How-to : Valve Adjustment

[jonathan180iq]

The following "How-to" as been adapted for this forum from: http://i2kdave.wordpress.com/2009/07/23 ... djustment/
All credit should be given to the original poster, i2kDave and board member Brucea for finding it.

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Here are the tools you will need:
6mm allen wrench
flat wrench, or other similar tool
3? extension (optional)
ratchet
set of feeler gauges
8mm wrench
22mm socket
17mm socket
10mm socket
valve adjuster tool (09917-14920)
spark plug wrench




First, remove the two 10mm bolts holding the back of the gas tank.




Make sure the fuel valve is in either the “ON” or “RES” position, and disconnect the fuel hose and vacuum hose. Now you can lift the gas tank off and sit it aside.




Remove the left cylinder head cover cap with the 6mm allen wrench.




Disconnect the spark plug and remove it with the spark plug wrench.




Remove the four 10mm bolts indicated by the arrows to remove the valve inspection caps.




Next, you need to get the piston in the correct position before checking the valves. Remove the valve timing inspection plug with the 17mm socket, and the generator cover cap.




I had to loosen the cap with some WD-40 and removed it with a flat wrench I had in my toolbox.




Using the 22mm socket, turn the crankshaft until the “T” mark aligns with the arrow on the generator cover, and the piston is on the compression stroke. You can tell when it’s there by plugging the spark plug hole with your finger and rotating the crankshaft until you feel pressure on your finger.




Once all that is done, you can start checking the valve clearances. You’ll be checking the space between the valve stem and the adjusting screw, indicated by the arrow. Be aware, the intake and exhaust valves have different specs. Just to clarify, the intake is toward the rear of the bike, and the exhaust is toward the front.




If any need adjusting, loosen the locknut with the 8mm wrench and turn the adjusting screw with the valve adjuster tool until it has the proper clearance. Try not to let the screw turn while you’re tightening down the locknut, or you’ll have to adjust it again. Trust me, I speak from experience.

The exhaust side isn’t that difficult to work with, but the intake is in a very tight location. I moved some of the wires and cables out of the way and still had a hard time getting my fingers in there. Do yourself a favor and buy some angled feeler gauges. Mine are flat, and that made it even more difficult, not to mention that they got all bent up in the process.

Once you get them all adjusted to spec and the locknuts tightened down, rotate the crankshaft 720° and check the clearances again. If everything is good to go, just put everything back together and you’re done!

[jonathan180iq]

Considering how many failures have been occurring here on the forum that are valve related, I'm going to start just suggesting the factory recommendation. I've never been around a vehicle that actually needed that much check up on something like valves. But it's certainly easier than having to replace the head.

I had mine for roughly 8,000 miles and I only did the post break-in inspection. There are guys who have been riding their GZs for years and only ever done the initial check. But I guess somewhere along the way the law of percentages was bound to catch up with us.

Check your valve clearances every 3,000-5,000 miles.

[mainlinecoffee]

Is it a gz thing for the valves to be way too tight? When I got my valves checked at 6 or 7k they had no slack.

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by mainlinecoffee

Is it a gz thing for the valves to be way too tight? When I got my valves checked at 6 or 7k they had no slack.

Just the nature of the design. It is an easy adjustment overall compared to the shin and bucket design of some other engines. My Vstrom had the shim and bucket design. No adjustment needed after 25,000 miles but would need the cams removed if the shims were in need of replacing. One fellow Vstrom rider had over 100,000 miles with no adjustments needed.

As a side note. There are some cars on the market with shim and bucket designs now. That should be a real shock to the folks who bought an economy car only to be hit by a very expensive maintenance now and again.

[blaine]

Originally Posted by mainlinecoffee

Is it a gz thing for the valves to be way too tight? When I got my valves checked at 6 or 7k they had no slack.

Yes On motorcycles the valves get tighter as the valve sinks into the head.That is why if you don't hear a little valve noise it's time for a adjustment. (unless it's a Honda with hydraulic lifters)

[raul10141964]

I work on chines scooters an 90% of the times wen they don't start ore run like crap the valves are to tight

[TrevorG]

So with all the action in this thread recently I decided to check and adjust my valves. Now im 99% sure I've gotten everything adjusted within specs, but when I just took it for a test ride it bogged down and died as if it was running out of gas. Could start it again with the petcock on prime but if i turned it back to the normal on position sure enough it died again a few minutes later. Also when I brought it back into the garage it smells like it's running too lean, a burnt kind of smell.

Any ideas on what I could have screwed up while doing a fairly straightforward maintenance?

EDIT: Just a tip to all the geniuses like me out there, REMEMBER TO RECONNECT THE VACUUM LINE TO THE FUEL PETCOCK. Problem solved

After adjustment, the bike runs much better. I'm getting a lot more range in the gears. It's pouring rain right now so I only went around the block a few times, but I easily got up to 30kmh in first gear whereas before I was lucky to get to 20 before the engine wanted to explode. Second gear took me to 55 rather than 40 like before the adjustment. Very glad I decided to do it today as I had just been procrastinating on it the past few weeks.

[5th_bike]

Great job, well done!

[jonathan180iq]

Originally Posted by TrevorG

EDIT: Just a tip to all the geniuses like me out there, REMEMBER TO RECONNECT THE VACUUM LINE TO THE FUEL PETCOCK. Problem solved

Hahahah. Awesome. Glad you got it sorted.

[golem]

"turn the crankshaft until the “T” mark aligns with the arrow on the generator cover"
Can someone point at the "t" mark and the "arrow on the generator cover', please?
newbie trying to do some valve adjustement here and I'm having a hard time seeing those..Thank you