Valve Clearances?

[dern]

rat840771 said:

I do preventative maintenance, check oil, all fluids etc but I am not at a level to check valve clearances.

Correct me if I am wrong - if there is no evidence of tapping, the bike burns no oil and is still clear (ish) and a good colour after 2000 miles - surely this must say something about the condition of the engine/bike. I will change the oil soon but I don't intend to have the valves checked - unless I am convinced otherwise.

If they're too loose you'll get the rattling but that's wear that's potentially going on while you're wondering whether it's something important or before your notice it over the rest of the noise you get with thin water jackets.

If they're too tight you'll not hear it but then the valves might not close properly. It'll may smoke once the valves or the valve seats have been damaged and then you'll know it's broke and you can fix it... or you can just check them before that happens.

However, it's not for me to convince you, it's your bike. I do mine because on occasions they've been out of tolerance sometimes and I'd rather have it bang on because I don't want to fix it when it breaks and I'd like all the performance to be there.

[LeadFarmer]

Ensure you do it when the engine is cold, as in leave it overnight first. How a dealer can take your bike in in the morning and hand it back to you in the afternoon is anyones guess.

[Silver993tt]

LeadFarmer said:

Ensure you do it when the engine is cold, as in leave it overnight first. How a dealer can take your bike in in the morning and hand it back to you in the afternoon is anyones guess.

I'm sure many dealers don't touch the engine when a valve check is paid for. How do you know it's been done when you get the bike back? If the bike sounds ok when you give it to the dealer and then sounds ok when you get it back, you'll never know if the work has ever been done.

[TheRealFingers99]

Even on Ducatis it's no big deal. Check em (generally it's just a case of turning the engine to the correct position and inserting a feeler guage), do them if the clearances are out.

[Mr OCD]

Got this to look forward too ...

2004 R1 with superb service history but now at 29,000 miles and no valve check yet. Sounds and runs superb but apparently valve check due at 26k miles ...

I'm going to give benefit of doubt and in October will be coming off the road for major service, valve clearances, etc... It's a tt of a job but piece of mind and all that...

[rat840771]

dern said:

rat840771 said:

I do preventative maintenance, check oil, all fluids etc but I am not at a level to check valve clearances.

Correct me if I am wrong - if there is no evidence of tapping, the bike burns no oil and is still clear (ish) and a good colour after 2000 miles - surely this must say something about the condition of the engine/bike. I will change the oil soon but I don't intend to have the valves checked - unless I am convinced otherwise.

If they're too loose you'll get the rattling but that's wear that's potentially going on while you're wondering whether it's something important or before your notice it over the rest of the noise you get with thin water jackets.

If they're too tight you'll not hear it but then the valves might not close properly. It'll may smoke once the valves or the valve seats have been damaged and then you'll know it's broke and you can fix it... or you can just check them before that happens.

However, it's not for me to convince you, it's your bike. I do mine because on occasions they've been out of tolerance sometimes and I'd rather have it bang on because I don't want to fix it when it breaks and I'd like all the performance to be there.

I spoke to mechanic last night and he explained to me theory behind it to a point of where I agree that I should get them checked. I didn't realize the minor wear on the valve stems may not cause 'Tapping' but can cause the bike to run rich, burn oil etc. There is a local Suzuki specialist here in Cambridge, this can be a winter job for him.

[dern]

rat840771 said:

I spoke to mechanic last night and he explained to me theory behind it to a point of where I agree that I should get them checked. I didn't realize the minor wear on the valve stems may not cause 'Tapping' but can cause the bike to run rich, burn oil etc. There is a local Suzuki specialist here in Cambridge, this can be a winter job for him.

Cool.

[Liamsaid]

As this is the same engine I had in my GPZ 500 I know there is an o-ring on the bottom of each of the coolant tubes you have to pull out to get the cam cover off.

These O-rings must be replaced every time they are disturbed otherwise they will leak.
Don't be tempted to just put it back together without changing them, as you'll only have to take it apart again the next weekend - can you guess how I found that out?

If you haven't already got some of the proper ones, when I did mine I found that in the little pack of assorted O-rings you can get in Halfords there is one that fits. So you need to buy two packs.

[DJP]

LeadFarmer said:

Ensure you do it when the engine is cold, as in leave it overnight first. How a dealer can take your bike in in the morning and hand it back to you in the afternoon is anyones guess.

This^^.

Silver993tt said:

'm sure many dealers don't touch the engine when a valve check is paid for. How do you know it's been done when you get the bike back? If the bike sounds ok when you give it to the dealer and then sounds ok when you get it back, you'll never know if the work has ever been done.

And this^^.

To do it properly a dealer needs to keep the bike overnight and check the clearances the next day. If they're not doing that then they're not checking the clearances (or at least not properly).

[Pope]

LeadFarmer said:

Ensure you do it when the engine is cold, as in leave it overnight first. How a dealer can take your bike in in the morning and hand it back to you in the afternoon is anyones guess.

+1

Lost any faith I had in a certain dealer in Verwood after riding my TL from Swindon for a Major service including fork oil and tappets- they had messed up the booking (2 days with a loan bike) and completed the bike after 4 hours. When I asked the tech how he'd managed to do the clearances within an hour of my arrival he flatly informed me he'd set them to the 'warm tolerances' - what a piece......

The bike was taken out of the viewing area to do the forks and rolling road tune (Yosh box) -I'll hold the thinking they never did any work on it just left it until they felt I'd waited long enough forevermore......

Maintain your bike the way the manufacturer states - you'll sleep better