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when to adjust valves

61K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  rv6john 
#1 ·
I have an 01 750 with a lil over 15k on it. The manual says adjust valves every 15k miles. But the bike is running the same since I got it. I hate to take it to the shop if I don't need to. What I'm asking is what signs do I look for that I know I need to adjust valves. Thanks
 
#3 ·
It may not need adjustment. Remember for the most part suzuki's maintance guide leans to sooner than later. Get a service manual and check the valves yourself its really easy to do. Or you could pressure a friend who knows what they are doing into helping you.:thumbup:
 
#4 ·
I have an 00 Gsxr 750, I Have owned it since new and when I took it in at 18000 miles to have the valves adjusted they were all in spec. He put the throttle bodies in synce and checked valve clearance. So It was a waste of money other than the fact of knowing everthing is good in there.

If I remember it was something like $200.00 to have checked out. I would of done it myself but for the time and money I could make alot more than that doing custom paint work so it was better for me to let someone else do it.
Steve
 
#7 ·
The valve clearances tighten up once they wear. When that occurs there is not enough clearance in the valve train which causes more wear. Usually the valve train noise slowly steps in & just like deteriorating fork oil most owners just don't hear it or say anything is different. Just grab some tools, the manual & take a look at them! When I read threads like this on websites I always am a little circumspect. Why? The idea is generally the author not wanting to do a service that really should be done & is looking for people with the same mindset to offer support. Don't go there.

About 2 years ago I helped a friend's coworker out with his air/oil cooled Suzuki cruiser. Valve adjustment intervals on that little 600cc was every 4K miles. But, this was his main ride to & from work (75 miles one way) & the dealer wanted $200 for that service! No way man, that was too much for the owner to bear. It obviously had some valve train noise going on which I diagnosed for him. He paid me $100 for a cut rate service. I do this stuff for friends on track bikes but usually involves hot rodding forks, etc. This bike had 25K miles on it with no valve adjustments! Yikes. The valves were all way out of specs & I adjusted them on the looser end of the spectrum as I figured this owner won't adjust the valves ever again. I turned the engine over by hand a few times again & rechecked the valve clearances. Now some were tight & others were still loose. Turned it over a few more times & now the other valves that were good were now tight. Ouch. I screwed with this beat up engine & set things so the valves would stay as far in the range as I could get them. Put everything back together & started the bike back up. The engine sounded almost like it did before I did the work! Diagnosis: time for a rebuild of the head & it needed all new valves. The owner acted as if I was trying to rip him off. That was a little insulting after I had to spend 4 times as long doing this crap & wasn't getting much back in return. So eventually after clearly explaining things to him told him he was an idiot for deciding he would not do regular service to his machine & think that everything in this machine would just be fine. He ended up taking it into a shop who charged him the same I did & he got the same answer. There was his $200 he spent & he got exactly nothing out of the deal.

Every engine is different & the way you ride & how you treat your engine will be different than how others treat their engines. You will get responses from some that will tell you that they checked their valves at that mileage & all was good. But their particular engine is different than yours even if it was manufactured at the same plant almost at the same time. Then how they treated their engine will be different than how you do. So the comparison is very loose & quite a few motorcycle riders just don't understand that concept. Go by recommended service intervals & if you run the engine hard check these things more frequently. Ever put a price on how much rebuilding the head on the bike will cost you? Screw the cost of the components, price just the labor cost involved. Grab a service manual & check them yourself, this stuff is not super complicated...
 
#8 ·
I have an 01 750 and it's making a little racket @ 14,000 miles, I plan on adjusting them myself but my only experience involves an old honda xl600r and my honda 300 4x4 atv. I have read up on checking and have the suzuki recommended specs downloaded but there are a few things I cannot figure out.
#1. The cams have to come out correct?
#2. Is there any way to do it without messing with the cam timing/chain and sprocket?
#3. Can someone explain the process in mild detail or post me up a link?

Sorry for the thread thieving...
 
#9 · (Edited)
I have an 01' GSXR1000 which I believe has a similar head design. This is a shim under bucket valve train & you do not need to remove the cams in order to check the valve clearance. In order to remove shims to swap out the ones that are no longer the proper size you will have to remove the cams. Most of the work involved is removing the fairing side panels & the airbox so you have access to the valve cover. Then you remove the spark plugs & the 2 inspection covers on the left side of the engine case & you are good to go. I had an XR500 years ago & those heads used forked threaded adjusters on that 4 valve head. If you can do a valve adjustment on that engine an inline 4 with shims isn't all that more difficult. That Honda head was very exposed & once you turned the front wheel off to the side you had plenty of access to those tiny valve covers (well, at least the exhaust valves). That is about as easy once you get the bodywork & airbox out of the way. Take a look at the manual & you'll see there are markings on the cam(s) & cam chain to help guide you on how to set them in order to remove them & later to replace them. I usually set things according to the manual & also take a picture after adding another mark on the cam gear & chain to help clarify things for me. Sometimes the marks etched in the cam gear are about a half a tooth off from what I see in my visual inspection. So before I remove the cams adding another couple of marks with a sharpie & taking a digital picture of it helps me put things back exactly the way they were. Helps save lots of time upon reassembly when a cam could possibly go in one tooth in either direction. Extra visual guides & notes take a couple of extra minutes upon disassembly but really are nice to have when you put things back together...

Keep the adjustment on the looser side of the tolerance limit as valve clearances get tighter as they wear. If you do end up removing a cam to replace a shim do yourself a favor & carefully remove each shim, one at a time & draw up a diagram on what size shim each valve's shim bucket has installed. That way next time you check the clearances & find a valve that is adjusted too tight you can run off to your dealership knowing which size shims you need to get before removing the cam again. Makes it a much easier & cleaner way to do the job IMHO. If all the clearances are good there is no reason to do this. I usually write down what the tolerances are & keep it in my service records so the next time I go in there I know which valve is going to be tighter & therefore which shim may be need to be replaced.
 
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