Did you ever check the valve clearance specs before ?

 

Yep, serviced regularly at dealership.

So thats a no. Valve adjust is at 26,000 I think.....

Bummer about the motor, good to hear ya got it fixed!

 

Yep, serviced regularly at dealership.

 

This happened to mine at 35k miles while on the freeway in 6th gear going the speed limit. I spent about $600 to rebuild the motor with all new bearings and seals and now it runs like a champ!

 

i know for the 07 there was a bulletin type deal, not a recall. In the #4 cylinder, the valves were rubbing and wearing them down cause them not to fire correctly. There was a thread somewhere on here about it. That may be what your talking about.

EDIT: I had to get mine repaired with 4,200 miles on it

 

Happened to a friend of mine, Gombix here on the forums, doesn't post much. Dropped a valve on his '04 during a track weekend at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway out here in SoCal. Don't know what the mileage was on the bike tho. He was on the back straight when it happened and we could here it let go from in the pits.

 

High strung motors....even at lower speeds this does happen often enough.

 

yup my bike had valve problems it was number 1 intake but i swapped heads out before it got bad i had about 26k on the clock when i did the valve check and found my loose valve it has to do with the guides being machined wrong but at least you had warranty

 

Wow, that's pricy. Mine had a valve retainer brake at a track day:

http://www.r1-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248605

Cost over $5K to fix; thank God for extended warranty. :yesnod

 

My buddy (and fellow forum member) just dropped a valve on his 05 at a recent track day. Yikes!

 

Guess it depends on the amount of damage, but whatever the case, its not a cheap fix.

 

$8,600:scared yikes!

you could just find a new motor for less then $2,000...
but with a warranty its free:thumbup

 

Funny, my friend (ablaz3d) dropped a valve last month @ 7K miles (cyl. 1 intake). We completely rebuilt the engine but used another guy's parted out cylinder head with 7K miles on it, and sure enough, 800 miles later, it has just managed to bend a cylinder 2 exhaust valve. I HATE Yamaha valves.

 

Is that just the 5 valve heads? The 09+ have 4.

 

07+ has 4 valve heads

 

Thanks for the info... I didn't know that.

Do you know is it just the 5 valve heads with the bad rep?

 

No, 07-08's are known for valve/guide issues. It's not just the 5 valve .

Check out this thread on the 07-08 problems (4 valve)

http://www.r1-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234200&highlight=valve+guides


Yamaha has had 5 valve heads since 1984, so it's been a very reliable design.

The first bike was the FZ 750.

.

 

Dropped one on my 08 at about 3500 miles. Warranty payed for that rebuild. Now I get worried if I hear anything unusual

 

I think I'll buy that extended warranty...

 

These valves have cost me two rebuilds in the past month and we are about to be on our 3rd cylinder head of the month. I can't take much more.. I can't speak for others with 4 valves but the 05 with 5 per cylinder is riddled with problems if you ask me.

 

that's to annoying, you guys get me in bad thoughts. Mine 06' has 43.000kil.
Are there any symptoms to have in mind? strange tickling from the valves or something?

 

damn...!! fvcking expensive headache!! guess i'll have to look into 2 year extended before my 1st year is done... i put a shite load of miles on my bikes.. guaranteed to be @ 25k after the 2nd season, '09 r1

 

Lol... my problem is cam sprockets slipping and trashing valves... this past time I had them welded... fix that sh!t

 

Happened to user crankshaft.

 

yep, happend to my brother 06 with about 22k on the engine, he didn't have extended warranty :dollar

 

Now THAT looks bad ^^

Both times it has happened, the first and foremost symptom (which we chose to ignore, thought it was just Yamaha tick) was a pretty loud ticking. It was loud enough that you could hear it over the GP exhaust (pretty darn loud).

We asked around and some people thought it was louder than usual but others said it was just how an R1 sounded.

All the valves were within spec which left us clueless as to what the tick was. I guess it was a valve preparing to fail.

It seems like the best thing to do is as SOON as you hear your engine running roughly (stuttering like it's only running on 3 cylinders, rattling noise, loud clicking, etc) stop and check your plugs & pistons. See if any plugs look like they have been hit by something (your dropped valve) and shine a light into the cylinder through the spark plug hole to look for a piece of a valve, metal bits, or signs of damage.

If you catch it early enough you may get away very lucky and just have to replace a valve or two. Keep riding on it and it will first destroy your head, then your pistons and cylinders. Ours was ridden for about 15 more miles until the valve jammed the piston from moving, seizing the engine. By then the damage was too extensive on the head for any chance at repairing it, even for a machine shop.


If you do have to replace parts, I suggest looking for used parts in good condition or buying a used engine. Don't take it to the dealer to find out they want $7500 worth of OEM parts to throw at your used engine to see if they can just get it working again. A whole engine costs way less than that.

Just my 2 cents on repairs after valve problems...

 

Yeah I agree with protwitness. As soon as you hear any noise, stop the engine, my brother did but he later started it again to troubleshoot the problem and find out where the noise was coming from..then bam. It was all over, it was cheaper to replace the engine

 

with the VALVE issue ----- what was the signs before total falure? I have 06 and it sounds like loud fast ticking noise is always there, maybe worsens at long and hotter riding - could this be a warning?