Valve clearance check every 4000mi ?!?

[black and silver twin]

I just read the maintenance page on the wiki and saw that the valve clearances are supposed to be checked every 4000 miles  I have put 8000 miles on my 07 this summer. I have just over 9000 miles now and have not done a valve check yet. there are no bad symptoms now, it runs just like it did when i bought it with 1100 miles on it. the noises from the valve train are faint, not loud but not absent. should I really check the clearances twice a year? that seems excessive 

[scottpA_GS]

Some like to check them as directed. Our Suzuki tech at work says they are VERY rarely are out of spec. Even w/ over 20K on them. But.... It cant hurt to check them

[PachmanP]

You should probably check them now...
You might be ok for now, and many people don't check that frequently.  I think GSJack does his on a pretty long interval.
That said it's not too difficult to check and can save you trouble if something is amiss.

[black and silver twin]

I am reluctant to do a valve clearance check that often mainly because I work 11 hours a day 5 days a week and on the weekends I like to ride, plus im lazy    So ...
How often does every one check them and how often do they need adjusting when you check them?

[gsJack]

I checked my 97 GS valves twice a year at 8000 mile intervals back when I was riding 15-20k miles a year.  Now riding only 10k miles a year on my 02 GS I check them once a year.

The 97 GS didn't require any exhaust shim changes until 40k miles and never required an intake shim change for the 80k miles I used it.  The 02 GS got the first exhaust shim change at 30k miles and I changed one intake shim and changed it back next time so it's still running on the original intake shims at 75k current miles.

I kept a log of my valve check/shim changes and it became appearant that the exhaust valves run at close tolerances were receeding into the seats requiring frequent shim changes while those run at wider clearances did not require the shim changes.  I increased my exhaust valve clearances at 40k miles and they haven't required a shim change againfor another 30k miles.

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

[the mole]

Checked mine when I bought it at 4,000km, adjusted them to about .05mm. Just checked again at 21.000km. All are still in tolerance.

[Pigeonroost]

Jack;

That is damn good info!  The range specified is pretty wide and my initial break-in check was close to mid range on all.  I am checking again this winter and may well follow your led on staying close to the upper end of the specification.  I also was listening to some of Buddha's ramblings a while back and I started doping my fuel with  Lucas top end lube.  It has not done any harm, and maybe will help valve seat recession -- at least the hype on the bottle says it will

prs

[black and silver twin]

I checked my 97 GS valves twice a year at 8000 mile intervals back when I was riding 15-20k miles a year.  Now riding only 10k miles a year on my 02 GS I check them once a year.

The 97 GS didn't require any exhaust shim changes until 40k miles and never required an intake shim change for the 80k miles I used it.  The 02 GS got the first exhaust shim change at 30k miles and I changed one intake shim and changed it back next time so it's still running on the original intake shims at 75k current miles.

I kept a log of my valve check/shim changes and it became appearant that the exhaust valves run at close tolerances were receeding into the seats requiring frequent shim changes while those run at wider clearances did not require the shim changes.  I increased my exhaust valve clearances at 40k miles and they haven't required a shim change againfor another 30k miles.

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

Checked mine when I bought it at 4,000km, adjusted them to about .05mm. Just checked again at 21.000km. All are still in tolerance.

So Im gathering that the shims only need adjustment every 20000 miles if the exhaust is shimmed on the loose side to help cool them. So theoreticaly if I check them every 10000 miles I should be good?

[tucsondude]

dude this seriously took me 45 minutes, my first time this Saturday... I thought it was easier than changing the oil filter lol.

Getting the exhaust valve shim out today though , then finding out the suzuki dealer doesnt stock shims ...

ill be checking mine again at 4k, since my clearances are very border line. 

[black and silver twin]

Ive done shim changes on many other bikes/cars, that's why I don't want to do it all the time, Its annoying.

I thought it was easier than changing the oil filter lol.

It probably is easier than changing my oil since I have the Vance & Hines Full system which requires removal of the headers to get the filter

I think I'm going to check the clearance every 8000miles (once a year) in the winter while the bike (and my spirit) is down

[gsJack]

If I were to start with another new GS500 I'd do the 600-1000 mile first valve check and make sure the clearances were on the wide side of the .001-.003" (.03-.08 mm) range, hopefully .002-.003" (.05-.08 mm).  Then I would go with a once a year check if my annual milage were 8-12k, it's about 10k/yr now.  More milage than that I'd do it twice a year.  If an exhaust valve fell below .002" on a future check I'd reshim it to .004-.005" (.10-.13 mm) gap like I did on my 02 which seems to have stopped the exhaust valve recession.

Both my GSs have been stock for all the 150k miles I've run them and there is no point in revving a stock GS engine over 9-9.5k rpm since the power peaks at about 8500 rpm and drops off sharply after that.  If your going to redline it all day long best to keep them to spec to avoid the possibility of tossing a shim and shoot for the narrower .002-.003 (.05-.08 mm)setting on the exhaust valves.  If you don't plan on using the engine more than 30-40k total miles before moving on don't worry about the exhaust valve recession problem just set to specs.  

[black and silver twin]

The power peak on my bike when it was stock was 9200 rpm (I dynoed it). with all of my mods the power peak is now 10000rpm (I dyno tuned the ignition timing and carbs) and it stays flat all the way to 10800 where it falls off. Granted I rarely Go above 9000 rpm, because it makes more power now at 8700 than it made at 9200 (peak) stock, But when I do flog on it I do take it to 11000. so what your saying is, to prevent a shim from becoming dislodged I should make the valve clearances on the tight side? This makes sense, I just want to verify.  and if I do set the valves tighter I would have to check/adjust lash more frequently due to valve recession?

[gsJack]

Actually I was just suggesting that if you do a lot of redlining it might be best to keep the valves set to Suzuki specs but that trying to keep them to the loose side of the standard specs would still help with slowing the exhaust valve recession.  Try to keep them to .002-.003" (.05-.08 mm) and don't reshim to the overspec .004-.005" range I started using with the 9-9.5k rpm limitation..  With them set to the loose side of standard specs I'd still go with once a year checks with my 10k mile per year current usage.

I was leaving the exhaust valves go unchanged on my 97 GS if I could freely turn the bucket with my finger tip since it's difficult to measure clearances less than .0015-.002" with a feeler guage.  Result was that one exhaust valve was down to a minimum 2.15 mm shim with no place to go at less than 80k miles.  I actually had a tight valve a couple of times when I got to checking them and you can tell if you have a tight one if the bike idles roughly when first started and smoothes out quickly as it warms and the valve clearances increase.  Still runs good as ever after warming just the problem with exhaust valve life.

[black and silver twin]

awesome info thank gsjack! I think i will follow your advice, what about the intake valves? can those be shimmed on the tight side of spec for more lift/duration without worrying about recession? they dont get nearly as hot