[steve.smith]

My dl1000 seems to be sluggish and noisier than normal. This summer I've noticed it regularly gets to 3 bars on the temp gauge even though last summer it never did. Correlation - who knows?

I got 17,000 miles. Its time for an oil change. i've done before. I need to change the chain and sprockets. I've done that on my old royal enfield. I need to change the rear brake pads. Not too worried there. Then there is the issue of checking valve clearances. I have read many posts on the subject but really seem lost. I am a big picture learner. I understand that basically the valves allow combustion precursors (and products) to enter and leave the combustion chamber. That is where my understanding ends. I have read about "shim kits," "lining up things with other things," "torque wrenches," etc. I don't own a torque wrench or a "shim kit."

Can anyone point me to any resource that not only directs how to check and adjust valves, but one that is written for a mechanical dummy? I'd like to be able to understand why I am lining up this part whose name I have never heard with the other part whose name I have never heard. Maybe I'm asking too much. But you never know unless you ask. Thanks in advance.

 

[greywolf]

Engine valves adjustment: Can you help me understand the procedure?

Black Lab has a good thread on the 650 here but the 1000 is kinda different, easier actually. You don't have to take the cam chain off on the 1000.

 

[Voluhzia-Strom]

Valve clearance check and shim replacement procedures are in Service Manual. Everything is written there pretty clearly... You're gonna need feeler gauges, and shim kit. Ask your local dealer if they have variety of them and can sell you individually. A set may cost up to $70...

V-Strom Riders International Group is also very technical resource...

 

[honest bob]

Just my honest opinion Steve, but having read your post I gather that you are not too mechanically experienced with the bike. I would highly recommend you look for someone who is putting on a "wrenching day" specifically for valve checks on the DL1000. You could ask for this kind of help on this forum. As you say there is nothing like the "big picture". Or ask your local shop if you could kibitz while they do a check. Most mechanics charge a little more if you watch, justifiably.
The very first thing/tool you need is the shop manual for your bike. Cheap at twice the price:fineprint: If you can't figure out what is going on from the manual, then see the second sentence in this post.:yesnod:
At 17,000m I would be surprised if you would have to change a shim (adjust a valve lash) but it is always good to be sure, and it serves as a benchmark for the next check. The symptoms you describe, "noisy" could be the typical noises that seem to eventually haunt the 1000 and never do any harm, unless it's the "clutch judder", & the slight increase in temp . Sluggishness would have to be defined a little more to get some input from the forum, but I doubt you would notice it as a symptom of incorrect valve lash, until most of the valves were off. Keep us posted anyway.

 

[richw]

Frankly I think you are a little shy of the ability to do a valve adjustment.

Look carefully and maybe try an oil change 1st by yourself.

As a minimum get soemone with the tools etc. to do it with you. If you truly F up a valve adjustment you could ruin your engine

 

[Lrobby99]

The instructions for a valve adjust have convinced me to have it done. Only 12,000 miles now, so thinking next year. At a top notch motorcycle dealer, is this about $300?

 

[steve.smith]

The "slugishness" is better described as a lessening of responsiveness to the throttle. It seems that acceleration per a given amount of time is less. The last time it felt this way was before I changed the air filter.

As for noise, after I tightened up the rattle from the Givi crash bar junction in front of the radiator when I first got the bike, it has been as quiet as a church mouse. I like quiet. The noise it makes now emanates from the engine (another from the chain). It is proportional to RPMs and it is almost but not quite nonexistent when setting at idle. It is reminiscent of the loose tappet sound my old single cylinder bike would make but more substantial - of course there's an extra cylinder with more valves on the Vee. Its a sewing machine kind of sound.

Don't get me wrong. The sound isn't so bad that I am concerned about continuing to drive it. It just seems worrisome that the sound, the slightly higher operating temp and the slight loss of power seems to have coincided. Maybe the temp increase came a little in advance of the other two. I'm in Chattanooga and we have had one hell of a summer.

The transmission seems to shift a little heavier, especially when cold. There is a pronounced clank with a general jolt of the entire bike when I first shift from neutral to first after cranking the bike in the morning. It gets much better in just a short while (less than a minute with no shift being worse than the first), but even at its best (unlike for my first 10,000 miles) I notice it.

The spark plugs are likely original. I imagine while i replace them I should pay attention to other things while the tank is off. I just read about throttle valve synchronization. I guess it is time for that too.

