Valve adjustment- how often?

[chrishiggs]

Hi Folks,

Just bought a funky green '99 GS500ex with 11k miles on it and looks like it's been well treated. Given it new oil and filter + air filter and am about to check the valve clearances. Just wondering roughly how often the shims actually need swapping as the standard service interval seems very frequent? (I have an R1 which gets a valve check every 26k miles.) I realise it's a simple job but 3 1/2- 4 k miles is more often than most bikes with tappets! Thanks in advance! 

Chris

[gsJack]

I doubled that 3.5-4k with my 97 GS I bought new.  Did the initial 600 mile and then checked them every 8k after that.  Didn't require a shim change until about 40k miles for exhaust valves and the intake shims were never changed for the 80k miles I used that bike.

My 02 GS has followed a similar pattern except it had a broken exhaust valve at about 21k caused by a tight bucket holding it open one freezing morning.  Here's the whole record, my milage has dropped from previous 15-20k miles a year to about 10k now so I'm doing it once a year now:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/valveclearances.jpg

[chrishiggs]

Thanks for that! Looks like Suzuki are just being a tad cautious but being a straight forward job and as I don't know when they were last checked I'll have a look anyway. Now for my next question/problem!.....

I picked up some stainless Motad headers cheap on ebay and was planning on fitting them up with a Laser muffler when the original rusts but when tried to remove the original exhaust to check allignment the two inside allen bolts on each header sheared. I half expected this - did it with motor hot but had same thing happen on a Bandit a while back. (Why they don't ship just these bolts greased is a mystery!) but I'm wondering if I should just run the bike with the original pipe til it rots as it isn't blowing at the ports and I can't face trying to drill them out right now. Presumably this is quite a common occurance but just wondering if anyone else has made do with one bolt per pipe?! I have copper greased the two remaining bolts so they won't be a problem but not sure if the engine vibration will cause problems. Any ideas? Thanks again.

Chris

[beRto]

I picked up some stainless Motad headers cheap on ebay and was planning on fitting them up with a Laser muffler when the original rusts but when tried to remove the original exhaust to check allignment the two inside allen bolts on each header sheared. I half expected this - did it with motor hot but had same thing happen on a Bandit a while back. (Why they don't ship just these bolts greased is a mystery!)

but I'm wondering if I should just run the bike with the original pipe til it rots as it isn't blowing at the ports and I can't face trying to drill them out right now. Presumably this is quite a common occurance but just wondering if anyone else has made do with one bolt per pipe?! I have copper greased the two remaining bolts so they won't be a problem but not sure if the engine vibration will cause problems. Any ideas? Thanks again.

Chris

I've only heard of people running with one bolt for brief durations (e.g. to get it to a dealer for repair). I think that an open exhaust manifold can cause a lean condition and result in a burnt valve. Even though you're not currently getting blow-by, add a little vibration and it may loosen up. 

You're probably best holding off on riding until you can get the bolts repaired. If I were you, I'd just pay a shop to make the problem go away!

Here are some other opinions:
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=24982.0
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=40522.0
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=13775.0
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=29460.0