What did you do to your VFR Today?

[Skids]

2 hours ago, bmart said:

I heard that they go nearly forever. I've never checked any of mine on any of the 3 VFRs. 

 

My '98 needed 3 exhaust shims changing every 16k up to 130,000 miles.

[bmart]

Pretty interesting how engine design, oil used, etc. all has such an impact. 

 

I bought a CB-1 in 2020 with just under 12k miles on it. It has 16k intervals but I checked it anyway. 12 out of 16 were out of spec. My prior CB-1 wasn't out of spec until 32k, when only 7 were out of spec. (Shim under bucket.)

 

My FJs would run about 1/2 out of spec at each 16k, mostly exhaust. 

 

The cars (screw type adjusters) get checked every 105k adn seem to be 6-8 out of spec out of 16 valves. 

 

I ride so little to what I used to do that I think I'll leave the VFR ones alone! No funny noises, smoke, or loss in power. 

[Dutchy]

Checked the oil level...

 

 

 

 

 

[Philois1984]

Here in Oz we rate jobs by how many six packs (beer) you need to complete the task, looks like in the Netherlands they use the sausage roll rating 😂

[tbzep]

2 hours ago, Skids said:

 

My '98 needed 3 exhaust shims changing every 16k up to 130,000 miles.

I wonder if it had some out of spec (soft) valve seats. Weird that it stopped at 130k miles.

[FJ12Ryder]

5 hours ago, tbzep said:

VFR's afik, are all shim-under-bucket.  Being a little loose is better than tight, but more noisy.  As valves slam into seats year after year, they seat deeper and the clearance gets tighter. The lash could eventually get tight enough that it prevents the valve from sealing and you end up with a burned valve.  I don't think I've ever seen a VFR engine that burned a valve.  We have Baileyrock's zillion mile engine and now 3rdgenred's that haven't been checked and are probably tight, but they keep going and going and going.   

Without pulling an engine, or doing an in-depth leakdown test, there's no way to know if a valve is burnt. A burnt valve will still work, just horsepower will be down a bit due to compression being lower. It's not going to self-destruct, so no telling how many high mileage engines have burned valves. The loss of power would be so gradual as to be virtually unnoticeable.

[bmart]

16 minutes ago, FJ12Ryder said:

The loss of power would be so gradual as to be virtually unnoticeable.

 

This sounds like my skills. lol 

[REDWING]

Done front and rear bank measurements now. All 8 VTEC clearances are tight and out of spec and 6 of 8 standard valves are out of spec, it an absolute prick of a job, fiddly, time consuming and now I think, expensive!!!  No wonder it cost so much at a dealership and understandable why it’s often neglected. More to come. 

[3rdgenred]

6 hours ago, tbzep said:

VFR's afik, are all shim-under-bucket.  Being a little loose is better than tight, but more noisy.  As valves slam into seats year after year, they seat deeper and the clearance gets tighter. The lash could eventually get tight enough that it prevents the valve from sealing and you end up with a burned valve.  I don't think I've ever seen a VFR engine that burned a valve.  We have Baileyrock's zillion mile engine and now 3rdgenred's that haven't been checked and are probably tight, but they keep going and going and going.   

I actually have spares, new valve seals & valves, rings, carb rebuild kits engine gaskets…  everything to do the work. It’s coming. I just haven’t committed the time. Lol

[Grum]

1 hour ago, REDWING said:

Done front and rear bank measurements now. All 8 VTEC clearances are tight and out of spec and 6 of 8 standard valves are out of spec,

That's really strange to hear every VTEC valve being tight, never heard of that before, (along with 6 out of 8 main valves) especially when you consider the VTEC valves are hardly used in comparison to the main valves!

 

61,000k's is not a lot of mileage! I seriously wonder what oil was used, what the service intervals were and how it was ridden or abused by the previous owner?

 

Better not mention how many k's my 2014 8gen has done without a valve check!!!!

 

Good luck with it, the 8gen is an incredibly reliable bike!

[bmart]

...and the temp they were checked at. It makes a difference. 

