12000km maintenance

[CanadianRider]

I'm due for my 12000 km (that's about 7500 miles for the us folks) maintenance. The big/expensive thing that I see on the "recommended" list is the valve adjustments. Some people tell me to follow the book and get it done, others told me not to worry about it until 20000+ kms.

I'm wondering who's got it done and if they were ok. I'm able to do my own oil change/chain adjustment, but never did valve adjustments and seems like a big job. It is also expensive to get it done (2+ hours of labour), so I'm wondering if it is worth the cost at this point in time.

Opinions?

[Steve_Guelph]

Valve adjustment is not that hard to do. It does take time but it is not rocket science. There is all kinds of info here on the subject so I would suggest you read up on the topic. I know my bike will have it done at the 12,000 km mark. I will do it myself. If I was not sure or didn't want to tackle the job I would still have it done. I think there is a post around here that mentions the % of valves out of spec at the service intervals and it was quite high 20% (I think ). When you consider the amount of valves that you have (16) you can be sure that some are out of spec.

[Kat-A-Tonic]

CP has stated that Suzuki expects 80% of the valves to remain in specification at the delinated inspection internal. Now, that may seem high but out of 16 valves the Katana has, 4 of them won't be in specification. It's best to check these things as you don't want to be saddled with a bent valve or worse.

[GytRDunKat]

I just did mine 2 weekends ago (96 750). I stripped the Chain of all the gunk with kerosene, changed the oil/filter/plugs, adjusted the chain/wheel, and did the valves. I have never done it before, and it wasn't too bad. The biggest problem I had was the one of the 4 oil riser bolts(not sure if that's what they are called), located on the valve cover, snapped. I had to wait until last night to put it in. Put it in, and it works great. Only gotchas I would have for you, is to make sure you label all the regular wires, and the spark plug wires (mine had numbers on them). I pulled all the wires out of the way, and stripped everything off the engine to do it. It sounds more daunting than it actually is, and it's quite fun if you take your time and not in a hurry. Plus, you get to see how everything fits together on it.

Took me about 5 hours, but that's with 2 trips to the hardware store about 5 miles away. I took my time... went very slow, VERY slow... You could knock it out way faster than that.

I also noticed that I was caught up on how the feeler gauge should feel sliding out. I read everything on here before hand, and alot of that came back to me as I was doing it. I ended up adjusting the valves about 2 times each to make sure I got them right.

Good Luck, make sure your torque wrench is working correctly for those oil bolts

EDIT: read about my adventure with low fuel, after the valve job ...

http://www.katriders.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22021