Don’t know. Never had it done. 60k miles on my k7 and it’s running fine. 33k on the 650, same thing. Very few people report bad valves on any Burgman.

But yes, 14.5k is the recommendation, or there abouts, maybe 16k.

 

if it aint broke don't let a stealership break it and charge you for the fix! is it using oil?, poor perfonmanace,? bad gas mileage? tapeworms hanging out the exhaust? Put yer money in yer pocket and use it to keep your dangly bits warm. the 14.5 is a manufacturers suggestion, at this point, it is useless, if they were out of adjustment , your burgman would sound and perform like a harley sportster. Some people cannot sleep at night if they haven't done everything to the letter, i suggest to them how do they know the dealer didn't just rub a greasy rag on the dashboard, say it was done and charge you, now sleep well. believe it or don't, dealershiops are in the business to make money not to be honest, kind loving and yer best buddy, and they will cut corners, lie cheat steal and drink all your refreshing beverages given a chance.

 

Of course if you have the space and a peck of time to do it you could just check 'em yourself for peace of mind.
There are some youtube videos showing how that's done.

 

Some symptoms of valves needing adjustment :

Hard starting
Dies at stop lights
Irregular idle
Power loss
Tapping/clicking noise
Overheating
and others

I think the first two are what people notice first when the valves are falling out of proper adjustment.

Stig

 

I recently paid about $350 in Los Angeles, California.

 

To check the valves on a 2007 onwards burgman 400 takes about 45mins. It's easy and should be carried out at 14,500 miles, as you say. Ignoring it shouldn't really be an option as it's like playing Russian roulette with your engine. One in ten bikes needs the valves adjusting at the first valve check. If you don't know whether the valves have been checked before then do it. Normally, it's the exhaust valves that require adjustment. They go tight meaning that eventually they don't close properly and the engine idles roughly, stalls at lights, hard to start and you lose power and fuel economy drops. At that stage, some damage to the engine will have resulted even if it's just carboning up of the valve seats and guides. This alone can permanently damage the cylinder head valve seats. Ignore it and the bike will suffer even more damage and will require a stripdown to fix it and lots of money. If when checked your valves require adjustment, it takes a further 1.5hrs by a professional to do this. The camshaft/s have to be removed to replace the shims to get the right clearance between the cam and valve upper bucket shim. Or you can do it yourself if you read up on it and you are used to using spanners etc. It's not hard at all. Get a workshop manual if you are going to attempt it. It's a great step by step guide. Let us know what you decide and what the clearances look like if you decide to do them. It's up to you!

 

To check the valves on a 2007 on a burgman 400 takes about 45mins. If when checked your valves require adjustment, it takes a further 1.5hrs by a professional to do this.!

What's your time estimate for pre 07 400's?

 

Hi xringracing, yep...on the pre-2007 bikes it's really very easy indeed as they use locknut and adjusters on a single camshaft, quite different to the 2007 onwards bikes which use bucket and shims and has two camshafts. I've done a couple of those bikes and it took just 55 mins specifically to do just the valve check and adjust. All the valves needed adjusting on both bikes too. One had 20k miles and the other I think was around 40k miles. If you haven't done it before allow much longer to get the seat and other stuff off, I'm used to doing this stuff so can be quite quick. Read up before you do it. But as I say, it's a real easy job on the early bikes.

 

When my time is at a premium, I'll do the check myself and if a valve is out of spec, I'll have a trained mechanic actually do the work. I have an independent shop near my house that I trust, although my local Suzuki dealership has also done a good job when the independent guy is busy (he does race bike tuning).

 

A lot of folks check the actual clearances themselves but take the bike into a dealer if adjustment is needed. That's a sensible option and means you won't ever have valve or cylinder head problems because you are looking after your bike.

 

Hello Peter
20 years ago I was attending a technical course run by a well known American industrial engine manufacturer. The relevance to your post goes like this. We were all asked why valve clearances, and specifically the exhaust valve clearances were important. The reason given was that the exhaust valve only passes very hot gasses, and it's only chance to cool was when it made contact with its seat, by conduction to the seat and then head. Lack of the correct clearance can reduce seat contact time and stress/overheat the valve head.
Just my penny''s worth