valve adjusments.. 8000miles never done..

[The Dark Knight]

lol i guess im not dumb after all... well moslty

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by RED-M

so i'm at 12,500 give or take, and it runs fine...no valve adjustment for me.

Originally Posted by DMAN302

I was told by local service shop not to even worry untill I hit 15,000.

Well, we all know that bike service shops ALWAYS give the correct advice, don't we ???

You guys will probably be fine but you need to know that you are flirting with danger. Valves that get a little loose just make more noise and may cause a slight loss of performance but no real damage is done.

When a valve becomes too TIGHT, however, there is NO WARNING.....until it burns and warps and then you are looking at a good deal of $$$ to fix it.

A really LOT of riders get away with long valve check intervals but a scant few don't. It is a big gamble, IMHO. I will not intentionally go more than 50% past the recommended check.

[DMAN302]

Wouldn't it also make you curious how many people actually incorrectly set the gap when tighening the lock nut improperly or too little torque? How many shop techs rush the job for lunch, buisy schedule, end of day? I would be willing to bet as many top ends are damaged by improperly done efforts as damage done by not tending to them.

I would love to hear some bonified horror stories from M owners who ignored the valve adjust intevals? I have yet to hear any....google search...advise.

I'm not attacking...simply stating my thoughts. Everyone has opinions on things that 'need' to be done IE fogging in fall, oil change intervals, Fuel processers etc. Give me one answer and I can come up with someone who's experience has lead them to do the exact opposite....and all the bikes continue to roll.

IMO if you hear the valves...lord knows they talk enough, and my tech adviser says not to worry, then I don't. I'm not going to be burried with this bike, I'm going to enjoy it for a good while and trust the people I know to help me care for it. Given enough time the engine will fail...they all do, but have we heard of valve adjustment as being a point of discussion when they go for rebuild? Has anyone had their tech advise them of issues upon inspection after the engines opened up for repair issues?

[GeorgiaRoller]

Originally Posted by DMAN302

Give me one answer and I can come up with someone who's experience has lead them to do the exact opposite....and all the bikes continue to roll.

I believe in preventative maintanence as a good general rule. But whatever happened to the old saying "If it ain't broke don't fix it".

[The Dark Knight]

coffin sealed by GeorgiaRoller.. lol

Everyone think this is a good general rule of thought on this..
1. Rocker arms makeing normal sound as we are all used to along with same engine power etc.. Dont worry about them and check them at 13,000-15,000 if all still sounds well just to be safe...
2. Rocker arms no longer making audible noise... Check very soon for tight rocker lash

The point of me starting this was I just dont believe it needs to be done every 600 miles or 1400.. man that would be like onces every month and a half to 2 months for me... adjusting a wish bone valve in a tight space that often would bring down my approval of the bike a bit and i just think the dealership or zuki recommended intervalls are for warranty issues for the more fluk jobs done on the assembly line etc.. and its a money maker as stated by the dealers statement a few posts back...

Bottom line eveyone its your bike and we all want them to stay running and I wanted to see how many ppl were in the closet about not adjusting them like me lol

[GeorgiaRoller]

Originally Posted by The Dark Knight

1. Rocker arms makeing normal sound as we are all used to along with same engine power etc.. Dont worry about them and check them at 13,000-15,000 if all still sounds well just to be safe...
2. Rocker arms no longer making audible noise... Check very soon for tight rocker lash

That would be my take on it. Another M50 owner (Smurf) had his adjusted at 15,000 miles and he swears he could tell a big difference in performance. But every bike is different. Some probably do need it at 8,000 and some probably don't need it until 25,000 or more.

I'm at 16,000 miles. It's in the back of mind and as SOON as I can tell something is different performance wise or hear them making different sounds I'm going to get them adjusted right away.

[burnchassis]

Ok I didn't want to chime in ,for fear of sounding lazy.
My valves have never seen daylight....near 30k miles.
I like to think I have a good ear...riding all my days...many bikes to hear.
If it isn't broke,don't fix it?
Now I just probably sealed my fate by speaking up. I will break 1 tomorrow.
CS

[old new biker]

I am in the middle of doing mine right now, and I can tell you, if I had to do this every 1500 miles, I would trade for a bike with valves that did not need to be adjusted.

I have been on it for a couple of hours, and haven't even begun to adjust a valve yet. I have the front cover off and am ready to give that one a shot.

[Rumrunner]

Originally Posted by old new biker

I am in the middle of doing mine right now, and I can tell you, if I had to do this every 1500 miles, I would trade for a bike with valves that did not need to be adjusted.

I have been on it for a couple of hours, and haven't even begun to adjust a valve yet. I have the front cover off and am ready to give that one a shot.

How did it go?