[Cogswell]

 

 

Hey Grum.  I can provide the 2nd example of that phenomenon.  At 30,000 miles (50,000 or so km's), I checked mine and found all 8 VTEC and 3 standard valves to be way tight.  At first I thought that couldn't be right for all the reasons normally mentioned, including only part time VTEC operation.  I thought that I had to be wrong, that I'd made a mistake.  So, I made no adjustments and put the entire thing back together.  It ran fine, pulled and sounded as before.  No issues.   When the weather really turned bad and it wouldn't be ridden for some months, I dug in to it again (I was now faster as I was better at it).   Same result.  So, figuring somehow I was missing something or was measuring incorrectly, I got a friend, a 30 year A&P mechanic who's owned numerous Honda M/C's and wrenched on them personally, to come over and check them.  I purposely kept quiet my findings and just told him that I was struggling with the check and if he would have a look.  I didn't influence him in any way to be looking for what I thought was happening.   I had cams in and pins out of the VTEC buckets so he'd have to do everything except strip the bike down.   I left him with tools, pin latches, the procedure and explanatory working of the VTEC latches.  I then left him for a several hours with some pizza and cold snacks.    When I came back he had finished measuring, but the cams were still in and he hadn't removed the latch pins.  I asked him "so, what did you find?"  As he handed me the paper with his measurements he replied "your 8 VTEC buckets are tight and you have 3 of the others that are tight."  Looking at his measurements, they weren't quite identical to mine, but they were very close and the other 3 he measured as tight were the same ones I had.

 

I still do not know what could have caused that and it still seems counter intuitive.   It's a very expensive fix as the VTEC buckets are over $250, significantly more if purchased at list price.  The bike's back together and running, though I've had a hard time reconciling how owners have run them over 100,000 without adjusting the valve with no issues.  I can't speak to anyone else's bike - that was just my experience with it. 

[Grum]

Thanks Cogs. That's a great story and fantastic having the mechanic backup your findings, it also reinforces you were most certainly doing things right, and I would never doubt your experience and expertise.

I stand corrected, yours is now the second bike I've heard of where all vtec valves were tight!

Cheers

[Skids]

11 hours ago, tbzep said:

I wonder if it had some out of spec (soft) valve seats. Weird that it stopped at 130k miles.

Cos I sold the bike. 

[Dutchy]

13 hours ago, Philois1984 said:

Here in Oz we rate jobs by how many six packs (beer) you need to complete the task, looks like in the Netherlands they use the sausage roll rating 😂

 

Oil checking is measured in cheese rolls.......  🙂

 

Cycling on saturday morning between 6-8AM is measured in sausage rolls...

 

 

T'was kinda kinda foggy this morning..

[VFR78]

4 hours ago, Grum said:

Thanks Cogs. That's a great story and fantastic having the mechanic backup your findings, it also reinforces you were most certainly doing things right, and I would never doubt your experience and expertise.

I stand corrected, yours is now the second bike I've heard of where all vtec valves were tight!

I’ve had mine checked twice and no adjustment has been required. I wonder if the bikes with tight valve clearances were put together like that.

[3rdgenred]

When i do open heart surgery on Shaniqua(big ghetto booty)i will post pics(that'll be a biggie) I've done everything but adjust the valves to her to keep her going over the years. 

[LEGEND]

Put my CGR ‘07 on a tender, no riding or driving for 8 weeks.   
 

 

[3rdgenred]

5 hours ago, LEGEND said:

Put my CGR ‘07 on a tender, no riding or driving for 8 weeks.   
 

 

Whoht happened?

[chutta]

All of my bikes are on tenders since nov 6(michigan) 😞

[Dutchy]

14 hours ago, 3rdgenred said:

Whoht happened?

 

 

Riving ban???? 

 

Did you get caught doing 130MPH "on a dark desert highway"??? 

[3rdgenred]

9 minutes ago, Dutchy said:

 

 

Riving ban???? 

 

Did you get caught doing 130MPH "on a dark desert highway"??? 

Caught = too slow 😇

[RC79NC001]

Rolled my VFR out into fresh snow for an obligatory photo op !

[bmart]

I'm also in CLT. Took a walk around the icy neighborhood this morning. Looks like we're 10+ days out from any riding!

[Cogswell]

On 1/15/2022 at 1:01 AM, VFR78 said:

I’ve had mine checked twice and no adjustment has been required. I wonder if the bikes with tight valve clearances were put together like that.

 

That might be the only logical conclusion.    It sure seems unlikely to have happened on its own.