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Dirt Bike Mods & Maintenance
XR400R Bent valves
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[QUOTE="gifthopsduane, post: 1325120, member: 100064"] Doug... Here's my .02$. Option 1.. Do nothing, ride and enjoy the bike, fix it when it definitively breaks, (hoping you don't suck a valve..) you might be surprise the life you get out of this motor. Also at that time you might have enough saved to do the job right. Option 2.. Take a video of the bike, idling. I good clear one with good sound. Post it on Youtube and let some of us here what's it sounds like. Your XR will sound much different than the CR (I am not assuming this is the first time you've been around a 4 stroke, but....) then someone (not me..) with a fine tuned ear can at least have some opinion. Option 3.. Buy the minimum amount of tools you need to "service" the bike yourself... learn it, love it...live it. Get yourself familiar with the basics.. take the manual wherever you go. Take it into the can, re-read it over coffee in the morning, sit next to your bike and read it..this way you know whats what.. and 1.. take it apart yourself, and ship the head out to OL'89er let him build it, or at least give you some advice on it.. (what's shipping to CA?) 2.. find an independent repair shop, or better yet a machine shop who specializes or has a passion for motorcycles, take the bike there, let them hear it, do a LEAK DOWN test on it.. and go from there, get options. 3.. Don't do the head yourself... if you were going to just do a reseal then go for it, but don't get yourself involved with replacing and reaming guides, cutting seats... if you never did it before you could make a costly mistake.. plus you need to tool up for it, and why not spend some of that on a pro? Its easy enough to get some clear advice on the bike while its together and running. Then to disassemble is easy, novice work, then take the head back to said pro's and have them look at it again.. quotes and advice are usually free.. if they treat you like an idiot then find someone else.. a good technician will literally take you by the hand and explain what is going on, in a clear and concise unassuming manner. No doubt the service manager was a seasoned pro by the way you were treated, but he is not doing the work, and from experience it sounded like he was sincere in his opinion on what needed to be done, but was only being "told" the facts by a less than qualified tech who jumped the gun and tore your bike down without going through the proper steps first, and above that without your permission. I will stand firm in my opinion that for anything more than routine service work, tires and tubes a dealer is the absolute worst and last place to take a motorcycle, no exceptions. But... do not be rash and get rid of the bike, then spend more on a new one.. its a great bike, treat her well, fix it right and enjoy it. The worst thing is the anxiety over wether or not you made the right decision, that leads to wrong decisions.. take a breather, weigh your options, at least get a clear diagnosis on what state the motor is in.. MOST IMPORTANT!!!! that way when you finally decide to get rid of the bike the next owner knows EXACTLY what they are getting themselves into. I am trained Ferrari mechanic, I've rebuild Ferrari heads, reamed guides and l've cut seats... I build Porsche motors now! I have my own shop specializing in mechanical restorations.. I recently found that my XL500r needs a valve job, and I will probably just shoot it off to my machinist to have him build it right. I trust him... No matter how many motors I do I still have him do the heads, he's tooled for them, and his 40 years experience out way mine 4x.... Its easy for us to tell you to do the work yourself, but.. we don't know you, we don't know your technical ability, how tool friendly you are, how well you can translate written instructions into a physical act. You may be an IT wizkid and the best rider in the world, but a complete disaster with tools.. forums are a great source of advice and inspiration, instruction and guidance, but its just written word, set forth with the assumption that the reader is just like the author. You need to assess the situation and be willing to accept the truth or adapt to fix the problem at hand. good luck.. [/QUOTE]
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MX, SX & Off-Road Discussions
Dirt Bike Mods & Maintenance
XR400R Bent valves
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