Hi everyone, My 2018 SP (registered in 2020) is coming up for its 3rd year service and my dealership is saying that it needs a valve clearance check at a total service cost of £900. They've emailed a sheet from Honda showing this as necessary. I called another dealership and they said it isn't needed until 16k regardless of the age of the bike. I've covered 4,500 miles. The bike has extended warranty, so I want to make sure the bike is still covered. Any opinions?
IMHO. Get it serviced by the dealer who says it’s not necessary (you’ve got your stamp for warranty then) and dont go back to the dealer who says it is. My 2016 isn’t quite at 10k yet and wont be having the clearances checked for 3 years.
I had mine checked at 19k on my 2015 as was told they never need doing and mine were all in spec. Think it cost me about 350 for it doing.
The valve clearances don't alter themselves by magic, it comes from usage, not time. FWIW I checked mine at 16000 miles, all still in spec (albeit only just)
Extended warranty are you planning for something to fail? If it's about resale value I'd pay more for a bike from a proper DIY nerd with recipes than main dealer history. But yeah do valves at 15k
The hand book will tell you check @ 16000 miles , pretty sure this is The same for every model of fireblade. The dealer will take your money and probably won't even check it but say its in spec I checked mine @16000 and 3 exaust shims were only just out of tolerance so had to be replaced
I called another dealership and they said it doesn’t need doing too - interesting how the opinion varies. I called back the original dealer and they’re adamant that it needs to be done! I’ve booked it in with one of the other dealers.
I am frankly shocked to hear it is mandatory at 3 years! Have you checked your owner's handbook? It normally includes a table of maintenance schedule for mileage/ time. I can understand thing that degrade over time, fluid most commonly have time scheduel. MAybe the valves on the 2018 degrade with time & not mileage life is full of shocking surprises
Manufacturers usually state mileage or age, with whichever happens first. So valve check might be 16,000 miles / 3 years, but who in reality is going to get the valves checked on a 3 year old bike with say 6-7,000 miles. As for being mandatory they can go whistle. Not under warranty by that stage so nothing to lose by following your own more sensible schedule.
