Hi everyone, I am new to this forum. I was wondering if anyone knew how to clean the valves and then adjust them back to the setting that they were before they were cleaned. Any help on this would be great.

Thanks
BigXCR

I clean mine after a ride because they come out easier when they're warm.I clean my valves every 500 miles just because it's easier.I soak the valves in brake cleaner or carb cleaner for a few minutes then use a scotch brite pad to clean them.Be careful taking the valves out so you don't damage the gaskets.Before I re-install the valves I put a light coating of oil on them.The valves will only go in one way so you can't mess it up,and there is no adjustment on them.One more thing, you should put the valves back in the cylinder that they came out of.
Hope this helps.If you have any more questions post away!

radianguy pretty much said it how you should, well except for the scotchbrite, personaly i think that may be just a little too harsh, i use a hard bristle toothbrush to clean mine, cause if u press a little too hard then u won't have as big of a possibility of damaging the valve. otherwise its easy, take out the four bolts holding each one, be carefull it doesn't spring out due to the tension, and then just clean and replace.

I use a wire wheel on mine. As long as you dont put a lot of pressure on the valve, you wont harm it.
I only clean mine every 1000 miles. I run my sled pretty hard and use a good synthetic oil (have been using VES II, switching to Amsoil Interceptor eventually), so the valves dont really gum up that much.
Make sure you check the bellows for cracks or tears as well. If you get a hole in the bellows your valves will gum up in no time.
As far as resetting them, I dont think you need to. Its not like a Yamaha which has electronic servos controlling the valves, so you dont need to synchronize them. It all runs off of exhaust pressure.

Right on the head. No resetting at all. Make sure gaskets are good. They can be a pain to remove.

Anyone have pictures of the procedure?

here i took a few pics while i was cleaning mine[attachmentid=224][attachmentid=225][attachmentid=226]

WOW!

The dirty ones look like crap! What a difference once cleaned. It doesn't look like to hard of a job.

Thanks for the pictures!

Those dont look all that bad. You should have seen how one of my valves looked last winter when it got a tear in the bellows.

ya that would suck man whats it cost to get that fixed?
ya depending what oil u use they can stay cleaner longer i run amsoil synthetic high performance i find it better then the shell shit the guy was useing before i got the sled

Bellows go for about $25. They are pretty easy to change though.

this is good stuff. Thanks for the how to. Very good info on this, very appreciated. Sure helps out the first timers

01 ves bellows were notorious for tearing, mine tore and it makes a heck of a mess while riding. Easy fix, the new ones you get should be an orange/red color!

Well, I clean mine every 500 miles or so, but if you are going on a safari in Canada and don't have the time to clean them, be careful. I had one stick and then get sucked into the motor and blown out through the exhaust!! I got towed 60 miles to our hotel and then took out the muffler the next morning. I saw that the piston shirt was scratched, but it wasn't seized. I still had 2 hours of ride time to get to my trailer. I put a new plug in and started her up! To my surprise it fired and I got to my trailer, l poor low end ,but great top end!! Am now with Titanium ones, factory warranty... 2004 800 edge X (bought in Jan '04 have 4400 miles on it now!!

What is a bellow? because I just got a 2001 edge X 600 and am going to be cleaning mine this week.

we found that oils we use makes a big diffents, you may not like to herethis butt yama lube kept them the cleanes!!! it all so makes a diff what there made of, new ones stay cleaner.

Inside the plastic cover of the valve, there is a rubber bellows and a spring. Lets see if I remember this right.....Exhaust pressure makes the bellows push the valve open and the spring closes it.
There is an assortment of springs and bellows, so if you need to order new, make sure you note what you had before.

nice valves

is it very bad to ride without the bellows? because i just got a 99 xcr 440 and i noticed a bog and it wouldnt go past 65, so my dad took the exhaust valves into a dealership because his friend figured something was wrong with them and he couldn't figure it out. so the mechanic told my dad that somebody took the bellows out. i probably put on about 15 miles and it didnt seem any worse at the end of that