Engine work - valve adjustment & valve seals

[vorBH]

So I went down to Suzuki dealership and talked to my buddy mechanic....he said I can do all the work myself..but I'll need a repair manual of course for an 07 gs500f

Valve adjustment needs to be done - I think I got a pretty good grip on this - any links anyone could provide with the info....kerrys video, what else...any parts of the book...or the whole book can someone provide?

Now the bike is burning oil...the oil gets black within no time too...I changed the oil 1500 KM ago...if I were to drop it now...it would be black....because I did that 2 months ago...put in semi, dropped it after 300KM and was blackkkk...no good!

So the mechanic said I will need to take off more covers and get down to replacing...tensioners, valve stem seals, head gasket, valve cover gasket, base gasket..need 4 valve stem seals.....Does anyone know how to do all this? References etc...what is it exactly I am doing
Please kindly dont lat out the take it to a mechanic as an easy way out - I am mechanically oriented to do this...just need to know the magnitude of it in certain parts...any word? Thanks

[007brendan]

How many miles are on your bike?  How much oil are you burning?  I never trusted semi, I'd say go with full synthetic. 

Service manual for < $30
http://www.amazon.com/Suzuki-1989-2008-Haynes-Service-Repair/dp/1844258815/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276903586&sr=8-4

[pandymai]

if it's burning oil the piston rings may need some lookin into as well? not sure..
possibly try a leakdown test to see if there's any issues there

[vorBH]

Oh I am running full synthetic now for sure

24,000 KM...

[pandymai]

there are no physical leaks that you've found right? the oil's just getting really black really fast?

[vorBH]

Nope, there are no physical leaks under the bike, ever.
Oil turns black quick, full synthetic Belray 10W-50
Even had mineral before, turned black quick...as well as the semi...
Whats wrong with this baby?

[J T]

GS500F service manual courtesy of partshark.com:
http://www.partshark.com/custompage3.asp?pg=suzuki

[jeremy_nash]

the oil will turn black quickly, that just shows you its doing its job of cleaning the motor out with 24000 km its gonna turn the oil black instantly, thats just the way it is, there is nothing wrong there. as for the valve adjustment, kerry's video is an invaluable resource, so good luck 

[gsJack]

I put 80,000 miles on my 97 GS500E and have just turned 80,000 miles on my current 02 GS500 and have never had a valve seal problem or heard of a valve seal problem on a GS500/E/F.  I doubt you have one unless you did something to cause it.

If you shut down your hot GS overnight and it doesn't smoke or doesn't smoke very much when you start it again the next morning except for a little natural water vapor smoke that is normal but if it does smoke a lot it's probably rings.  If you turn off your hot GS for a half hour or so and then start it back up and it smokes a lot for a minute or two and then clears up that is a valve seal problem. Worn seals will permit oil to drain down into the cylinders and it will burn and smoke when restarted but if it sets a lot longer before starting again the oil will drain on down into the sump and not cause smoke.

Check your valve clearances first and that is done on a cold engine that has set overnight and when you pull the engine valve cover observe if the pockets in the head that the cam lobes turn thru are still full of oil and if they are your seals are probably OK but if the oil has drained down from the pockets you have a valve seal problem.  Continued next post:

[gsJack]

With 15,000 miles (24,000 km) on your GS-F it is just getting broken in nicely and shouldn't have an excessive oil consumption problem.  All engines burn some oil and the air cooled ones burn more because they are built with more piston clearance than water cooled ones are and the GS500 engine is an older design with more than average clearance for an air cooled one.

Both of my GS's have followed the same oil consumption pattern, when new they started using a little oil after they had about 1500 miles on an oil change but were not below the add mark by the time they reached my next 2500 miles change so they didn't require topping up.  After I had 40-50k miles on my GS's the oil consumption picked up noticeably and I generally went to one gallon change periods, ie, I would get a gallon of oil and use 3 quarts to change it and use the fourth quart for topping up.  When the gallon is used I change the oil again and that varies quite a bit.  I just went 2800 miles on my last gallon over the winter with 80k miles on the 02 GS and with moderate usage but that will drop to the usual 2000-2500 mile changes for the summer with the GS running hotter and getting thrashed harder.  That's what I consider normal GS oil usage and the oil will begin darkening the day after a change and will be looking like black mud by the time it's changed.

If you go ahead with the valve clearance check set the cams like shown in the manuals to get proper measurements and not with the cam lobe pointed directly away from the valve like some do.

[vorBH]

Thank you for the information - very useful
When I went and took the bike to the mechanic at Suzuki...he just said straighup that it needs valve adjustment, after hearing it...and then I described this oil issue and he said it needs all that valve work....he also said that it SHOULDN'T be burning oil...
Mine will burn like...I need to put in 250mL every (if i rememmber correctly) 1000-1500KM?  A little top up is ok...but to put some in there because its gone down that much...isn't something wrong?

And why would it be cleaning the engine out?...Its past that elementary stage..no?

I just don't want to end up doing the valve adjustment..then putting it back together...and then finding out I need to get back under there..80K miles is so much, and is why im surprised at how this engine can go that long without needing some sort of rebuild...piston rings or something..

If I accelerate and let go of throttle (in gear still) it will backfire popping...pops also when I go from 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and sometime 3 to 4....mostly in the early gears...this is related to the valve adjustment if I am correct.

It does not smoke - so thats a good sign....sometimes smokes if water vapour....other than that...it never smokes on startups...

Ok I will have to get the manual to follow the cam lobe position and what not....the link in the link provdided paused on me halfway..couldnt get it to download again...GS500F service manual

[SuperFish]

I know this topic is ooooooold, just wanted to keep similar info together.

I've been having trouble with my bike from the time I got it almost a year ago. My mechanic has done two valve adjustments on it, at which point the bike will run fine for a month or so. Then (and its been like this for a few months) the bike idles low on full choke until it jumps to about 4000RPMs at full choke. When running, the bike will die at a stop (or any time the RPMS drop to about 1000) unless I give it throttle. "Other" than that, bike runs ok. 

I was thinking about doing a valve adjustment myself, but really just need to fix whatever is causing the valves to get out of spec in the first place. Can anyone give me a better of idea of what I need to look into, or any other useful info? Bike is an '04, has 14,000 miles on it, I've put 7,000 on it since this time last year. Thanks.

[The Buddha]

Wear causes valve to go out of spec ...

You are having them go tight ... that= wear on the seats and the seating surface of the valves ... the stupid kawasakis would do this ...

You may get a bit better luck if you rejetted to run the bike rich ... cooler mixture and more intake charge coming in would help ... on a kawi eliminator it used to make that 1500 mile interval into a 3000 mile interval as written in the manual ...

Riding with a valve that is open during power stroke will cause it to burn, valves shed heat by radiating the heat into the head ... it will not shed any heat if its not hitting the seat for the required amount of time.

Cool.
Buddha.