Valve adjustment problems

[Jacobruhl]

Hey a friend of mine has a 05 DRZ 400. About 3 months ago he started having a hard time starting it and it was running like crap. He took it to the dealer and they adjusted the valves and that fixed the problem. Now its doing the same thing again. Whats up with the valves on the 400. Does anyone else have this problem?? The dealer said he was getting it to hot and letting it idle!! I think thats BS any how his waranty is up and gone so any help would be great!!!

I have another buddy i ride with and he has a 05 400 motard with like 4000 miles and had no valve problems

[JoelH.]

Well first of all, if the valves got so tight that it affected the way it started than they weren't seating (especialy when its at full temp. and full throttle). When a valve doesn't seat it burns up. Just adjusting the valves after this might improve things for the short term, but the damage is done. The problem stems from the unfortunate fact that the manual claims you don't have to worry about the valves for umpteen thousand miles. This is a problem because it is a hit or miss thing, whether the valves got adjusted right at the factory, and how fast they settle in. Your buddy is going to need some valve work done. I would not send it to the mechanic that told your buddy he was getting it too hot, because obviously he's not too hot. The rule of thumb is to check them soon, and check them often, and you should pass that along to your other buddy with the SM.

[rjsurfer]

Could he be running really lean? did he do the 3x3 and new exhaust without re-jetting?

Ron W.

[10guy]

Once the valves start to move, after the intial breaking in, they tend to keep moving. Seems more often seen on intake side. Still shouldn't be an issue on an 05, but then again my valve split after just over seven months (six month warranty of course ? )

[Jacobruhl]

Could he be running really lean? did he do the 3x3 and new exhaust without re-jetting?

Ron W.

ya i didnt think about that but i seen that he pulled out the baffles in the exaust. I wonder if he is running to lean

[DaveI]

Mine is also hard starting now and starting to run a little rough (10K on it)...Didn't have this before but had the engine apart to replace the gears so maybe things have moved now and tightened up...I ordered a shim kit....