V-tec Valve Adjustment

Can somebody tell me what shops are charging for a valve adjustment on a V-Tec? How many hours of flat rate? Thank you guys.

A lot!

IIRC the shop I took mine to quoted me 2.5 hours. I warned them (twice) that sounded low but they insisted that's what the norm was. I was very happy when they stuck to their labor quote since I know it took them much longer than that. :cool:

I think I've seen shop quotes here on VFRD as high as $600-$800 for the valve check/adjustment. :ohmy:

When are people getting the valve adjustments done? I beleive the book says 12,000 should that be followed to the letter of can you go 15,000 or more?

I just broke 10,000 and am hoping to put it off till fall but just checking what others are doing.

I'm up to 24,000 miles with no check.

Honestly, I'll probably never go for a check/adj unless I sense a problem.

Gotta love a Honda.

Let's see...BR has never had a valve check done and he is way past the 16k mile mark on one of his VFR's. And I think the check interval is 16k miles? The PO of my VFR had the valves checked at 20k miles and I have not had them checked since and I am at 42k miles now.

Should you get them checked? Sure. It's your bike and piece of mind is worth the price. But do you need to? That's a matter of great debate depending on who you talk to.

[image: View Post]jayazusa, on Mar 10 2009, 11:33 AM, said:

When are people getting the valve adjustments done? I beleive the book says 12,000 should that be followed to the letter of can you go 15,000 or more?

I just broke 10,000 and am hoping to put it off till fall but just checking what others are doing.

I thought the book said 16k, but BaileyRock's signature says:

Quote

66,000 miles(no Valve check yet)

I was just talking to the service manager of my local dealer about this the other night.

Flat I believe he said was 5 or 6 hours + adjustments if required.

He also said that of all the bikes they did last year, only one bike was out enough to require a shim, and that was only on one of it's VTEC valves...

[image: View Post]magicman, on Mar 10 2009, 02:29 PM, said:

I was just talking to the service manager of my local dealer about this the other night.

Flat I believe he said was 5 or 6 hours + adjustments if required.

He also said that of all the bikes they did last year, only one bike was out enough to require a shim, and that was only on one of it's VTEC valves...

This is good to know, but you're missing a vital piece of information... One out of how many?

Personally, I am too cheap to pay for this work unless there is an indication of an issue.

I wouldn't have had mine done when I did except for the low price they quoted and stuck to. I was at 18,665 miles at the time and had taken the bike in for some routine maintenance work. I asked about the valve check, got the low price quote and said OK, do it. Otherwise I probably would have waited another year. But peace of mind is a good thing.

Having said that, however, I'm not sure I'll ever have it done again. It seems extremely rare for any of the valves to be very far out of spec.


BTW, all my valves were within spec when it was done.

I haven't come across a v-tech that hasn't needed adjustment. Now the fifth gens are another story.
Mileage Interval VFR800/A
600 Mile Service 1.1
4,000 Mile Service 0.4
8,000 Mile Service 2.7
12,000 Mile Service 1.6
16,000 Mile Service 5.3
20,000 Mile Service 0.4
24,000 Mile Service 4.1
per the honda IN

I saw a sign in a Honda dealeship in Vallejo CA last weekend calling out for $90/hour for mechanic's flat rates.
If the VTEC adjustment takes about six hours, you are looking at at least 600 bucks after taxes plus parts.....somewhere in Nothern CA....

Beck
95 VFR

$600 is ridiculous. I'm going to go BR's route. I'll just ride it and won't bother with a valve check, find another motor, sit it in the corner of my garage, if I have a problem swap the motors out.

I'm currently at 24k miles with no problems and I was thinking about having it done at 32k miles... Each to their own, there doesn't seem to be a unanimous opinion on this topic so if the money isn't an issue and it would help with your peace of mind I would just go ahead and do it :fing02:

[image: View Post]Rice, on Mar 10 2009, 02:54 PM, said:

[image: View Post]magicman, on Mar 10 2009, 02:29 PM, said:

I was just talking to the service manager of my local dealer about this the other night.

Flat I believe he said was 5 or 6 hours + adjustments if required.

He also said that of all the bikes they did last year, only one bike was out enough to require a shim, and that was only on one of it's VTEC valves...

This is good to know, but you're missing a vital piece of information... One out of how many?

Personally, I am too cheap to pay for this work unless there is an indication of an issue.

I think he said 6 bikes. I guess nobody else bothered! :laugh:

45k miles with no valve check and I am a honda tech. I think I will do it next winter just to replace the valva cover gaskets and such.

