Good reasons to buy an hour meter.

[Rich Rohrich]

A customer of ours bought a clean used high hours/mileage WR250 and was having a few hard starting problems. As he was going through checking things he found the valves were pretty far out of adjustment. He recently was out riding out and it quit for some reason. I'm thinking it just needs a tune up and an oil change. :thumb: What do you think?


http://www.ericgorr.com/images/INDY_04/Wes_cylhead_2.jpg
http://www.ericgorr.com/images/INDY_04/Wes_cylhead_1.jpg
http://www.ericgorr.com/images/INDY_04/Wes_cylhead_3.jpg
http://www.ericgorr.com/images/INDY_04/Wes_piston_1.jpg
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It's hard to say for sure but it looks like once the one valve head broke off it took the other 4 and the piston along with it.
Moral of the story? Don't ignore the services intervals on the crank and valve train on your high zoot four-stroke.

For you orange guys, a KTM is just as likely to have something like this happen but the cost to fix it would be more than the cost of a NEW wr 250. :ohmy: Don't think for a second that this is isolated to one brand or country.

It's a really good idea to buy an hour meter and follow the service interval guides. :thumb:

 

[bclapham]

It wasnt this guy was it??? :think:

Guys,
I have had an 03 YZF450 for the past year. I have only ridden it about 15 times. In that time the air filter hadn't gotten too bad. But being that long, I just had to clean it today to feel good about it.
It was dirty, but not clogged. My problem is after I got done I went to Victorville MX and on my first lap the thing would just back fire like made under deleceration. And it refused to idle. I limped it back to the pits and made the mistake of messing with the idle screw trying to make up for more air due to the cleaner filter?
It died several times and was a P A I N to get fired. I also noticed drops of gas in the dirt as I was kicking it over.
Once I got it lit, I held the throttle about 1/16th open to keep it running. I messed with the idle screw some more. After about a 2 minutes my header pipe was GLOWING red. Like LAVA! I shut the thing down and played pit guy to my buddies the rest of the night. This bike has run flawlessly sincs I bought it. This all happened a few hours after cleaning the filter.
Also I have no clue where my idle adjuster ended up. Any idea where it is supposed to be?
.....Any infor would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks guys!

on my RM i run 4 races, ring it, 4 races, ring it, 4 races, piston- everyone thinks i am nuts!

 

[BadgerMan]

What do you think?

Doesn't look too bad to me. A little TLC and time with the soda blaster oughta clean that right up. :laugh:

WOW!

 

[mxmatt426]

Rich, Which hour meters do you recommend?

 

[holeshot]

everyone thinks i am nuts!

I think your icon gives you away. :laugh:

Every four races sounds a little excessive, even for a 144. Fess up - you just like tearing your bike apart and checking everything in there. :p

Nothing wrong with that. :yeehaw:


Looks like a huge repair bill on that four stroke. Checking the valve clearances once in awhile is simple and doesn't cost a thing.

 

[bclapham]

Every four races sounds a little excessive, even for a 144. Fess up.

i meant every 4 rides, which is around ever 5-6 hours :thumb:

it still amazes me that people think these new generation 4 strokes are "low maintainance"!!!

 

[Moto Squid]

lol that musta made a little klanky klank :eek:

I've got a tiny tach on my crf250 (it reads 36min right now :ugg: ) Seems to work pretty well but is quite slow keeping with rpm changes

 

[whyzee]

you should be able to fix those broken valves w/ JB Weld. :eek:

 

[mxer842]

can i pick up an hour meter at an auto parts store, and for how much?

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Doug Dubach and a number of other shops sell the Yamaha hour meters.

 

[mike perry]

Doug Dubach and a number of other shops sell the Yamaha hour meters.

It just started to make a little noise. I shut it off as soon as I heard it. It can't be that bad can it?

 

[Rich Rohrich]

It just started to make a little noise. I shut it off as soon as I heard it. It can't be that bad can it?

That sentence is usually followed by a loud THUD as their jaw hits the floor when you tell them how much damage that little valve head did inside the cylinder. :ohmy:

 

[VintageDirt]

Whoa! I bet that guy feels schtoopid. He probably hasn't worked on bikes much since the mid eighties (wasn't too good at it then either). Lucky for me, I mean him, his ex old lady doesn't care how much money and time he spends on bikes anymore.

See, every cloud has a silver lining. :laugh:

 

[Rich Rohrich]

See, every cloud has a silver lining. :laugh:

The silver lining will be how good it works when it's all back together, and tweaked to high heaven :yeehaw:

 

[MrLuckey]

Ouch. Nice job Wes :thumb:

 

[Smit-Dog]

I was all set to order an hour meter, then discovered that the new EXC already has one built into the electronic ODO unit.

