cover won't come off.

It looks like the radiator hose is preventing me from completely taking it off. Do I have to remove the hose? I rather not...is there another way?

It is possible to take off the cover without removing the hose. However, the hose goes into a metal tube at the back of the valve cover. that tube is just stuck into the cylinder head with an o-ring seal. It is real easy to dislodge that tube while you are wiggling the valve cover past the stuff in the way. If that tube comes out, then you get a bunch of coolant in the lubricated section of your motor. In my opinion, it is easier to drain the coolant and remove the hose, than it is to clean up the possible mess.

[Nemesis]

Thx.

I already have the coolant (water wetter actually..not coolant) drained out. I just can't wiggle the cover off. I mean, it's off but I can't completely remove cover out of the frame section. Just wondering if there was a trick to getting the cover out...like removing hoses, radiator, etc. which I'm really reluctant to do.

I'll give it another shot tonight. Thx.

[littledog]

Originally Posted by Nemesis

Thx.

I already have the coolant (water wetter actually..not coolant) drained out. I just can't wiggle the cover off. I mean, it's off but I can't completely remove cover out of the frame section. Just wondering if there was a trick to getting the cover out...like removing hoses, radiator, etc. which I'm really reluctant to do.

I'll give it another shot tonight. Thx.

There is also a little bracket that bolts onto the frame that accepts the bolt from the top of the overflow. I found that easy to miss, and it has to come off.

GL, it can be done.

[indr]

Make sure the right side engine mounting bolts are out.

Take off the hoses. Take off the coolant tank, the radiator, the fan, the horn.

It'll make it easier to take it out and put back in. But even after that, it takes a bit of manuevering.

PS: take off the cover from the right side.

[Momaru]

Originally Posted by indrish

Make sure the right side engine mounting bolts are out.

Take off the hoses. Take off the coolant tank, the radiator, the fan, the horn.

It'll make it easier to take it out and put back in. But even after that, it takes a bit of manuevering.

PS: take off the cover from the right side.

You also want to take off the right side engine mounting bracket (secured to the frame with a pair of 14mm bolts and to the engine via the front engine mounting bolt), as well as the ignition coil for the right cylinder, which will come with it. You don't have to take the front engine mounting bolt out all the way, but you will need to back it out enough for the bracket to come down & out. When you put it back in, you'll either want to have the engine supported on stand of some kind (I just used my car jack), to alleviate the stress on the bolt, or you should come back a couple of times later (after a ride or two) to check the torque on that bolt (if you don't have the engine supported, the pressure from the engine on the bolt can give you false torque readings).

Removing the coolant tank, radiator, fan & horn are all optional, but it makes the job a ton easier and minimizes the risk of poking a hole in your radiator. Removing some of the mounting bolts for that stuff is absolutely necessary though, so you can move it 'round.

[randomwalk101]

Take a video of the process.

[Nemesis]

I finally got the valve cover off last night and what a freakin' PITA it was! The only way I was able to do this was to take off the cap (11065-0208) off the valve cover, disconnect the coolant hose leading into the valve and then twist/turn the upside down "J" shaped pipe forward. No way that thing was going to come out/off unless I did the above.

Man what a PITA it was.

[Nemesis]

Hey guys, I need your help.

When I line up the 2lT mark to the little metal marker in the alternator hole, the cams do not line up perfectly line in Vex's pic.



But when I line the cams up perfectly like the pic below the 2lT mark is passed the marker. Even after several revolutions.



Any idea why this is? Am I doing it right?

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by VeX

With any 4-stroke engine you'll hit "2|T" TWICE per complete engine cycle. I made sure that I had the engine on "2|T" (which is cylinder #2 at TDC) at the end of i's compression stroke. The camshafts should line up as you can see in the picture above. Notice the two white dots face eachother? Timed!

Also the service manual mentions nothing about the EX & IN marks facing each other. Any help would be appreciated.

[indr]

1T is when the cams for the first cylinder are facing away from one another

2T is when you see this picture.

go to the left leg side of the bike. line it up so the cams that you can see are facing away from the shim bucket as much as possible.

then measure the two intake clearances and the two exhaust clearances for the left cylinder.

then, turn the engine so you end up with this. this is when you measure the two intake and the two exhaust for the right cylinder.

i was confused as **** too when i did it. hope it helps. post any more questions you might have or if it didn't make sense.

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by indrish

1T is when the cams for the first cylinder are facing away from one another

2T is when you see this picture.

go to the left leg side of the bike. line it up so the cams that you can see are facing away from the shim bucket as much as possible.

then measure the two intake clearances and the two exhaust clearances for the left cylinder.

then, turn the engine so you end up with this. this is when you measure the two intake and the two exhaust for the right cylinder.

i was confused as **** too when i did it. hope it helps. post any more questions you might have or if it didn't make sense.

