my local dealer charges $40 for a valve adjustment. anymore i do it myself. it is not that difficult after you do it once. i don't even own a manual or anything. also, yes adjusting the valves can make a world of difference. i think if you go a little tight, you will gain more lowend. if you go a little loose then you will gain on highend. i am not saying adjust them tight or loose but with the feeler guage you can make them a little snug or a little looser.

 

sorry guys/girls, after i posted i realized i mixed that up. a looser setting(bigger gap) will give a little more lowend. a tighter setting(smaller gap) will give a little more top. i think this may have to do with thermal expansion and temperature also. this is what i was told anyways. sorry for the error!!

 

It cost me $44.00 and he adjusted the valves, adjusted the idle, throttle, and chain.

 

Out here it would cost you $120 to get your valves done...so, like anyone else that doesn't like to throw money around, I started adjusting my valves at home. It's easy. You can have your bike apart, do the valves, and put it back together in about 2 hours (If you're taking your time).

My 400ex ticks...but it's not the valves, it's the cam chain. I'm trying to figure out how to fix this. It only does it when the motor is cold. You hear a "chain slap". I've taken the motor apart and looked at it. Everything looks okay. I think maybe I need to increase my idle speed a bit, because it doesn't tick if I have my thumb just slightly on the throttle.

Anyway......adjust your own valves, it's not much harder than changing your oil.

 

ok then, im going to give it a whirl as soon as it gets warm enough so i can feel my fingers. i'll look in my service manual on how to do it. are there any special tools required to adjust the valves?

 

Hey Chad,

You’re absolutely right about the cam chain. That is other thing my mechanic spoke to me about and fixed. By adjusting my idle and my thumb throttle it solved that issue. He said that when the bike hiccups when the idle is to low you get that chain slap due to the slack of the cam chain when the idle drops. He fixed my idle and I have not heard it since. You’re right about how long it takes. It took him an hour to adjust my valves. Looks like if you know what to do you fly through it.

 

All you need to adjust the valves is a feeler gauge (to check the gap) and a few wrenches. You have to take the tank off etc. to get to the top of the engine. Read the manual, you need to open the port on the side of the engine to check top dead center. Once the tank etc. is off it is a 10 minute procedure. Very easy.

I have the manual. If anyone is interested I could try to scan the pages for the valve adjustment if needed.

 

for a valve ajustment procedure go to www.exriders.com. then go to ex tech. scroll down and you will see D-I-Y valve adjustment. this tells you everything needed as well as the procedure. its a good article. this article is even on a 400ex. what idle are you guys at because mine is ticking also? i lowered my idle quite a bit because mine was high and i had a problem doing some slow trail riding with the bike overheating. i may raise it up a bit.

 

Cals,

The idle is slightly higher than stock. Sorry, I can't tell you exactly. I do know that he did say he adjusted high enough the cam chain would not slap but not high enough to cause problems. I know that's kind of vague, but that's all I got. By the way, That article rocks! It dosen't seem to difficult to adjust. I love Exriders.com. They have alot of great info there.

Good Luck

 

that is actually good enough for me. i will go a little higher than stock and see what happens. and yes i would agree that the article on exriders is good. that is the article i used for adjusting my valves for the first time. it takes the most time removing the plastic and gas tank etc.