How important is it to have the valves adjusted? I've had the quad about 4 mons. and ride mainly weekends. I've changed the oil & checked bolts for looseness. chain and all that. Haven't noticed any power loss or anything.

 

I think it's very important!!
If your valves get tight enough to where you feel a power loss it may be too late.
If there so tight that they don't close completely you will burn a valve & that's big $$$$.
It doesn't take long to do it yourself so just adjust them every 20 hours & you have one less thing to worry about!

 

IMO you shouldnt need to touch the valves till the bikes got 6000km or 3 years on it.

And you will hear them tick when its time to adjust.

 

I would not agree with that....i think that you should "check" your valves at least at the 20 hr mark. The griz and rap have the same motor and these motors run hot. I have yet to see or hear of ANYONE that has done the valves on schedule NOT adjust them.

Take that for what it is worth...your dime, your time

Jonathan

 

The valves are set and checked by yamaha after it has been tested. When you take delivery of your bike they should be right on. There is no reason that 20hours into running the bike they should be off. And the worst that could happen is that your valves might run out by 1 or 2 thou. Just do it when you start to hear tickin or more noise then normal near the valves.

 

I would not agree with that either. You are going off an assumption that it WAS done at the factory. I'm sure their method of testing is firing it up and rapping the throttle a couple of times, if they even do this at all. However, the motor is still not broke in. Things are changing in the motor during break in, and really each time you ride just not on such a large scale. Checking, and adjusting, the valves is very easy and doesn't take that much time. Certainly worth it avoid burning a valve and wearing the seats prematurely. Neither of which are a simple, cheap fix. Like said before, "your dime, your time". I personally have found that if you don't do it yourself, you don't know that it's done and don't know that it's done right. Spend $50 and get yourself and Yamaha service manual for the machine and you'll be able to do just about everything yourself.

Mar,
Not picking on you, however, the key word in what you wrote is "should". You may want to do yourself, and quad, a favor and check these types of things regularly. This could help save you a fortune in repairs in the future. JMO!

 

Your valves need to be checked and adjusted. I checked All 3 of my Raptors after the break in period and all three were way tight on the intakes and the exhaust were right on. I check them after every dune trip and after every weekend of hard running such as drags. Other than that evry 20 hours or so. The exhaust seem to hold the adjustment but the intakes do change some. It is cheap maintenance and you get to inspect the other parts of the quad at the same time. I have more than once found nuts and bolts loose or missing that I would not have found if I had not had the plastics off adjusting the valves. The OEM manual calls for inspection and Adjust if necessary after one month and every six months after that. If you use your quad a lot you don't want to wait 6 months unless all you do is putt around on it. stebob said it best " things all changing in your engine with time and the dealers set up is to be questioned most of the time". That is why dealers say to bring a new quad back after 20 hours so those adjustments can be made. I will not trust any dealers around me to do most things so I do it myself. The best thing to do is get the manual and do everything you can yourself. You should know as much as you can about your quad so you have a better chance of not getting stuck in the middle of nowhere for simple problems.