[Manuel]

Originally Posted by The Dark Knight

coffin sealed by GeorgiaRoller.. lol

Everyone think this is a good general rule of thought on this..
1. Rocker arms makeing normal sound as we are all used to along with same engine power etc.. Dont worry about them and check them at 13,000-15,000 if all still sounds well just to be safe...
2. Rocker arms no longer making audible noise... Check very soon for tight rocker lash

The point of me starting this was I just dont believe it needs to be done every 600 miles or 1400.. man that would be like onces every month and a half to 2 months for me... adjusting a wish bone valve in a tight space that often would bring down my approval of the bike a bit and i just think the dealership or zuki recommended intervalls are for warranty issues for the more fluk jobs done on the assembly line etc.. and its a money maker as stated by the dealers statement a few posts back...

Bottom line eveyone its your bike and we all want them to stay running and I wanted to see how many ppl were in the closet about not adjusting them like me lol

The Manual doesn't specify to adjust them every 600 or 1400 miles. That would be rediculous. It specifies that the first check be at 600 miles on the odometer, and then every 7,000 miles after that. Every 7,000 miles (12,000 km) is not that bad at all.

[The Dark Knight]

to those that have adjusted there valves did you see another crankcase breather on the front head or is there only one on the rear?

[d_m50]

is that the tube that plugs into the snorkel under the tank?

[The Dark Knight]

yea

[burnchassis]

30,053 miles on mine ,and it hasn't had the valves adjusted since 7500.(they were ok then) Still purrrrs like a kitten.

[TNM50]

I was curious about this as well and talked to the owner of the bike garage where I got my tire put on as well as another bike mechanic near my house. They both said they have checked bunches of suzuki's for valve clearance and only a small number of them needed adjusting and those that did were still pretty close to specs. Like many have said, to tight is worse than to loose. The one mechanic told me that if it becomes hard to start it could be a sign of valves to tight and get them checked soon. I told him I had 9000 on mine and he said if it starts and runs fine then not to worry about it. Don't know how true this is but just what a couple of shops told me.

[burnchassis]

Originally Posted by TNM50

I was curious about this as well and talked to the owner of the bike garage where I got my tire put on as well as another bike mechanic near my house. They both said they have checked bunches of suzuki's for valve clearance and only a small number of them needed adjusting and those that did were still pretty close to specs. Like many have said, to tight is worse than to loose. The one mechanic told me that if it becomes hard to start it could be a sign of valves to tight and get them checked soon. I told him I had 9000 on mine and he said if it starts and runs fine then not to worry about it. Don't know how true this is but just what a couple of shops told me.

[taiguy]

for those of you who have checked it yourself, how much of an effort will this be? I'd like to do all my maintenance myself if possible but need to know how much time to budget for this as well as any special tools I'll need to get.

[DMAN302]

It can be a tough job...alot of time spent ensuring you know where everything you take off goes, and the area allowed is tough to get to for actually checking the valves...there's not alot of room in there. I would figure on no less than 5-6 hours for a first time attempt. I personally would prefer to spend 300 and ensure the dealer does it for me, I just don't have the time or desire to learn the process for something I would only be doing every couple years. My luck I break a connector or under/over torque something and the cost/effort scale sky rockets. I spent 20 years building and restoring cars....I know how a 'simple job' can go all to %%%% in half a second. Other than that I have no issues doing all the general mantenance myself...guess I'm just getting old.

[Clint]

I did my valves for the second time last weekend at 26,600 miles. The last time had been at around 8,000, IIRC. I honestly don`t recall whether I did the 600-mile check at all. Two of the eight exhaust valves were about .002 tighter than the spec range, and two or three of the intake valves were slightly loose. At that rate of wear, I presumably could have gone another 15,000 before an exhaust valve bottomed out. Or not.

In any case, valve adjustments keep an engine feeling smoother and may help with throttle response. It`s also a good opportunity to look things over and clean the sand and crud off the valve covers.

[Ray Nielsen]

I've gotta comment on valve clearances here with my experiences. I had an M50 and helped several other C50/M50 owners with maintenance over the past few years. I'm a retired motorcycle mechanic with over 50 years of wrenching under my belt.

At 600 miles the four bikes I checked ALL had tight or reduced clearances and were adjusted accordingly. I believe that the initial closure or reduced clearance is due to initial break-in and the valves settling into their seats. I've seen this on most other bikes too.

On my own M50 clearances were checked at 7500, 15,000, 22,500 and 30.000 miles, mostly to keep the extended warranty in effect. Only one valve needed minor adustment at 7500 miles and nothing changed in further checks up to 30,000 miles. That seems to show that initial valve adjustment is critical, then longer than normal intervals can be observed.

My M50 developed increasing valve train noise beginning about 25K miles and finally at 32K miles the noise was pinpointed as bad cam chains and tensioners. Thankfully the extended warranty saved me the $2000 repair costs. BTW, the cam chains appeared to be of Chinese manufacture and maybe the tensioners too. Both cam chains were badly stretched and one tensioner was all the way extended while the other one was stuck.

My dealer also replaced the valve stem seals and piston rings due to excessive oil consumption - about 800 miles/quart - all under warranty.

Just my two bits worth on the subject.

Ray Nielsen, in Minneapolis and sitting out rain today!