I posted a separate thread about my piston tops and the deposits that had built up over the last 17k miles. In this thread, I'm posting some observations and questions specific to my bike's valves, as this thread title states. Below are some pictures of my rear head and its valves. As you can see, my exhaust valve face is very pinkish white while my intake head is a bit more sooty. I also observed that the same can be said of their respective valve stems. The exhaust valve stem is pale and ashy while my intake stem is a wee bit gunky and dark.

One of my assumptions is that the dark appearance of the intake valve stem and face is due to the hot oily air that used to be re-rerouted back into the intake (before I purchased an external breathing system), which led to the intake valve chamber becoming oily as the hot gunky air stuck to its walls. In the intake valve picture(s) below, you can see that the hot oily air followed the path of least resistance from the intake as it made it's way to the valve chamber, eventually leading to it getting stuck to the far wall and the valve stem before entering the combustion chamber. I'm going to be running some various intake/fuel system cleaning procedures to see if it helps get rid of the deposits built up in the intake valve chamber; additionally, my hope is that it leads to the break up of carbon in the combustion chamber itself.

My other assumption, based on some light research, is that the white appearance of the exhaust valve stem and face is due to a hot/lean condition. Below you can see a couple of pictures of my plugs and their condition. The only fuel enrichment device I currently have is the XiEDs (have run these the past 8-10k mi). I am running Cycle Shack slip on exhaust (no baffle, DK TTIs) and a Hammer Performance intake (have run this the past 10k mi).

My questions are as follows:

• Do these valve conditions seem normal given the circumstances and mods? If not, what are some remedies/preventative maintenance?
• Do my assumptions seem to align with the facts about valves and their condition on these bikes?

This is a bit of long-winded post, but I'm putting the rear head back on tomorrow and I want to make sure I'm good to bolt her back together before I do. Any sound advice and/or experience is much appreciated. First time tearin into her and I want to do it right!

Front intake valve chamber


Rear intake valve chamber


Rear exhaust valve chamber


Rear head valves

 

Your plugs look good and normal. Thank the damn EPA for the breather's oil air entering the intake tract. I ran XiDED's in my 07 Dyna for a few years until I converted it to a CV-40. Clean up the ports and valves real good. You have already taken care of the oily intake air problem.

 

Thanks for the input. The ports are a PITA to get anything into, including detail brushes, so I think I'm going to simply use some Redline full system cleaner to see if I can knock some of the gunk loose. I used a razor blade and some carb solvent to clean up the crusty carbon deposits in the combustion chamber, including where the valve faces sit; however, the oil build up in the ports is super sticky and hard to get off, even with tools. Hopefully fuel treatment can eat it away.

Anyone else have some valuable input/experience?

 

Have you tried WD-40?
It works pretty well on carbon deposits.

 

I have used it to remove other oils/gunk/deposits, but I did not try in this application. I used carb cleaner and let it soak for a bit before scrubbing with a nylon bristle detail brush and then using a razor blade for stubborn stuff. It worked well for most of the flaky dry crap, but it didn't do too well on the gunky oil build up in the intake. I'm going to see if some Redline fuel system cleaner can do some work on that stuff.

 

 

Truth is hard to come by as most people really don't want it.
To get an honest assment of the AFR install a simple wide band such as AME . They are the best tool you will ever buy!
Valves spark plugs as to what the forensic look like, - is dictated by the last few seconds it was running as it all changes very rapidly in there.
Knock your vales out and show me the seats and margins.
You might as well make some improvements whilst apart.
Dont clean them yet.
.

 

Update: I took some time to clean my bike's valve chambers today. I cleaned them while the heads were still on the bike. It was a bit of a PITA, but it worked out pretty well. I used MAF cleaner since it cuts the crud pretty well but is not as harsh of a solvent as others.

First I would spray the cleaner in the intake chamber. Then, using a vacuum, I would suck out any excess that was puddling. Then I would take a small brass wire brush and scrub the gunk really well until it broke up. Finally I would take the vacuum and suck out any crud that had come off while cleaning. I repeated this process a few times on each head. My next course of action is to use the Redline fuel system treatment to see if it will clean up the valves/pistons even further. Here are the results:

Before:


After:

 

Looks like porting marks there ?

 

Not that I know of, sir! Stock cast head with no modification. There were no smooth areas inside the valve chamber. It was all rough like the stock cast texture.