Hello!
Could you give me some advice how to do valve adjustment by myself?
Some pictures would be great help!

 

If you've never done it before, I wouldn't recommend trying it by yourself unless you have someone there w/ you to help. If not, definetly get your hands on a OEM service manual. They are a little more money than an aftermarket one but ten times better. The manual will show you how to adjust the valves and give you the proper specs. Adjusting the valves requires removal of the fuel tank and the plastic protector underneath the tank. You need to turn over the motor by hand to get the piston on top dead center on the compression stroke. With the valve covers and spark plug removed, use the recoil and slowly spin the motor. Watch the valves open and close, first the exhaust valve, then the intake. When the intake valve closes, remove the inspection cover on the right hand side just in front of the recoil, it will require a 6mm allen wrench. W/ a flashlight, continue turning motor until you see a line w/ a "T", first you'll see two seperate lines, then a line w/ an 'F' and then the line w/ the 'T'. This is top dead center. You should be able to move the rocker arms back and forth a little, if not you need to spin the motor over 360 degrees. Spec on intake valve is 0.006", exhaust 0.009". This is not a hard job but takes me about half hour to 45 minutes start to finish, depending on machine. If you have some mechanical skill and can use feeler gauges, you should be able to do this yourself. Hope this helps.

 

You can do the valve adjustment without removing anything but the rocker covers. Follow previous message regarding piston TDC on Compression stroke and set the valves. He is right a Honda manual is a must.

 

I don't recommend adjusting the valves w/out removing the fuel tank and related parts. By just removing the valve covers, you are putting the feeler gauge at an incorrect postion to get an accurrate measuremnt on the exhaust valves. I've tried doing it this way to save time, but I've found that the measurement isn't the same as doing it correctly. For what a customer pays for service, I feel guilty if I'm not doing my job, and that is making sure valve adjustments are being done correctly.

 

I couldn't agree more. I am about to adjust mine for the 7th time. The first time (at 100 miles) I tried cheating by not removing the gas tank, but it didn't work.

Buy the shop manual and follow the procedures. When Honda refers to a "cold" engine, that means it's temperature is below 100 degrees F.

 

Thank you Specta, I forgot to mention the cold engine part in my first post of this topic. Nice to know someone can pick up the slack when I miss something.

 

Not sure where you are looking. Are you looking in the spark plug hole?

I am new to this. Just got my manual for my 05 400 AT.
It describes finding top dead center TDC by removing the timing hole cap from the right side of the alternator cover. Rotate crankshaft by using recoil starter and align "T" mark on the flywheel with the index mark on alternator cover. Make sure the piston is at the TDC on the compression stroke. This position can be obtained by confirming there is slack in the rocker arm. If there is no slack, it is because the piston is moving through the exhuast stroke to TDC. Rotate the crankshaft one full turn and match up the "T" mark again.

This sound different. Any comments before I proceed would be appreciated. Thanx.

 

Both ways are correct, just a different way of saying it. I'm not looking in the spark plug hole, you didn't quote where I said to look in the inspection (or timing) hole just in front of the recoil. On the 400 AT, the timing marks are not very easy to see. On every other model, the "T" mark on the flywheel practically jumps at you but not on the 400 AT. On your machine its almost easier to watch the rocker arms move and watch the piston thru the spark plug hole. W/ the valve covers off, rotate the engine w/ the recoil. Watch the exhaust valve open and close then watch the intake do the same. As soon as the intake valve closes, watch the piston thru the spark plug hole (I have a bend-a-lite pen light, best $20 I ever spent on a tool). When the piston stops moving up, your at top dead center. Verify by checking the slack in the rocker arms and adjust your valves.

 

Thanks 1998 for the quick responce and info. I'll try it soon.

 

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