Will I just be giving the dealer $100 for nothing?

[rickyny]

I called the dealer I purchased the bike from to schedule the 600 mi. service and to get a price.
The service guy tells me is $100. I tell him that is a good price and he says is because they just
listen to the motor running to know if the valves are within spec, that they won't open the motor.
So my question is: Is this method reliable? or I'm just giving them $100 for nothing?
He did say that they will check bolt and nuts tightness and other stuff, but I really just care
about the valves being within spec.
TIA,
Ricky.

[XLAR8]

it wont need valves done at 600 miles, it will keep your warranty tho.

[the mole]

You're paying $100 to keep your warranty.

[mister]

They should change the oil & filter too, check chain tension and give a bit of a lube where needed. And most importantly, stamp your Warranty Service Book - which is great to show a prospective buyer if you ever decide to sell your bike. 

Michael

[tt_four]

If you're worried about getting your money's worth, just wait until they push your GS in the back to do the work, and when no one's looking wheel a cbr600rr out the front door.

[LimaXray]

If you're comfortable with a wrench, I would suggest buying the service manual and doing it yourself.  They can't 'void' your warranty for not bringing it to them for service - that would be illegal.  If you didn't do a service, or didn't do it correctly and something failed because of it, they could refuse to cover it under warranty, but they most certainly couldn't 'void' your warranty because the service wasn't done by an authorized dealer.  The burden of proof here is on the dealer that a failure is your fault.

My understanding is the service should be to check your valve clearances, check and tighten all fasteners, change your oil and filter, and perform your first chain cleaning and lube.  I think they may also replace, or at least gap, the spark plugs.

Motorcycles require a ton of regular service and having the dealer do it all is going to cost you a ton.  The GS is super easy to work on and is a great place for the detail oriented person to start learning the ways of the shade tree mechanic.

If you're not comfortable with doing it yourself, bring it to them and have them do it.  $100 is about the cheapest you're gonna get on a dealer service.  I do think that checking the valves by listening to them is a bunch of non-sense.  We're talking about measuring clearances with tolerances of 0.01mm - for it to be audible, your valves will need to be way out of spec.

[tt_four]

When my valves go out of spec I can hear them. If I put my ear up to the cylinder I can hear them screaming "adjust me! adjust me!".

Just for the record, I've never heard about a whole warranty being voided. By that I mean you can't take a bike into the dealership with an aftermarket exhaust and aftermarket fuel maps and be rejected because there's something front with your front brakes. If you modify your brakes and then have a problem with them, that could be a warranty issue but most of the stuff in the first service is checking bolts and stuff like that, so if your connecting rod magically snaps in 2, they can't say that it's not a warranty claim because you didn't let the 'listen' to your valves. Just keep your receipts for the oil and all of that stuff.

[noiseguy]

Heh. Moss Warranty Act.

Summary: The OEM *cannot* force you to pay to get something serviced to maintain the warranty. If you *have* to have service, the OEM *has* to pay for it.

As for paying a tech $100 to listen to the engine? Do you really have to ask? What $100, 1.25 hr shop labor? Price for that should be something like free.

What's the shop labor to pull the valve cover and actually check them? I can do the job in less than 90 minutes on my E. And, frankly, if they're out of spec Suzuki should pay to put them in spec anyway.

[Twism86]

If you're worried about getting your money's worth, just wait until they push your GS in the back to do the work, and when no one's looking wheel a cbr600rr out the front door.

Thats clearly the best advice ive seen on this site, hahaha! 

[rickyny]

Thanks everyone for your replies.
They'll definitely do an oil and filter change, tighten all the bolts, etc, etc. The only thing
that sounded like non-sense ( like LimaXray said ) is that they can listen
to the valves and know if they are out of spec. I'll take it in this time so they can do everything else.
But I'll be checking the valves myself at the 1,000 mile mark.

Ricky

[noworries]

This first new bike service - whether we're talking 600m or 1000k - really should include a genuine valve check and adjustment if necessary. I suspect the factory is often a little cavalier in it's initial valve shim set-up...if the valves from the start are on tolerance limits, you don't want them tightening up with a little seat/valve face wear.
This raises a couple of questions too, are we paying for someting that Suzuki should have done properly in the first place??? and how can we be sure the shop actually does pull the covers??

[chilloutdamnit]

This raises a couple of questions too, are we paying for someting that Suzuki should have done properly in the first place??? and how can we be sure the shop actually does pull the covers??

Why not put some tape across the seam of the cover. If the seal is broken then you can assume the shop actually pulled it apart?