First Time Valve Adjustment - any special hints or tips? By sillylittleboy (Read 503 times)

[sillylittleboy]

Okay, I did just about ALL of the PDI I could do when I first got my new Chinese scooter... except for one thing - a valve adjustment.  I didn't have a feeler gauge at that time, but I had read enough about this adjustment to learn that it was pretty much a "must do" before too long.

I've got several videos and some PDF's on doing the adjustment AND I've got all the right tools (very important), so I'm pretty confident this won't be too challenging.

I'll be heading out to tackle the task in about an hour, so thought I'd post a quick one here to see if there's anything important that I should know or anything important I should be looking at or doing.  I'll check here real quick before I head out, just in case there's some words of experience that might be useful.

Hopefully it won't be something like, "No... WAIT... STOP, you have to ______ before you ______ edy ______  ________ and ________ it all up."  Which with my luck I'll catch AFTER I've dove in head first and already _______ it all up.

[jct842]

Once you have done it a couple times you will be a pro. I did have to go out a buy a 9mm wrench as my 2 sets of combinations do not include that size. Not sure all 150cc engines rocker arm lock nus are 9mm but mine was.

The worst part of mine was removal of the damn plastic.

[rks]

I lucky that I can get to my intake be removing just the seat bucket, and the exhaust after taking off the skid plate (splash guard) beneath my fuel tank.

1....Make sure your at TDC on the compression stroke
2....Don't over, or under tighten the retaining nuts on the adjusters
3....Make sure your engine ground wire/strap is reattached when you put the cover back on

[sillylittleboy]

Well, I got a bit side-tracked and didn't quite get around to doing the valve adjustment, but it turned out to be a good night for me and my scooter... sort of...

I first got a bit side-tracked watching and reading some great HOW TO threads. The one on how to fix/weld plastic body parts using zip ties as plastic fill-in = AWESOME! Had to watch and read a few of the valve adjustment videos and PDF's. After that I headed outside to take a look.

I'd previously stripped the scoot of all of it's plastic, so that I could reach areas needing attention (front triple-tree and bearings) and replace a couple body panels that had been severely cracked or shattered. I noticed that I still had one more part to put back on my scooter - the front fender.

Everything appears to be working like new again with the exception being that the speedometer isn't working at all. When I went to put the speedometer gear/reader (thingyh) (part attached on front axle to right side of front wheel with a cable that runs up to the gauge on the instrument panel) I wasn't getting ANY signal or reading on the speedometer from the front wheel, because of an adapter ring that links that "thingy" with the front wheel came up missing. I looked at every parts website for JUST that part and could not find it anywhere (surprising), except for WITH that whole front wheel assembly, which I found for as low as like $10-$15. I hadn't ordered that part yet, because... well, it's not like the speedometer was a real valuable tool at my disposal, because it was NOT EVEN CLOSE with the readings it was giving me (fix for that coming soon).

Well... after I re-installed the front fender I looked down on the ground and there it was... the adapter part I needed for the speedo. Woo Hoo! I'm going to modify the display panel on the speedometer gauge to match ACTUAL speed measured via side-by-side road driving with a vehicle that has an accurate speedometer.

Ah... but there's just ONE more little thing that just wasn't quite right with the engine. That's why I thought I'd do this valve adjustment. Not because it would fix it, but because it'll eliminate that as being a cause of something that is the cause of this issue. Yesterday after I rode home from work and pulled into my parking lot, the engine all of a sudden got pretty loud with much sharper sounding pops. I started up the engine and tried to listen to it to determine the source or general area from whence came the loudness.

I suppose if I'd put in a little common sense deducement, then the blatantly obvious answer would be the correct one - muffler/exhaust assembly not seated properly.

My muffler/exhaust had come loose from the mounting bracket and bolt (note to self: buy a gallon of locktite and apply generously to every circular object with helical windings around it.) It appears that a side mounting bolt is just... gone. It's where a bracket piece (part of the thin pipe portion of the exhaust) would attach to the side of the scooter and it's about half-way along that thin pipe portion of the exhaust assembly. And then in the back the muffler part of the assembly mounts to a bracket that appears to have broken or snapped.

It was a rather productive evening for me and my scooter. While I do have an issue needing resolved, at least I know what is the problem and I know what will be the solution. Now I just have to figure out how to get from A (problem) to B (solution).

I will post this in a more technical board/thread to try and learn what went wrong and "what the heck" is actually happening on the under-side of that engine, where the exhaust connects?

[sillylittleboy]

Oh... and thanks for the excellent tips on the valve adjustment. I'll be getting to it once my exhaust issue is resolved.

I'm definitely with you, rks on making sure at TDC on the compression stroke (and that it stays there) before adjusting. I'm hoping my engine has the little opening with the markings AND has the two lines that I can just line up parallel with the sides of the valve housing.

[cyborg]

Get yourself a set of motion pro valve adjustment tools ,,, very inexpensive and make valve adjustments a snap