[Administrator]

Here you go...

Illustrated Valve Clearance Adjustment for the 2006 Kawasaki EX-500/500R (1.76 mb)

Adobe PDF format, ready to print and enjoy

 

[rainking1978]

Thank you!

 

[luke]

this seriously just made my day. thanks!

 

[Super Sneaky Steve]

That's a really good write up. It makes me wonder why all bikes don't have adjusting screws.

My new bike has a shim under bucket set up. I'm not exactly sure what the advanage of this would be. But I think I need to get new shims and stick them in there somehow.

Anyone know more about this?

 

[jakew129]

yea man i do actually, my brother and i just installed some new "Hot Cams" in his Suzuki DRZ400SM, and his of course has shims under buckets. They are a pain in the ass, because in order to get to them you have to take the cam out, and all that allows for that, then take the bucket out with like a magnet and underneath there u will see a small disc, i.e. the shim, and in order to get the proper clearences you have to decrease the size or increase the size of the shim from which you can choose them from a SHIM KIT, which came with my brother's Hot Cams set.

And you have to keep doing this until the clearences are right, so measure everything before hand as far as clearences, and then add or subtract thickness accordingly.

 

[fog]

The reason your Ex has Adjuster screws is the designers used rocker arms. Since this method is not a reliable as Shim under buckets the adjustment must be made more frequently. Why they did that is anybody's guess. Usually it's because of a single cam to do both intake and exhaust. Since the EX has two cams it's a bit of a puzzle.
I can only assume that it was a cost thing,(shim under Buckets are more costly to manufacture) or a space thing (SUB are taller and make the engine taller).

But The Shim under bucket system is far superior from a point of view of performance ( it's the lightest ) and reliability ( no adjustments to go off). There is a shim over bucket system too, where the shim sits atop the bucket in a recess. These can be changed with out removing the cams, by just depressing the spring and fishing out the shim. Downside here is the shims can come out if you float the valves (overrev).

Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice
FOG

 

[render]

Thanks for reposting. I was hoping that this write-up wouldn't be gone because it was so well done. I was thinking I probably should do this because I've put 10,000 miles without any adjustment. Is there really any way of knowing when it is time to readjust the valves? My bike runs great but was wondering how you know when you need to do this?

 

[fog]

You check them.

FOG

 

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I want to buy an EX250 as my next bike. Is the procedure the same on the little twin?

 

[MaximX]

Something very important was left out of the writeup. The crankcase breather (not the thermostat, like the writer believes) - which I believe is called something like an air valve in the manual - has two tiny and short tubes that go in between the head cover and the head. Be sure that these stay in the head or they may fall out of the head cover down into the engine!

I was doing my valve clearances yesterday and this tiny piece fell down into the timing chain gallery. Luckily I noticed it and plucked it out. If I had not noticed it, it would have trashed the timing chain / gears.

 

[ozhirsty]

What a great help - Tony Reyes - A BIG thank you.[/color] ;D
Just purchase an '06 (Lime) with only 540 miles. Doing first service.
I also have an '04 r1150r and doing valves is a breeze on that.
Back to Tony's info. Spent 1 hour last night..(just signed on yesterday) and am as far as #11.
Did note that on #6 no mention of the 2 forward tubes under tank near Rt T/Tree. This was obvious though.
The info on this site is just amazing.
Friend has an '04 ex250 and info on Ninja 250 forum great too.
Will be doing all service on that as well.
Thanks to you all.

Alan, Cypress, CA
'06 ex500 600 mls - my new commuter bike. Just love it,
'04 BMW r1150r 33,000 mls
'04 M-G 750 Breva 18,000 mls.
'

 

[a.lee.hagen]

When doing this service are there any gaskets that I need to worry about replacing?

 

[fog]

no

 

[antrey]

Hi, this is Tony Reyes. Thanks to Wikipedia I found this site. I was quite upset when ex500 riders died and didn't realize another ex500 site had sprung up. I'm glad to see my valve clearance guide survived. Thanks to whoever put it together! This is my first post here, but I hope to become more active and maybe produce a few more maintenance guides. My 7500 mile maintenance is coming up next weekend.

 

[damarble]

I just adjusted my valves last night following this guide to the letter, except where you rotate the crank to the "F" position. To get the cam and lobes to the position described, I couldn't use "F". Is that OK? I made sure the dot on the cam was in the same place as the guide showed, with the lobes facing upward. I'll start it tonight when I get home so if I did it wrong please somebody warn me now.

 

[fog]

your fine.

FOG

 

[damarble]

Thanks FOG.

Those valves were as tight as a.... well you finish the thought, let's just say they were way out of spec. Runs pretty good now and actually idles where it's supposed to instead of almost dying.

 

[antrey]

I performed my second valve clearance check this past weekend and made a video how to this time to supplement the write up. This time I made sure to correctly refer to the air valve as an air valve and not a thermostat! ;D

The first part can be seen at http://www.livevideo.com/video/lessdeth69/42D48DF30CFE4048B42B46EDAB9E646C/2007-06-17-valve-adjustment-on.aspx

The second part is at http://www.livevideo.com/video/lessdeth69/C0843BAC8BAD41BCA858B86FB10113DC/2007-06-17-valve-adjustment-on.aspx

 

[duckwize]

I followed the guide, and it helped me soo very much, Good news too, the valves were all in spec, so no work needed to be done. its good to have peace of mind though.. Thanks for the guide!

 

[bastard child]

i did my first valve adjustment today, the write up is excellent. had to make one phone call to dad during the process, for a little more explanation, but all in all it went good without any difficuties, except for the strong gust of wind half way through process blowing my print of the write up away. blew it out from under my drill, across the road up over the neighbors house and into the woods, that was alittle nerve racking. had to adjust the exhaust side, they were all .002 out of adjustment. intake side was still golden. i'm sure this was the first time the valve cover was off, and i was at 14,175, so it was a good way to spend a sunday afternoon. anyone considering doing it themselves or taking it in to a shop, i can eaasily say it is rather easy, so do it yourself.

Bastard Child