The only comparable experience I have is I adjusted the tappets and replaced a bent push rod on my old single cylinder Royal Enfield. I just followed instructions in the service manual. I fix my own lawn mowers, tiller, washing machine, former '67 Camaro, etc., simple mechanical stuff.

I am pretty good at following instructions. I would like to have more of an understanding of this machine than that though. I guess that will come with experience.

Compared to the general public I am mechanically adept. Compared to many on this forum, not so much. The service manual (for the throttle valve sync) calls for a vacuum balancer gauge and a tachometer. Any advice on where to find those? Are those just generic tools I can find at Autozone? What about a torque wrench? I read there are wrenches with different ranges of torque measurement. Do I need more than one?

This motorcycle has been my daily driver for a year (winter included). Until my wife starts back to work in two more years I hope it can carry me a little further. I don't mind spending a thousand dollars on tools or even a technical class at a trade school. I just don't like the idea of paying a mechanic to do things I could learn to do myself. In short I've got more time than money. Also I generally like doing things for myself. I'm no carpenter but I built an addition onto my house for the mom-in-law. Heck I even reload my own ammo. While I don't see myself boring out a cylinder any time soon, I think maintaining a motorcycle ought to be a skill I can acquire.

I really do appreciate this forum. It has helped me more than once. As such, here is one last set of questions -

I am going to change the oil (many times on other engines, once on my Vee), inspect/change the air filter (again once on my Vee), inspect the valves (first time), check the throttle valve sync (first time), change spark plugs (many times on other engines but there are more than two on a Vee?), I guess change the coolant as a function of moving the radiator around (first time), change the rear rotor and brake pads (many times on various cars first time on Vee), change the chain and both sprockets (once on old Royal Enfield never on my Vee), and check/change the front brake pads (again many times on other things, first on the Vee). Any thing else while I got the thing torn apart? Any logical ordering of these tasks? It seems like two different operations - one drive train/braking related and the other engine related.

P.S. one more symptom/fix - (you never can tell what minute piece of evidence a doctor might find helpful): I recently increased the throttle to 1300 rpms. I shot for 1200 but I guess I missed. The Vee was occasionally stalling when downshifting to come to a stop. I could keep it running by keeping the throttle up a little and not downshifting. The higher throttle setting was a fix but I guess there must be a reason that the throttle fell and needed to be adjusted. Now it misses only ever so rarely (never stalls) and it doesn't coincide with decelerating. I think it it a spark plug issue.

Any more words of wisdom would be appreciated. Also anybody that lives within a short drive of Chattanooga (or who might just want to have an excuse for a road trip) who would trade mechanical mentorship for a couple free beers and/or a big yard in which to pitch a tent) would also be appreciated.

Again, thanks in advance.

 

[steve.smith]

Of course I know there is a tachometer on the instrument panel. It seems there is a call for a second tachometer that the manual t says "to hook up." I'm not quite sure where to hook up a second tachometer. Maybe the trade school class isn;t such a bad idea.

 

[xDownSetx]

change spark plugs (many times on other engines but there are more than two on a Vee?

Only 2 for the 1000. 2007 and up DL650's have 4 plugs.

 

[richw]

Oil Change with filter.. we like rotella

Iridium plugs then forget

TBS and TPS

Can of seafoam

TBS requires a manometer for sale at most MC catalog shop like Chapparral

If your clever you can just substitute 2 vacuum guages with a small orfice as a damper

 

[sfoster73]

My dl1000 seems to be sluggish and noisier than normal. This summer I've noticed it regularly gets to 3 bars on the temp gauge even though last summer it never did. Correlation - who knows?

Doubt it. Mine has been doing the same. Riding faster seems to solve the problem. :mrgreen:

 

[Scott E. Bonds]

I have worked on enough engines that I dream about the better ones. I still am paranoid with valves and triple check my work every time.

To those that may be intimidated by this I suggest you just only "check" your valves the first time. To do this you will perform 90% of the work but leave out the 10% that is complicated for the first timer, the actual resetting of clearances if required.

By this I mean pull the tank and plastics. Remove the valve covers. Set TDC for each cylinder and meassure the clearance (or lash in mechanic speak). Record each valves measurement for future reference and to "predict" when it should be checked again. If you do not readjust you should not mess anything up too badly.

Tight valves are much worse than loose valves as they will not seat into the head and perfomance will suffer as well as you risk burning a valve or seat. Shims are required to reset any lash that is out of spec...these you calculate as to the thickness you need and you will buy them from a dealer.

