I know this must have been asked many times, so please forgive me for asking again, but I cant find it in a search.

How often should I be checking and adjusting the valves on me GS?

Some of you may remember that I swapped my GS for a much lower ,ileage one e few months back, 5000 miles only. Now she is just coming up to 26,000 miles and starting to sound a little rattly. Could this be valve adjustment as I have never tinkered with them?

She runs and pulls well (as well as a 500 twin ever could) and is still smooth and get good MPG but is starting to sound like a diesil. 

According to my manual, you should check valve clearances every 4000 miles (6000 km) or 12 months.

Hi there,
Every 4,000 miles, according to the service manual.

That could well explain the noises then.

Not so bad If I just think that I still have 1000 miles to go before I need to do it, I just missed the last 5 times or so.

Oops. Maybe I should invest in the book.

Here's maintenance schedule courtesy of gstwins.com:   

http://gstwin.com/maintenance_info.htm

I've done mine about every 8k miles and never found an intake valve that needed shim changed in 80k on the 97 and 60k miles on the 02.  Changed one and changed it back next time on the 02.  Exhaust get tighter and I'm always surprised when someone gets loose valves on the GS.  I do my oil changed on time or sooner though.

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

I've found exhaust valves last longer if set on the loose side of tolerance.

OK, I checked them last night and they seem to all be within tolerance, but I still have the noise to identify.

I also have a new noise as of this morning, but have started a new thread for that.

Thanks for the advise guys.

The noise could be cam walk.There's nothing holding the cams from sliding in the bearing journals.

Quote from: ben2go on June 26, 2008, 12:06:52 AM
The noise could be cam walk.There's nothing holding the cams from sliding in the bearing journals.

Can you explain further?

Does this mean new cams are needed?

Hi there,
No, new cams aren't needed. This is a normal GS500 engine noise.
In these engines, the cams are laid right into their plain bearing surfaces right in the cylinder heads and there are no parts at the ENDS of the cams to keep them from shifting back and forth just a bit.
That's what's called "cam walk" or camshaft end play.
This is a normal occurrence and normal noise, though it can become a problem if the cams walk too much.
There are service limits in the service manual for the amount of distance the cams can move back and forth.
Not to worry.
It's just a noise to accept and love.

Quote from: Trwhouse on June 26, 2008, 06:57:13 AM
Not to worry.
It's just a noise to accept and love.

I like that plan.

I shall ignore that one then and concentrate my efforts on the noise from below. (see other post).

Quote from: oobyscoot on June 26, 2008, 07:16:22 AM

Quote from: Trwhouse on June 26, 2008, 06:57:13 AM
Not to worry.
It's just a noise to accept and love.

I like that plan.

I shall ignore that one then and concentrate my efforts on the noise from below. (see other post).

talk about noise ...buy a sv650 thats valve train noise , the one i just bought and breaking in ,shaZam! the gs is quiet