Kewl....

 

[SFO]

I would find it hard to believe that a person would pay more head to an hour meter than following regular service intervals.
People still think you are nuts for rebuilding something before it breaks.
They save their energy for the inevitable flame thread that starts shortly after their xyz 4st fills its diaper and what junk their xyz 4st is and they will certainly buy another brand before beginning to admit or confront and culpability or responsibility in said issue.
An hour meter is just another thing to ignore or blame when xyz did not live up to their expectations.
I have zero sympathy for peoples home brewed service intervals that have some how failed them.
I don't think an hour meter would have changed the end result of the above photos.

 

[VintageDirt]

I would find it hard to believe that a person would pay more head to an hour meter than following regular service intervals.
People still think you are nuts for rebuilding something before it breaks.
They save their energy for the inevitable flame thread that starts shortly after their xyz 4st fills its diaper and what junk their xyz 4st is and they will certainly buy another brand before beginning to admit or confront and culpability or responsibility in said issue.
An hour meter is just another thing to ignore or blame when xyz did not live up to their expectations.
I have zero sympathy for peoples home brewed service intervals that have some how failed them.
I don't think an hour meter would have changed the end result of the above photos.

But, are not regular service intervals based on running time?

I'm all for rebuilding something before it breaks. What if the purchaser of a pre-owned xyz 4stk has no clue as to the actual running time of the xyz in question due to the lack of hour meter?

I always blame myself for any and all failures of machines, equipment, people, and animals in my charge. In the unlikely event that a manufacturer was actually “to blame,” I would still blame myself for purchasing from said manufacturer.

While an hour meter may not have changed the end result, it would have served to confirm the ignorance, negligence, apathy, and or mental illness of said individual.

I realize that it is always a "pay now or pay later" situation. Sometimes we roll the dice and win, sometimes we lose. And who pooped in your cheerios anyway. :thumb:

 

[Rich Rohrich]

What if the purchaser of a pre-owned xyz 4stk has no clue as to the actual running time of the xyz in question due to the lack of hour meter?

An hour meter certainly would have given you some insight as to the potential wear in the engine, but the sad fact is sometimes they sneak up on you.

I thought for sure we could get Okie's 250F through Dirtweek 2002 before putting in a new crank which was scheduled for over the winter. As anyone who was there knows, I guessed wrong. As a result the piston and center intake got a bit too intimate. :| If we had been running an hour meter the whole time we might not have waited, but who knows for sure.

What I do know is, Yamaha sells a couple of different four-stroke hour meters for dirt cheap prices, and it's a pretty valuable aid. Plus it's way easier to keep track of then the fuel usage method I've used in the past. :thumb:

 

[SFO]

Quite often I miss the point entirely, rob some poor guys thread to pontificate my own unrelated viewpoints, and in the end have to back pedal furiously to maintain credibilty.
An hour meter seems to be a great idea, but this would have to be in conjunction with a aircraft quality service jacket to have any meaning to me.
Certainly service intervals are directly related to running time, factor in who ran it how and where and the data becomes ascew.
The biggest thing that frightens me is people determing that the oem service intervals are extravegant and rewrite the norm based on hour meters and their experience.
This whole hour meter system seems great and it will work if a responsible individual is in charge of the service history in relationship to the actual hours.
(most breakdowns to any system though would appear to be responsibilty related)
I have not had the fortune to be involved with many people who have demonstrated the willingness to adhere to factory service intervals.
Is an hour meter a good tool?
I would say yes.
I am not sure why I got so grumpy, please forgive me.

 

[VintageDirt]

I didn't know you were grumpy, I thought you were teasing me. :)

 

[Rich Rohrich]

This whole hour meter system seems great and it will work if a responsible individual is in charge of the service history in relationship to the actual hours.
(most breakdowns to any system though would appear to be responsibilty related)

That's ultimately the point. An hour meter is only a tool, but often times a rider is a BIGGER TOOL and it won't help. :eek:

I've always tracked my fuel usage and had a pretty good feel for the time on my engines but the advent of cheap available hour meters makes the whole process so much simpler and more accurate. Eric and I bought a couple of the Yamaha units with the built in tachometers to keep in the shop. If the weather ever cooperates around here I'll put one on a bike and give you guys some feedback.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

I didn't know you were grumpy, I thought you were teasing me. :)

SFO has been riding a bike with a stock engine in between the frame rails for too long and it's making him kinda twitchy. :ohmy: We need to get that boy something scarier than a bone stock YZF400 to play with. :yeehaw: