P700 First Maintenance - 2016 700-4 Valve Adjusment

[mtarallo]

Hi all - thanks for taking a look. I was curious on what you all thought and if you can provide a recommendation. I bought a 700-4 in May 2016 with a 5 year warranty. I use it for light work around the house and some off-roading around the property. I just hit 100+ miles / 20+ hours and the wrench is displaying on the LCD. It runs very well and still looks brand-new. I can do many things myself as I am mechanically inclined and I did see a post on DIY valve adjustment. However time is a factor and spending some money to have a shop do it is not a problem, BUT I don't like potentially getting screwed. I was told by my local power sports place that it is recommended to get the valves inspected and do an oil change etc. They stated it would be 3 1/2 hours of labor at $350 for the maintenance / inspection + parts if needed. (oil change minimal). The service manager made a mention that this is a critical maintenance step and that it must be done, otherwise if something else goes wrong - Honda might say "well you did not perform the maintenance" and void my warranty etc. (something like that). If I was to do this myself, how would Honda know "I did it" etc. Is this something that "has to" be done by a certified Honda service center etc.

I'm inclined to still do this service however, may look for shops out of my area (1hr+ drive time) pending what you guys say. It just seems a bit excessive to remove some panels, screws, valve cover and perform an inspection.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Regards,

Mike

 

[Admin]

 

[Gator]

I would hope that Honda would not say that a poor valve adjustment caused a serious problem.

That said. The adjustment is quite simple. I think you can do this yourself and might even do a better job because you only have one to do and you care about it.

I suggest you read the DIY post and do the adjustment yourself. If you feel uncomfortable at any time, abort and take it to the shop.

There is no hurry, if it is spring before you get around to it nothing is going to fail.

 

[swsebek]

I don't think you need the valves done yet. I was worried after all the posts on here cause I was at 1000 miles with no valve adjustment. I had power Honda do it and it was still in specs.If you get the valves to tight you will cause damage

 

[Tflynn]

If it's something you can do yourself go that route. Even if you get stuck in the middle of the process and have to ask a question on the forum and wait a few hours for an answer, you'll still be time ahead compared to taking it in. I didn't adjust valves until around 3000 miles so if your engine is running good don't go way out of your way to get it done.

As for the warranty concerns, I'd just take a picture of the hour meter/odometer on the day you do valves, then take a few more of you actually doing the valves. The pictures prove the work was done and the time stamp on the photos proves when it was done. Unless your warranty contract specifically states the maintenance must be done by a certified Honda tech, I think this method of proving maintenance would work.

Then go take your $300 you saved and buy something cool!

 

[tjoreo]

I kind of agree swsebek on the timing of the valve adjustment. I did mine at the 600 mile oil change to allow everything a little more time to settle in. My intake was spot on but my exhaust was a little loose but just on the edge of specs. It is a fairly straight forward job and really doesn't take to long. I found some step by step info on how to accomplish it on another website so I haven't taken the time to look at the DIY on this forum. The hardest part is getting the plastic off. The info that I got was to remove the bar between the seatbelts which was my biggest headache of the whole deal. I had trouble getting everything to pull back together and it stripped the threads out when removing it. It's a little nicer without it but not needed.

 

[Montecresto]

If it's something you can do yourself go that route. Even if you get stuck in the middle of the process and have to ask a question on the forum and wait a few hours for an answer, you'll still be time ahead compared to taking it in. I didn't adjust valves until around 3000 miles so if your engine is running good don't go way out of your way to get it done.

As for the warranty concerns, I'd just take a picture of the hour meter/odometer on the day you do valves, then take a few more of you actually doing the valves. The pictures prove the work was done and the time stamp on the photos proves when it was done. Unless your warranty contract specifically states the maintenance must be done by a certified Honda tech, I think this method of proving maintenance would work.

Then go take your $300 you saved and buy something cool!

Great points, all.

 

[Montecresto]

I'll just throw this out there. My MO on the P5 has been if it starts snappy, sounds good and runs good, they won't get adjusted. I've been paying attention to these discussions whenever I see them on the forum and my guess is that ten percent of forum members have performed this maintenance or had Honda do it and of the ones who have done it themselves, probably half or more have reported that it was in spec and the rest report very minimal adjustment. I've seen nobody report that after performing this maintenance that their Pioneer started better, had more power or was quieter. I also think that it's safe to say that of the millions of ATV's Honda has put out over the last 4 decades, most of them have never had their valves adjusted yet many are still in service often with space shuttle miles on them.

 

[MJayco]

If it's something you can do yourself go that route. Even if you get stuck in the middle of the process and have to ask a question on the forum and wait a few hours for an answer, you'll still be time ahead compared to taking it in. I didn't adjust valves until around 3000 miles so if your engine is running good don't go way out of your way to get it done.

As for the warranty concerns, I'd just take a picture of the hour meter/odometer on the day you do valves, then take a few more of you actually doing the valves. The pictures prove the work was done and the time stamp on the photos proves when it was done. Unless your warranty contract specifically states the maintenance must be done by a certified Honda tech, I think this method of proving maintenance would work.

Then go take your $300 you saved and buy something cool!

Were yours out of spec at 3000mi? I was thinking of doing mine, it is around 1400miles now.

 

[Tflynn]

Were yours out of spec at 3000mi? I was thinking of doing mine, it is around 1400miles now.

A little bit but barely any. I don't recall the exact measurements now but I did have to adjust them a little bit. If everything's running good I wouldn't worry about it too much, but at 1400 miles it wouldn't be a bad idea to check them whenever it's convenient for you. Be it a week, a month, or a year haha!

It's a pretty easy thing to check on these motors, far easier than it is on the 500 or 1000. When I did it I think it took me 1.5 - 2 hours maybe? But I bet I could do it now in an hour and most of that is time spent removing plastic.

 

[swsebek]

I'll just throw this out there. My MO on the P5 has been if it starts snappy, sounds good and runs good, they won't get adjusted. I've been paying attention to these discussions whenever I see them on the forum and my guess is that ten percent of forum members have performed this maintenance or had Honda do it and of the ones who have done it themselves, probably half or more have reported that it was in spec and the rest report very minimal adjustment. I've seen nobody report that after performing this maintenance that their Pioneer started better, had more power or was quieter. I also think that it's safe to say that of the millions of ATV's Honda has put out over the last 4 decades, most of them have never had their valves adjusted yet many are still in service often with space shuttle miles on them.

You are sooo right

 

[allgm1]

I take a picture for proof I was there, store them on a thumb drive

 

[Tflynn]

I take a picture for proof I was there, store them on a thumb drive
View attachment 31251

Damn how clean is that motor??? Ha bet it's not that clean anymore!

 

[jawquin]

I bought a 700-4 in May 2016 with a 5 year warranty. I use it for light work around the house and some off-roading around the property. I just hit 100+ miles / 20+ hours and the wrench is displaying on the LCD. It runs very well and still looks brand-new.

Looks to me like you'll be way out of warranty before it needs it if you keep that riding pace up.

I been slackin on ridin lately but gettin close to 5000 thousand and not cracked it open to check the valves. Still runs like a top and doesn't look new by any means now.

 

[allgm1]

Damn how clean is that motor??? Ha bet it's not that clean anymore!

lol I thought the same thing when I posted the picture......ah the good ol days, your right @Tflynn it doesn't look like that anymore. Looks like the newness has worn off.

 

[Dawg]

$148 to do the 1st service with valve adjustment @ my dealer..... Thought that was a decent price to do valve adjustment and change all fluids...

 

[swsebek]

$148 to do the 1st service with valve adjustment @ my dealer..... Thought that was a decent price to do valve adjustment and change all fluids...

That was a good deal

 

[HondaTech]

A little bit but barely any. I don't recall the exact measurements now but I did have to adjust them a little bit. If everything's running good I wouldn't worry about it too much, but at 1400 miles it wouldn't be a bad idea to check them whenever it's convenient for you. Be it a week, a month, or a year haha!

It's a pretty easy thing to check on these motors, far easier than it is on the 500 or 1000. When I did it I think it took me 1.5 - 2 hours maybe? But I bet I could do it now in an hour and most of that is time spent removing plastic.

IMO the P500 is the easiest, but to each their own.