But, if all is in spec...and likely it will be, just put new gaskets on and button her back up...give her a big kiss for not needing adjusting...and motor on with your new found knowledge and confidence. If they are out of spec, you can take the bike in dissassembled to some shops and you will save some labor, others will want the bike back together...but don't bother replacing any gaskets as they will do it.

Vstrom shim type valves require little adjusting after intial break in.

 

[honest bob]

Of course I know there is a tachometer on the instrument panel. It seems there is a call for a second tachometer that the manual t says "to hook up." I'm not quite sure where to hook up a second tachometer. Maybe the trade school class isn;t such a bad idea.

The second tach is required for accuracy. Looking at your second last post I would say that you should try the valve check yourself. It would be a bonus if you could attend a wrench day but I think you just need to study the link that greywolf gave you and get a service manual.
The heavy shifting will probably clear up with an oil change. By the way, how long since the oil was changed?
Sparkplugs are easy, but tedious. Tip; Use compressed air to blow any loose particles out of the tunnels before you remove the plugs, and if it has drain holes in the heads to let water out of the tunnels, clean out the drains and blow them out too. Use the new torque wrench to put them back in or you may be asking how to set a Helicoil:headbang:
Buy good torque wrenches and calibrate them before each use and store them at the lowest torque setting.:yesnod:

 

[Scott E. Bonds]

Bob, how are you calibrating your T wrenches?

 

[honest bob]

Bob, how are you calibrating your T wrenches?

Us old wrenches have our secrets.:green_lol: It's something I figured out after I got 4 wrenches. Two of them that are the old style where you are bending the bar, and an indicating needle that stays unaffected by the torque, slides over a scale to indicate the torque. Two of them are the ratchet at torque set type. The old ones are not to accurate but they are consistent. The new ones are not to consistent, but they are quite accurate long enough to use them on a project. You can probably guess what's coming. A female to female 1/2" or 3/8" adapter allows me to check the ratchet guys against the oldschoolers. When the ratchets are calibrated (or new) check them against the old guys and record the reading that they release at (on the old guys) in several places over their range and then you have a benchmark. If they go out of whack I take them to McCann Equipment in Toronto or just return them to Mastercraft:jawdrop::green_lol:

 

[greywolf]

It's also fun to check two clickers against each other and apply just a bit more pressure to hear a double click.

 

[PTRider]

Shims are required to reset any lash that is out of spec...these you calculate as to the thickness you need and you will buy them from a dealer.

The shims are identified and marked for their thickness in millimeters. If your clearance is 0.10 mm too tight for example, you need a shim that is 0.10 mm less that what is marked (or measures) in the present shim. By the way, the 1000 and the 650 use different shims. The old gaskets usually work fine, maybe with some RTV silicone gasket sealant on the half-moon areas. Look very closely to check that the gaskets are in the groove and don't get pinched.

Great idea about blowing dirt out of the spark plug recess before removing the plugs.

 

[honest bob]

It's also fun to check two clickers against each other and apply just a bit more pressure to hear a double click.

Would that be a torque wrench "arm wrestle"?:green_lol: Could be a new sport. :yesnod:Could be another excuse to get out of the house. "I'll be out for a couple hours dear, I have to get my torque wrench calibrated over at Ed's place".:thumbup:

 

[steve.smith]

Alright. Parts came in. Changed the oil, rear brakes and rotor, chain and both sprockets. Easy-peezy. Didn't need front brakes after all. Had to grind off about 8 links of the chain. The master link that came with it didn't have a clip even though the directions mentioned a clip. There were no indentations in the prongs of the of the link where they were proud for a clip to go. It appeared the link was machined with a very close tolerance. I used a pair of vise grips to push the link together and then knocked it home with a punch. The chain didn't fly apart on the test drive. So far so good. Maybe next week I'll replace the plugs and check the valves. Maybe I won't. The noise I thought was coming from the engine was the chain. I guess it was making a sound at both sprockets. The Vee still seems a bit sluggish but its not bad enough to take off the tank. I think I'll wait until its time to replace the air filter again. Heck, maybe i'll just leave off all the plastic so it would be easier to maintain.

 

[xDownSetx]

It's a rivet master link. You need a chain rivet tool to press the plates together(sounds like you managed that) and then press the pins so they expand and lock the link together. I wouldn't ride on it until you get the link riveted.

I used this guide since I couldn't afford a proper tool and I needed it done asap. I picked up a proper link press tool so I could get the link together evenly though, they are only $10.
http://www.kawiforums.com/how-tos-faqs/121549-diy-chain-rivet-tool.html