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Old September 24th, 2018, 05:14 AM   #1
Ducati999
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Valve adjust question

Hello everyone,
Many of you know me and that I am always working on something on my bikes(some say too often). I first heard this rumor from my father when he bought his Ninja and I have read it a few times on line. Would be nice to hear what everyone here thinks since this is the biggest gathering of Ninjette owners around.

The rumor is: You don't have to do the first valve check till 3 or 4,000 miles. The dealer told my dad to hold off until then because of the break in procedure. He said the valves don't fully seat in the first 1,000 miles so its better to wait. I did the valves on the wifes bike @1,000 and they were well within spec. I told my dad that since he does his own work, he should check at 1,000 just to be sure. What have you done and at what mileage? Also have you heard the same rumor?
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Old September 24th, 2018, 05:38 AM   #2
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Iv seen engines with 15000 miles that never even had them checked. I think 7500 is a reasonable time to wait.
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Old September 24th, 2018, 06:03 AM   #3
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i checked mine at 8,000 miles, slightly out of spec.
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Old September 24th, 2018, 06:30 AM   #4
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The 250s have the valve clearances get smaller with miles. This means that eventually the valves don't quite close when the engine is cold, but as it warms up they do. The early symptoms are things like hard starting and very unstable RPM when the engine is cold. Then when it warms up, it runs like nothing is wrong.
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Old September 25th, 2018, 07:10 PM   #5
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Well, thinking as a mechanic and as someone who has designed mechanical items in the past, a part of me understands why you should get them checked early.

Manufacturing flaws can come up and make it where the valves go out of adjustment early. But also, I know tooling is much more precise these days as well, so tolerances are much tighter than they were on older bikes. In theory, you should be able to wait longer.

I view it simply as a safety check. To just make sure it is all well and that some sleep-deprived assembler didn't forget to torque a screw to spec. Check it at 1000, then wait until the suggested time or a bit beyond it.

It really doesn't take too long. I started early one day, checked the valves, and had it back together by that evening. And that was my first time doing it. Sure it was a bit of a pain, but the peace of mind helped me as well (they were in spec). If I had the bike long enough to do another check, I'm sure it would have gone much faster.
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Old September 25th, 2018, 07:27 PM   #6
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I have been into these engines a bit.
Kawasaki heavy machinery is so good at machining parts. I have seen engines with the same size shim on all the valves. I have swapped cam beating halves from diffeeent heads with no problem. I am super impressed with these guys
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Old October 1st, 2018, 12:45 PM   #7
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I checked the wifes motor at 1000 and don't expect much of a change at 7500. She does not really bounce of the rev limiter and usually shifts at 9-10,000. I will post up what I find when the time comes.

Noone here has heard the same thing about not needing to check till later? I wanted to see if this was a common idea or just some sales guy stating his opinion.
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Old October 1st, 2018, 01:15 PM   #8
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i didnt even know they was supposed to be checked at 1,000 miles. i thought the first check was 7500.
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Old October 27th, 2018, 06:46 AM   #9
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I didnt check mine until 7,500. Had to replace a couple shims, We did Todds at 7,500 and had to replace almost every shim. But most were only out of spec by .001, .002 at most.
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Old October 27th, 2018, 08:14 AM   #10
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Maybe it's a holdover (leftover?) from the early EX250 days (like the '86 to about '00 timeframe) when the alloy used in the cylinder heads was softer, which meant the valve seats were softer and the valves would really bed themselves in quickly.

After the first couple of valve adjustments these softer cylinder heads would stabilize somewhat.
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Old October 27th, 2018, 11:51 AM   #11
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@greg737

I know you know....many VFR owners boast of never checking their
valves, even into high mileage.

I checked mine at 20K, 11 of 16 were off, i think 10 tight, 1 loose.

All corrected, bike sighed a big sigh of relief. I was rewarded with a super stable idle, instant push button start, engine at ease. Effortless off idle acceleration.

I prefer to follow factory directions, and leave stuff alone. Airbox, flapper valve left intact.

Relating this to 250.....friendly advise.... don't blow off valve checks. In your best interests...adhere to book maintenance schedule.
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Old October 28th, 2018, 09:06 PM   #12
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I guess my whole thought behind the valve adjustment thing is that the 250 isn't like my 1500cc monster. It revs and it loves to rev. Anything that sits that high in the rev range for as long as a 250 does, you can't be lazy on valve adjustments. Not at that RPM. At 75, the 250 is screaming compared to my 1500cc cruiser. Knowing that it was a revver, I honestly feel valve adjustments are crucial. Don't need a floater one day slapping the top of a piston.
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