70k miles 2 valve checks. No valves needed adjustment. Saved $800-$1200 skipping 2 scheduled adjustments. Could have saved $1600-$2400 by skipping all 4. VTEC engines sell on Ebay for $400. No demand they don't blow up as fast as bikes get totaled. Conclusion here is no more valve checks. The cost benefit just does not pencil.

[image: View Post]soichiro, on Mar 10 2009, 06:18 PM, said:

45k miles with no valve check and I am a honda tech.


SLACKER! ;p I figured you would have wanted to do it just to get in there & check out how it goes together.

(Like the fork re-springing/valving around the end of the month?...... ;) )

I've been thinking about this for a bit. My 5th gen just hit 24,000 with no check. What are the warning signs that one of the valves is out of spec?

Well, admittedly because I am very unmechanical, I have had mine checked in accordance with the book (every 24,000km) and I am pretty sure that it was adjusted every time (usually number 2 from memory) At about 46,000km it had something in there replaced (I forget what, a shim perhaps?). I've now done close to 88,000km and I fully intend to have it checked again at 96,000km, again as the manual says.
I guess that makes a minority here, at least in comparison to the other posters here.

I don't remember noticing any differences either before or after any adjustment.

How much? A major service usually sets me back around AUD$800-$900. Not including any other parts that get replaced (tyres, chains etc)

I'm at 46,000km and have not done a check yet. Bike feels just as good as day one, i've got enought know how to do it myself and may think about it some rainy weekend this summer (last year every weekend was a rainy one)

Can't take it to Honda, all the local dealers have been shut down for Honda Canada's new Power House dealers, most of the service techs are noobs or car guys "Factory retrained" bike guys now :huh:

[image: View Post]dweese, on Mar 11 2009, 05:58 AM, said:

most of the service techs are noobs or car guys "Factory retrained" bike guys now :huh:
That's my #1 reason for not "having it done." I see kids barely out of high school doing all the work and it makes me nervous to trust my complicated VFR VTEC to someone with his pants hanging off half his arse. Seriously...if you don't know how to put on pants what makes you think I will trust you with my bike? :blink:

Waste of money IMO, especially at a Dealer. If your worried about it check it yourself or find a member to help. You can buy a bunch of nice tools for the dealer charge for the service and I bet half the Dealers either don't do the work and claim they did or don't know how. ;p

I sure would Not worry about a 1st adjustment until over 32k myself.

Did anyone answer Trinith's question about what the warning signs of a valve being out of spec? I was wondering the same thing myself...
Thanks!

the warning sides depend on loose or tight.
Loose: loud ticking noise.
tight: no noise... start getting some power issues in there somewhere.
ON interference motors (not to sure if the vfr is or not...assume yes), you can get valve to piston contact and destroy stuff. But that is a very bad, worse case, doubt it will ever happen to you scenario.

To do it yourself, takes a 6 pack of beer, 2-4 band aids (paper towl and duct tape), honda stopper pins (or if you are cheap, some BBs), a few wrenches, sockets, torque wrench (calibrated wrist and elbow), service manual (this website), flash light, magnet, feeler gauges, micrometer (or you can read the number off of the shim/bucket), towels, pen, and paper.

All of that can be purchased for less then the shop doing it for you... and save time in the process. See the shop takes 8 hours plus 3 days to get to it, plus 2-3 days shipping on shims if needed. You take 12 hours the first time plus 2 days for shipping on shims if needed. Then you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself, and knowing it was done!


... or if you are in atlanta i'll do it for half of what the dealers charge...heheh

[image: View Post]Trinith, on Mar 11 2009, 02:27 AM, said:

I've been thinking about this for a bit. My 5th gen just hit 24,000 with no check. What are the warning signs that one of the valves is out of spec?

I would never bother to check a 5th gen period! :cool:

Most times the valve clearance gets tighter/smaller, this is from the valve beating itself deeper & deeper into the valve seat reducing the clearance gap. At some point if this continued you would end up with No clearance at which time the valve would not seat completely. If it hangs open long you will burn a valve.
Slight loss of power and or rough idle could be common symptoms.

For a valve clearance to grow/increase you have to have wear of the cam lobe or lifter surface, this is not as common on our Shim & bucket set-ups. :blush:
Ticking noise as symptom.

Unless you hear something different in the tone of the engine, don't bother.

It's not a Ducrappy, oos, Ducati

[image: View Post]jayazusa, on Mar 10 2009, 10:33 AM, said:

When are people getting the valve adjustments done? I beleive the book says 12,000 should that be followed to the letter of can you go 15,000 or more?

I just broke 10,000 and am hoping to put it off till fall but just checking what others are doing.


I'm over 56,000 mile no check, works just like the day I bought it

Book says 16,000 first check, most arent finding a big need till 30,000. I have no idea where mine are, my bike has also been routinally exposed to Leaded Race fuel