Thanks but shouldn't the cams look like this when I turn the crankshaft/cams/or whatever you call it and have it lined up with 2T from the left side?

That's the part I'm confused. I thought if I turn it from the left side to hit 2T that the cams would line up.

Is this not the case?

[indr]

Yes. To get 2T, the two white marks should point to each other. Don't worry about the little marking on the sight hole. Mine wasn't accurate. Once you have 2T, you'd measure the clearance for the 2nd (right side cylinder). You don't measure the left cylinder clearance once you have 2T.

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by indrish

Yes. To get 2T, the two white marks should point to each other. Don't worry about the little marking on the sight hole. Mine wasn't accurate. Once you have 2T, you'd measure the clearance for the 2nd (right side cylinder). You don't measure the left cylinder clearance once you have 2T.

I had to read your post several times to understand exactly what you're saying. LOL

Okay..phew...I thought my engine was screwed when the ex. & in. mark didn't line up when I hit 2T in the sight hole.

Why don't our marks line up when we hit 2T in the sight hole like Vex's?

[indr]

don't know. when I line up the two marks on the sprockets, I could SEE the 2T mark through the sigh hole (tho not aligned). When I went back to put the cams back on, I couldn't even find the mark. but everything worked fine when I put it back together.

[CZroe]

Question: Do you have to do an oil change to do a valve job?

Here's why I ask: I spoke to a dealer and they quoted me a much lower price for just the valve change than the full 22,500 mile service. Even so, I can't afford it yet, but I do have the oil and filters ready to go. I don't want to change my oil with expensive Shell Rotella T6 just before they do this if they are just going to flush it out and do an oil change anyway as part of the valve service.

Thanks!

Edit: When I got my first valve service done they said that I had to leave my bike the entire day and pick it up the next day because the engine needed to be completely cool before they could do the service. If that is so, that's a pretty major thing to leave out of the OP. Were they full of it?

[indr]

Oil doesn't have to be changed when adjusting valves.

The bike needs to be cooled down for several hours.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by indrish

Oil doesn't have to be changed when adjusting valves.

The bike needs to be cooled down for several hours.

And I imagine even more so when you aren't taking the hot oil out.

Thanks!

[Domagoj]

Big thanks to VeX for writing these DIYs, and all who contributed! It's great to have a guide like this.

So I checked valve lash yesterday. My ninja is on ~14000 miles.
Decided to do it somewhat early as I have some free time now, and it's the first time I'm doing it myself.

The results are very consistent, surprisingly so. All the exhaust valves are ~0.25 mm, and all inlet valves are on ~0.18 mm. This is within spec, but not exactly in the middle, especially inlet valves.
Do you think I should adjust them now, or leave it be and check again within 5k miles, and adjust then?

I have a separate concern, though. Stick coils are rusty. It's the gaskets which are rusty, actually, and they look quite bad. (pictures) I will replace the gaskets with the new ones, and clean the stick coils, but I wonder if I should apply some silicone on the coils before putting them back on? Service manual says to just put them back in place, without any additional sealing. But some water has obviously escaped down there. Or is there some other reason for this rust?

I am also unsure about cylinder head gasket. I see no damage to it, and according to the manual it is not a replacement part, so there is no need to buy a new one, right? I should apply some silicone there, but I do not know if it should be all around, or just on the 2 spots marked in the manual?
Does anyone have any ideas?

[Momaru]

Your valves are so close to middle-of-spec I'd leave 'em alone. Lucky bastid

Regarding the coil seals, I agree it looks like the spark plug boots haven't been sealing well, lettin' in some rain/wash water down the shaft. I'd consider replacing those seals, but in the meantime (or if you'd rather not) take a wire brush to the metal bits so it'll mate better, and hit it with just a little high-temp silicone. Make sure you don't use too much though. Also make sure they don't shift while you're putting the head cover back on... one did that to me and got crimped in a bad way, blocking the plug shaft. Regarding some silicone on the actual stick coil boots, I don't see why that would be a problem, aside from requiring some additional work (cleaning out, etc) when you need to pull them to check/replace plugs, etc. I mean, those seals should be water-tight to begin with. I'd potentially leave a little bit of each boot seal un-siliconed (perhaps @ the aft end, since it's most uphill and least likely to collect water), to allow air pressure to vent as the engine heats up.

Re: the head gasket, if you didn't fubar it removing it, I'd reuse it. Factory manual suggests just putting silicone in the designated areas (at the dips in the head next to the cam sprockets IIRC) but I always put a small bead all the way 'round. Provided you don't use too much, I don't see the harm other than a little more cleanup next time you're in there and it should (theoretically) help prevent leaks/blowout.

