Valve Adjustment Steps for Kymco Xciting 500ri 2009

Enclose are the personal steps (from memory) for a valve job on the Kymco Xciting 500ri 2009. This is by no means a mechanical reference guide and I take no responsibilities on what may or may not work here, but I hope that it will help others. Do let me know if you see errors, corrections or omissions and I’ll be happy to add them to the document. Prior to the valve job, make sure engine is cold. First time around the process took me 5 hours from beginning. Should take 1 -2 hours with the enclosed diagrams and understanding the required steps. The time for this work is mostly spent in removing plastic layers. The valve adjustment only takes a few minutes.

1

Remove the bolts holding the storage area and seat. The storage area will come up as a single unit, surprisingly it does not need to be empty of personal “stuff” to remove. Disconnect light and 12 volt charger connectors located under the seat area.

2

Remove the bolts holding the plastic cover. Take note that the cover uses plastic snaps. It is best to press down on the snaps to release them otherwise it may break the plastic snaps. There is no need to remove the sparkplug cover as I did. I put a ellipse on top of it to highlight. Repeat for other side. Disconnect + battery terminal.

Plastic Snaps

3

Remove floor board by pushing up on the ends. The floor boards have rubber snaps which will “pop” as release. Repeat for other side.

4

Remove bolts/screws in the floor board area. In order to have enough play to remove the plastic snaps, unscrew at least two screws on the upper left side (yellow arrows). Remove the plastic engine cover

Plastic Snaps 5

Remove transmission plastic cover. The cover is two plastic parts which are easy to remove. The photo shows one of transmission covers. You do not need to remove the aluminum cover if you have a socket wrench that is large enough for the bolt which will be used to turn the engine. If all you have is a simple wrench, you may need to remove the aluminum cover to allow enough torque to rotate the engine.

6

Remove sparkplug (scooter comes with a sparkplug remover tool.)

7

Remove switch and water pipes to give clearance to the engine head.

8

Remove single shock mount – this will make it easier to push down on the back of the scooter to give enough clearance to the engine head to slide out. Alternatively you could remove both shock mounts. By removing single bolt, pushing down will be a much easier process.

9

Remove Top of Cylinder marker cover (“T” Mark). Its located on the other side of the scooter (by the oil dip stick).

10

Remove cylinder head – remove the rubber hose on top of the cylinder, then remove the 4 bolts. Then pop up on the cylinder head – this is a rubber gasket so be cautions not to break or nick the gasket. The head should open easily. There is not enough space for the head to slide out, so you’ll have to push down (compress) on the back side of the scooter to provide enough clearance to slide out the head.

11

Setting the Top of Cylinder is done by rotating the engine clockwise on the transmission side and then making sure that the “T” mark is center on the hole AND the cam-shaft nudge is also on top.

12

Valve adjusting – There are 4 valves in the scooter. The valve spacing are all set to 0.1mm (0.004 in) so it does not matter which one is exhaust or intake

13

Valve adjusting- Ideally you’ll have the Kymco tool that can hold the top of the valve while tightening the valve nut, but if you don’t…pliers can be used as a poor man substitute (you will need extra patience). Without the too a 2nd person is needed to hold the top of the valve with the pliers while tightening the bolt. This is a very tight area and will require some creative finger positioning. When I begin to tighten the bolt, I will place a 0.005in spacer in the valve gap. When the screw is almost fully tight, I remove the spacer and tighten to the final firm setting. Then I insert the 0.004in spacer to do a final check and make minor adjustments as required. Usually this process will work the first time. Repeat for all 4 valves.

Hold with pliers or tool

Turn bolt clockwise to tighten

14

Engine Test – After setting the valves begin backwards steps to close back components to allow for an engine test. Close: cylinder head, cylinder house, electrical switch, “T” mark opening, insert spark plug, connect battery and do a test-start. Scooter should come alive within a few cranks.

15

Given that the scooter turned on and worked as normal, continue closing other components in the reverse order.