Valve clearance at 600 miles

[Dom]

Hi everyone,
about a month ago a brought my brand new Kat to the dealer for its 600 miles oil change (the first one where they remove the break-in oil).
The owner manual says that after the first 600 miles the valves should be:
"Inspect and clean, adjust or lubricate as necessary"
However, the dealer's mechanic told me that that wasn't necessary at 600 miles, and that following to owner manual perfectly would be way too costly.
So, he told me to wait till I get 7500 miles on the bike.

What do you guys think about that? Now I'm maybe at around 1500 miles. Should I run to the dealer ASAP and get those valves cleaned, or should I just wait like he said for 7500 miles?

[Spedee]

I bought new and waited also. Then watched the mechanic, bought a manual and I now do them myself. Saving hundreds$ every time.

[IndyGunner]

if I were you id do the initial servicing ASAP. then after that the manual calls for every 7500 miles after that.....

so go do it now and then you can do it at like 8-9000 if you want to.

get yourself some full synthetic oil too. It will smooth out the clutch a TON and it stays consistent way longer than dyno.... try www.kneedraggers.com and get some repsol in a 4 quart drum.

good luck, remember preventative maitenence is key to keepin your kat running at 120,000 miles just like 2000katrider did

[The CyberPoet]

IMHO: Don't push that first valve adjustment service off more than 1k miles. Every Katana I've opened up between 600 & 2k miles to do the adjustment on has had at least a couple beyond acceptable range on them, and Suzuki says that their own statistics show typically 1 in 10 will be out of range by 600 miles (that's 80% chance one is out of spec). Leaving out-of-spec valves that way for an additional 7k miles is a good way to ask for serious long-term trouble.

IMHO: Check them yourself. Time-consuming (mostly to get to them & get the bike buttoned back up afterwards), but not brain surgery. Write ups are all over KR, as well as on my website here:

http://www.motorcycleanchor.com/katana/trinc/valve.htm

NOTE: It is critical you have a proper torque wrench with the capability of reading 8 lb-ft accurately (most torque wrenches are garbage in the bottom 20% of their range, so a 5 to 100 lb-ft torque wrench isn't suitable).

Final thought: Is the bike under warrantee? Think it will stay covered if they fail to do the prescribed work required by the manufacturer?

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Wheel]

Interesting. I just got home from picking my GSX600F up from the dealership where it was purchased. The service guy there (this is a family owned store, since the '60s), told me the same thing. In fact, he said the service chart doesn't call for the adjustment until 7500 miles.

Saved me some money. CP, does that hold true for the newer bikes? mine is an '06

[Tmod]

The person that I bought my bike from made it a point to show me the receipt for the 600 mile valve adjustment from the dealer. He said that they would look down on any warranty if this check/adjustment wasn't done at the interval stated in the manual.

So basically what CP said.

Tmod

[The CyberPoet]

Holds true for all of the Katana's (i.e. - all the air-oil cooled engines), including the 06 models -- if in doubt, check the owner's manual that came with the bike which specifies it.

I think the interval for the new GSX650F may be different (water cooled engines don't tend to get the same heat/contract extremes).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Dom]

Thanks everyone, but now I'm all worried for the health of my bike.
I didn't take it to go to work today

[FAST851]

valvle adjustment

I just recently got my first 600 mile service( actually 775 mile service). The dealer in jacksonville said that the shop manual didnt call for it until 7,500 miles on my 06 kat 750. I showed him the owners manual and he said they have never done a valve adjustment so early. they were hesitant on doing the job so i left with the bike went home and took one of the valve cover bolts out and put a mark on it so i would know if they actually opened up the motor. They did do it and according to the mechanics write up all but one valve was out of spec. Now my mpg has went up tremendously I went from getting 29 mpg to now over 40mpg. The first service is so critical for your kat SO GET IT DONE.

[Wheel]

crap now I feel like I need to take the bike back in again, and I wasted a day waiting for it to get done in the first place. Check it myself? I'd need to buy a small torque-wrench and some shims right? Probably cheaper to just take it in for a valve adjustment.

[The CyberPoet]

crap now I feel like I need to take the bike back in again, and I wasted a day waiting for it to get done in the first place. Check it myself? I'd need to buy a small torque-wrench and some shims right? Probably cheaper to just take it in for a valve adjustment.

98+ uses no shims -- it uses nut-adjuster valves.
What you'd need:
Metric allen keys, beam-style torque wrench (if you want to stay cheap, $25, sears), two sets of feeler gauges, a valve tappet tool ($7.85 delivered from me), and a set of metric wrenches including an 8mm box wrench.
Plus download a copy of the service manual (link somewhere around KR).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Dom]

I left the Kat at the dealer today, but I'll definitely check on your advices CP and try to do it myself next time.

Thanks everyone for the tips, that's one of the great things about KR.

[waz_]

98+ uses no shims -- it uses nut-adjuster valves.
What you'd need:
Metric allen keys, beam-style torque wrench (if you want to stay cheap, $25, sears), two sets of feeler gauges, a valve tappet tool ($7.85 delivered from me), and a set of metric wrenches including an 8mm box wrench.
Plus download a copy of the service manual (link somewhere around KR).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

What's special about the "valve tappet tool" can I just use a spanner, like doing car vavle adjustments.

[The CyberPoet]

What's special about the "valve tappet tool" can I just use a spanner, like doing car vavle adjustments.

Head of the tappet bolts are a square head (inverse of a #4 robertson's screw); the nut to lock the adjustment is an 8mm nut. The Suzuki OEM tappet tool that I sell is simply the appropriate female square head on a steel shaft attached to a round, knuckled plastic handle that makes it much easier to hold the clearance setting steady while you tighten the locking nut (and to easily adjust the clearances small amounts when the nut is loose). It can be done with other tools, but IMHO, for the price, there simply isn't a better way of doing it reliably with greasy hands in the tight quarters you have to work in.
The MotionPro combo tool (their version of the same tappet tool with an 8mm nut wrench surrounding it) is $42 or so, and is significantly more difficult to hold still because the edge of the tappet portion is simply cross-hatched instead of properly indents for finger grips.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[arsenic]

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