Maintenance: Full Service, 67,471 miles
Next Maint Cycle: 70,000 miles
Trailered the bike to Morton’s to do the service and shoot footage for the video of said service.
It sounded so simple. Re-torque the head nuts and adjust the valve clearances. Six nuts per side and just two valves per side.
Changing the oils was easy and it went exactly as it should have all around. I made a huge mess draining the final drive despite trying hard not to. Typical of me, I guess. But I changed the oils LAST. Let me tell you what I did FIRST.
Well it was all fun and games until I discovered the rock hard valve cover gaskets. They were like the covers of hardback books! Compressed all to hell and they would NOT come off. I started with a tiny screwdriver, bashing that through the gasket until I discovered I put a small gouge in the cylinder head side of the mating surface. James suggested I try a razor blade. That worked OK but was really slow. I eventually put in a fresh blade and that helped a bit more. It took over two hours to pry, scrape and sand (220 grit) the remnants of those petrified gaskets away and STILL I left some stubborn bits behind. At least they were smooth! They’ll stay there until I can get the heads bead blasted.
I hereby resolve to replace those gaskets EVERY time I adjust the valves. They are $9.60 each and I need two. I charge $100 an hour for freelance work, so I wasted over $200 worth of my time scraping today. $19.20 in gaskets means next time I come out over $120 ahead. Wow.
Re-torquing the head nuts was easy. Needed 14 & 15mm sockets, an extension and a torque wrench. The pattern is
6
1 4
3 2
5I set valves clearances a few dozen times for myself and others over the years, primarily with my Oilheads and Hexheads, when they were still set screw/locknut style. My 2015 GS is shim-under-bucket style, so I’m not qualified for that (well… I’ve never done it, at any rate). Anyway, the concept was familiar to me. Loosen the lock nut, turn the adjuster so the feeler gauge fits between the parts with slight resistance when sliding out, hold the adjuster while you tighten the lock nut down. Then repeat 72 times until the clearance stays the same before and after you tighten the lock nut. Instead of one 10mm wrench and a long 3mm allen key like with my 1100s and air/oil-cooled 1200, I needed two 12mm wrenches. I used one with a ratcheting head (very handy) for the lock nut and a short/stubby one for the adjuster because that’s all I had, but that’s going to be what I put in my tool kit for future valve clearance adjustments.
Getting the right side to TDC compression was easy. Bike in 5th gear, bump the rear wheel til “OT” shows in the flywheel viewing port and check the rocker arms. They should both be a little loose when both valves are closed (i.e. TDC on compression). I also discovered you should be able to spin the pushrods, and I think that’s a better indicator of TDC/OT. OT stands for oberer totpunkt, or “top dead point” in German.
The left side, however, was a giant pain in the ass. On the right, both valves were a little tight. No problem. On the left, intake was a little tight, but exhaust was SO TIGHT I couldn’t use the above methods to determine when TDC was. The exhaust valve NEVER got loose at any point in the cycle! I borrowed a viewing scope from James and had to physically watch the piston come up through the spark plug hole. At the right point in the cycle, the intake valve’s rocker arm was loose, but the exhaust’s wasn’t. I just adjusted it, then spun the crank around two full times to TDC and rechecked the clearances. It was fine. I need to pay attention at the next valve check (70,000 miles) to see if this was an anomaly or if a valve seat is failing. That would be bad – and expensive, especially if I run it til it fails.
That’s why it took me almost four hours to re-torque the head nuts and set the valve clearances. Getting footage for videos makes everything take a little longer, but honestly it was all the gasket scraping that slowed me down.
There’s no 100% consensus on what the valve clearances should be. Some people set them at 0.20mm for both intake and exhaust. Others go with 0.10mm for intake and 0.15mm for exhaust. I did 0.15mm for intake and 0.20mm for exhaust.
Well … sort of. While editing the video for the valve clearance adjustment process, I discovered I used the wrong feeler gauge for my intake valves. I used a 0.15 inch one, which is 0.38mm. The proper setting is 0.15mm, or 0.006 inch. WTF, WES!!?? Such a stupid, rookie mistake to make. It probably wouldn’t have wrecked the engine, but it sure wasn’t going to be good to leave the intake valves THAT out of whack for 2,500 miles. Plus can you imagine what the comments on the video would be? “What a dumbass” and worse. I mean, yeah, dumbass, but I figured it out AND fixed it before riding the bike significantly. I think I only rode it over to Mom’s house to put it on the trailer, less than 10 miles. And I did a video segment on making what I think is a really easy mistake to make. I followed up by getting several different multi-gauge units that had fewer gauges in them, to lessen possible confusion. The place I bought the individual gauges from, well, I ordered four single gauges, two each of 0.15mm and 0.20mm, one set for each bike. They sent me two 0.20mm gauges in bags marked 0.15mm, which meant I had to use the multi-gauge tool, thus the mistake. I mean, it’s still my fault, but had I had the correct tool from the get-go, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place. That plus them telling me “Mahle doesn’t make air filters in China” when I was clearly holding a Mahle air filter with “Made in China” stamped on it in my hand while I was on the phone with them … I think I’m done ordering stuff from them for a while.
Back to the timeline. I discovered yesterday when I was putting together my bin of parts & supplies that I only had an oil pan drain crush washer. I had to buy the rest at the parts counter on Tuesday. I got two additional full sets for the next couple of maintenance cycles. I also had to buy four washers for the nuts on the valve covers – I dropped two of the little bastards. I found one when I was cleaning up, but by that time I already had all the new ones in place.
I felt pretty successful until I edited the video, quite sure of myself despite not knowing (yet) I’d made such a colossal error. I didn’t have George right there to lean on, and didn’t need to lean on James though he made a couple of really good suggestions – the razor blade and the Wurth contact cleaner. The valve cover gaskets were a real hurdle and I managed that on my own, though I did benefit from James’ suggestion of the razor blade. I only had to call George twice, not bad. Well, one call and one text.
Because the gaskets took SO LONG, I quit just after 3 PM without having done the air filter or oil pan. I want to check the oil pan for sludge. There was a tiny bit in each valve cover, definitely not enough to worry about, nor was it of the consistency to promote concern. It wiped right out and wasn’t as big as my fingertip. When I get around to the oil pan, I’ll have to remember to check the bolts like George suggested – I don’t want to have to figure out how to helicoil the holes for the oil pan bolts!
I didn’t do the air filter, either. That can wait for 70,000 or the next time I feel like making a video. The fuel tank doesn’t HAVE to come off, but that makes it easier – certainly easier to do, but also easier to make a video.
Taking the bike to Morton’s on the trailer was definitely the right choice. Too much stuff to carry on the bike and of course the valves had to be done cold. I wanted to do the oil pan cold as well, plus now I’ll be able to disconnect and clean the oil pickup and screen – which requires two gaskets to reassemble. Maybe I’ll just replace all those parts, they can’t be that expensive. (lol famous last words)
I dropped the bike at home – finally! – and returned the truck and trailer. When I got there, I realized I didn’t bring my car key, so I unhooked the trailer, drove back home, got my car key and drove back (AGAIN) to Mom’s to leave the truck and get my car. I treated myself to a really good spicy sausage and fontina cheese pizza after such a long day. Stretched that thing out to three meals, including one breakfast!
Kermit is coming tomorrow to put up shelves and the tire rack in the shed. Can’t wait!
