The cylinders are definitely honed at the factory and when the recall is done. I looked at my cylinders during the process of the recall and after 20,000 miles on the original rings there was still cross hatch in the cylinder wall before the new rings and honing was done. The mechanic at the dealership told me that they have to re-hone the cylinder (lightly) before they put in the rings or they won't re-seat properly.

Makes total sense that the ring would be slightly softer than the cylinder material.

I live in Seal Beach and would be happy to take a ride to Chino (40-50 miles away) and take a look at the cylinders first hand.

Doc, you've seen a ton more of these motors than I and you have a bunch more knowledge on them...PM your cell number and I'd be happy to call you from Chino when I'm looking at the motor...maybe between the two of us we can figure out the problem.

Doc, I'm not trying to throw stones...you know a lot more than me when it comes to these bikes...plus I'm sometimes too enthusiastic in typing my replys and typing doesn't come across the way you want it to...not trying to say you're wrong in any way so please accept my apology if I'm coming across as an a-hole.

Bow down! bow down! bow down!

Thank you guys so much for the willingness to help with my issues here.

Drove about 100 miles today!!! visited two Yamaha dealers. First one close by Corona, took all my parts there. The dealer service manager said that the horning is perfectly normal and that the cylinder looked brand new. He suspect to be an valve issue and that I was loosing compression so hence the no start.

Drove to the Yamaha dealer that did the original diagnostic after (The whole time with my 2 year old with me, I get baby sitting duty today. She was absolutely awesome through the whole trip) I happen to ran into the service tech that did the work (saw the name patch on his shirt), showed him all the parts, he took the head to his bench and came back showed me that one of the intake valve was not sealing properly.

He also said that the horning mark on the cylinder is perfectly normal. He said that there was no way that he can tell me exactly what's wrong unless they take the whole thing in and go through it with a fine comb. However we did noticed that ther was some strange wear mark on the hydarulic lifter and the housing. He said that it is possible they were getting hung up and not functioning properly. For sure he said that the valves are not seating properly.

Hydraulic lilfter housing


Lifter


So I guess this is where I am at:

Need some new valve, does that mean sending the head out and get the valve guides removed and new ones put in? Is it the same way with motorcycles as with cars?

I guess I also need to send the cylinders out to get rehorned and buy new picton rings prior to install everything back?

Should I proceed to do the same with the front cylinder? Or just leave it for next time, as long as the bike is running?

Where should I send these items out to? Any recommendations?

Thank you guys for all of your help

Tom, if you would be willing to drive up from where you are at I will cook you a steak dinner!!!

Tom @ Seal Bch wrote:
Doc, you've seen a ton more of these motors than I and you have a bunch more knowledge on them..

Not really ... but that's for the vote of confidence.

Everyone's welcome to state their opinion ... everyone is encourage to join in an offer their knowledge and experience .... and I certainly found nothing wrong with yours Tom.

Obviously I was wrong i.... guess it looks worse in the pics than in real life ... must be the lighting. yea .... that's it.

You need to have a machine shop looks at those heads. The 1600 heads are quite good and valve problems don't normally happen. A good machinist can advise the be route for you to take .... maybe is just need a good cleaning.

Doc

mrpcar wrote:
First one close by Corona, took all my parts there.

I am so sorry mrpcar. I missed where you are from. You are real close to me.

Do yourself a favor, take a minute and call nopork.com in Norco. They are huge Road Star guys. Ask for Jim Travis (his bike is in our header - Blue and White near the middle) and tell him what your going through. He is the best Road Star tune up guy around, and worked for a Yamaha dealer in Riverside at one time.

If he can help you, I would suggest you take him up on whatever he can do. If he can't, take his advice on where to take it. Tell him Gram from the clinic asked you to call him, to see if he could help.

This assumes of course, that you don't solve it yourself.

Gram

Docs right on...a good machine shop can go through the heads pretty cheap and put a new seat on the valve. It seems hard to believe that the guides are bad with only 5000 miles, and like Doc says maybe a good cleaning? I was thinking in the past valves could be lapped...a machine shop would put a gritty type past on the valve seating surface and spin the valve with pressure on the valve from the piston side and it would even up the mating surface and cure the leak. But I would make sure the valve stems are aren't bent...although that would presume a bent valve would be generally from hitting the piston? That would show on the top of the piston. Doc...can you float the valves on a 1600?...probably not unless the rev limiter was pushed up?

Doc why is the rev limiter at 4200...are they worried about floating a valve or throwing a rod because of the long stroker?

I ask cooky questions because I'm in a learning phase on the bike too .

I'd like to ride out and see the motor torn apart anyway...its like a toy store.

Gram,

Thank you for the information, Norco is quit close. I will give Jim a call tomorrow to see if I can swing by for him to take a look at the parts.

BTW, Tomorrow I will be attending the McQueen's machine show in Chino Hills. Thought I pass on the information for those of you in Southern california that also like cars. Should be a good show, in addition to the McQueen machines, there will be around 200 other vechicles there on display from various local clubs. Here are the detail information:

June 14
7am - 2pm
Friends of Steve McQueen Car Show
Boys Republic
3493 Grand Ave
Chino Hills CA

On June 14, the Friends of Steve McQueen Car Show will be held on the site of Boys Republic from 7 am - 2 pm. Proceeds will go to Boys Republic, a private nonprofit school and treatment facility for troubled youth. McQueen was a resident at the school as a boy and a strong supporter of it later in life. Several cars and motorcycles owned by McQueen will be displayed at the show, and cars from various sports car clubs will also be featured, as well as live music and In-N-Out burgers.

For more information, call Ron Harris at (562) 755-8405 or email at hrh@betbev.com

Do you know how many miles since the recall was done? Not sure I would re-hone the cylinders again, every time you hone it takes a little metal off making the piston a bit more sloppy in the bore, but you may need to buy a new set of rings...talk to the guy Gram recommended, he'll definitely know.

Tom @ Seal Bch wrote:
Docs right on...a good machine shop can go through the heads pretty cheap and put a new seat on the valve. It seems hard to believe that the guides are bad with only 5000 miles, and like Doc says maybe a good cleaning? I was thinking in the past valves could be lapped...a machine shop would put a gritty type past on the valve seating surface and spin the valve with pressure on the valve from the piston side and it would even up the mating surface and cure the leak. But I would make sure the valve stems are aren't bent...although that would presume a bent valve would be generally from hitting the piston? That would show on the top of the piston. Doc...can you float the valves on a 1600?...probably not unless the rev limiter was pushed up?

Doc why is the rev limiter at 4200...are they worried about floating a valve or throwing a rod because of the long stroker?


Yes the valve springs are weak so it would not take much to float the valves ... I believe 5000 rpm is when things start to get dicey. I have mine rev limiter at 5000.

We can only speculate what his problems is ..... gunk on the stem/guide, valve/valve seat area. I've only heard of a few problems with the valves ..... including mine once when I ran overly rich for a while. but mine was easily solved by using a bit of MMO.

I lot of guys were changing out the lifters in the early years due to some failures. Mine failed at about 5 k ... that's why I switched to non-OEM.

Doc

Doc how do you change the rev limiter??? I love when it starts to pull and hate when it hits the limiter. I know I'm asking for trouble.