• 4 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
     TE = 4st Enduro & TC = 4st Cross

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

Valves out of spec question..

H

henson802

Husqvarna
AA Class
Just a general question regarding Valves and when they become out of spec - will it affect your bikes' idle?

What are some tell-tale signs?

I know it's useful to check and all, but honestly, I don't have the tools/knowledge/time to do it.. I would like to eventually learn but is there any other obvious symptoms to look for?

My bike takes a few kicks to turn over when cold but once it does, it idles strong and bike runs great. I'm thinking it's a spark plug issue which I will look over the weekend.

But what do Valves affect?
 
Usually the first sign that they need adjusting is when the bike becomes more difficult to start. If it's always started immediately and then gradually takes a few more turns then a few more ..... it's a sign that they are possibly in need of adjustment. It's not something you want to live with as it will cause damage to valves, valve seats, cams in the future. Checking the clearance can be done quite easily and at no cost, changing the shims isn't a hard job but does require a bit of knowledge and mechanical know-how but nothing that a complete novice couldn't learn if taught by a competent person. Only special tool you'll need is a micrometer.
I mechanic would be able to complete the check in around half an hour then if new shims are needed another half hour to fit them so it's not going to cost the earth and could save you far more in the long run.
 
Yeah easier said then done. I'm not familar with anything mechanical, takes me a leisurely hour to change oil/filter/air filter.... so to learn to check valves, find proper equipment/tools, what needs to be taken off bike, how to take the measurements, know at what point need to be shimmed, etc. yada yada yada - it's a process... I want to learn but don't have anyone in person to show me. Plus my time is very limited between two jobs/wife/and actual riding. Deciphering any work manual is a job in itself. Considering these measurements are .05 or whatever, seems like there isn't a lot of room for error for a newbie to make without proper hands-on guidance.

I bought a used bike and it has always taken a few kicks to get er going when cold. And less if it's warmed up... But once it turns over, it idles strong and runs strong. So wasn't sure if this is a Valve issue or spark plug, or something else.

If anyone has had valves that needed to be adjusted, were there any symptoms like weak idle?

Thanks for the input
 
Henson,
It's not a difficult job to undertake but will take about an hour to get the gas tank off and get where you have access. You would need an 8mm and 10 mm socket. Plus a feeler gauge. Ioneater has a good thread on how to do it. I checked mine because I haven't been able to start the bike for a month (very hot weather in Texas). If you really don't have the time then you should just take it to a dealer if you have a local Husky dealer. Probably any bike shop could do the same thing if you gave them the manual. I have heard it will affect starting but as Henson notes it's good to check it anyway so no damage occurs.
 
I know Valves affect starting, but that seems kind of broad - if you are using electric start then obviously battery could affect that as well.. or a spark plug either method you use..

I guess I will just have a shop look over the top end, I just wish there was more of a tell tale sign that it's definitely valves need to be shimmed. It's easy for mechanically inclined people to say it's an easy job, but for someone who rarely uses any type of tools - it's a bit more difficult and time consuming. And having the measurements aligned correctly and what to be measuring is another set of knowledge I do not have.

Anyways, appreciate the input. I just don't know if it's the Valves cause it may take a few kicks when cold but once it's warmed up, it'll kick over in one or two tries. Seems like that's more spark plug then valves - but I don't know hence the question :thumbsup:
 
henson802 said:
I know Valves affect starting, but that seems kind of broad - if you are using electric start then obviously battery could affect that as well.. or a spark plug either method you use..

I guess I will just have a shop look over the top end, I just wish there was more of a tell tale sign that it's definitely valves need to be shimmed. It's easy for mechanically inclined people to say it's an easy job, but for someone who rarely uses any type of tools - it's a bit more difficult and time consuming. And having the measurements aligned correctly and what to be measuring is another set of knowledge I do not have.

Anyways, appreciate the input. I just don't know if it's the Valves cause it may take a few kicks when cold but once it's warmed up, it'll kick over in one or two tries. Seems like that's more spark plug then valves - but I don't know hence the question :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Sounds normal to me.
 
A spark plug is much cheaper and faster to swap out. Spark gap and condition of the electrode have lots to do with how well a cold engine starts.
 
Typically, if it starts easy cold and hard to start hot, valve adjustment is a concern, as engine parts get hot,
The metal expands and lessens clearance, not allowing valves to close fully, causing a loss in compression, and
Ease in starting. A cheap set of metric wrenches and sockets from Walmart and an economical set of feeler gauges.
A little study and you can do it. All the tools are cheaper than a shop checking them. If your not comfortable, then
still have it checked. Tight valves, even without symtoms cause unwanted topend wear and less than perfect performance.
 
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