[Domagoj]

Thanks Paul!

What you say is what I was planning to do. Feels better to have a second opinion though.

[seldom]

What happened to the pictures. I'm thinking about doing this myself and pictures will give me better orientation.

[har0ld]

Hey guys. I just recently did a valve adjustment to my girlfriend's 08 250r and when I went to start it, it fired up just fine then within a few seconds it started bogging down and the idle started dropping and it finally died. I started it again and this time it had a really hard time starting and once it does it idles fine then it starts dropping and dies. I want to see if you guys had any insight on what this might be? I am guessing I didn't time the engine right, but i wanted to see if anyone else knew anything about this before I start taking the bike apart again. Much thanks in advance for any help!

[DryUrEyesM8]

I just did a valve check/adjustment and when I got to the part to turn the engine over to make sure everything is working the camshafts won't move. The chain turned the sprockets but the lobes are not rotating. What could cause this?

[DryUrEyesM8]

I found out why the lobes weren't moving. apparently the camshafts broke right after the first lobe closest to the cam chain when i went to turn over the engine. I don't think I used enough force to do that but apparently I did. Does anyone know why this might happen?

[CZroe]

Well, I've seen a few people lose a chunk of some kind of collar on the chain side but it always still worked.

[angrybynature]

Originally Posted by CZroe

Well, I've seen a few people lose a chunk of some kind of collar on the chain side but it always still worked.

I had this happen to me last night. Ordered a used cam set off feabay.

Im almost certain it broke removing the cam as it was lodged in the journal even with the chain off.

Also have you guys ever seen one set off valves completely off from the rest?

I was a little tight on all the valves except 2 exhaust valves were WAY tight on one cylinder.

[lilyanx217]

How would I calculate the correct shim needed for my ninja 250?

For example. I measured the clearance and it has .18mm and when I measured it it was .111 which is 2.8194

If it's an inlet, do I do 2.82 + .18 - .195
If it's an exhaust, do I do 2.82. + .18 - .255

I did it this way and when I put everything back on, it seems like the clearance is still the same. Did I do something wrong? I did valve adjustment before but I forgot how to do the calculation. I think I saw a video or read a forum that said if you want more clearance subtract .205 from inlet and .265 from exhaust?

[Bones85]

Use this Excel spreadsheet to do the calculations for you: http://www.theyeagergroup.com/2008%2...50J_Valves.xls

Valve clearance:

Exhaust 0.22 ∼ 0.29 mm (0.0087 ∼ 0.0114 in.)
Inlet 0.15 ∼ 0.24 mm (0.0059 ∼ 0.0094 in.)

•Measure the thickness of the removed shim [A].

•Select a new shim thickness calculation as follows.
a + b – c = d
[a] Present Shim Thickness
[b] Measured Valve Clearance
[c] Specified Valve Clearance (Mean Value = 0.255 mm
(Exhaust), 0.195 mm (Inlet))
[d] Replace Shim Thickness

Example (Inlet):
2.90 + 0.45 – 0.195 = 3.155 mm
○Exchange the shim for the 3.175 size shim.

[lilyanx217]

Originally Posted by Bones85

Use this Excel spreadsheet to do the calculations for you: http://www.theyeagergroup.com/2008%2...50J_Valves.xls

Valve clearance:

Exhaust 0.22 ∼ 0.29 mm (0.0087 ∼ 0.0114 in.)
Inlet 0.15 ∼ 0.24 mm (0.0059 ∼ 0.0094 in.)

•Measure the thickness of the removed shim [A].

•Select a new shim thickness calculation as follows.
a + b – c = d
[a] Present Shim Thickness
[b] Measured Valve Clearance
[c] Specified Valve Clearance (Mean Value = 0.255 mm
(Exhaust), 0.195 mm (Inlet))
[d] Replace Shim Thickness

Example (Inlet):
2.90 + 0.45 – 0.195 = 3.155 mm
○Exchange the shim for the 3.175 size shim.

Thank you for the quick reply. Wish I asked this earlier. Had to install/take off cams cause when I double checked the valve clearance it was too tight so I had to redo it again like 3 times.

This is what I was talking about. Couldn't find it.

[gixxerallan]

getting the valves adjusted on my 250 as we speak. This is a great write up and was a huge help.

FYI for anyone doing this, I found the necessary shims for $1.99 at rocky mountain ATV.

(7.48mm outside diameter)

[LNasty]

I really don't want to pay the $300-400 its going to cost to have my valves adjusted, coming up on 11,000 miles (Kawasaki dealer said that the 7500 miles recommended adjustment is a littler early for these bikes brand new). After seeing what it takes to do this, I am confident in saying that it is a little above my expertise. Will need the carbs synced as well probably. Guess I know what part of my tax return is going to.