Front exhaust valve clearances

If you see the image below you will notice that the front two exhaust valve gaps close more quickly over time than the others.

Is this typical for the SV? Does the front cylinder run a tad hotter? (seems counter intuitive) Im not worried by it by any means, its pretty slow. Its just an observation. The spark plug colour looked perfect.


My bike has an easy life, as you can see by the clearances.

Where do you find the correct clearance? What is it listed under in the Haynes manual? Is your 2011 check in spec? I did mine today and rear cylinder seems really tight. less than 0.05 on intake and around 0.1 on exhaust. Am i doing it wrong? Its a 2001 Curvy with 30k miles. I think its the first check.

[Spanner Man]

Good morning all.


I have found that many engines have some valves that require adjusting more than others. Especially earlier in the engine's life. There's not necessarily anything wrong. I think it's a case of the various components bedding in differently.
SV's seem to vary considerably. In around 50% of the bikes I service, some bikes need valves need shimming at 15k. Whereas others that haven't ever had the clearances checked don't require any adjustment at as much as 40k.

My own 900 Diversion, that has covered a whopping 172k. All of the clearances have been adjusted several times. Except for one exhaust valve, that was adjusted once at 15k. Since then, it has had a consistent clearance of 7 thou (.178mm to you youngsters).


Cheers.

Blimey my thread is back.

Originally Posted by Serdna

Where do you find the correct clearance? What is it listed under in the Haynes manual? Is your 2011 check in spec? I did mine today and rear cylinder seems really tight. less than 0.05 on intake and around 0.1 on exhaust. Am i doing it wrong? Its a 2001 Curvy with 30k miles. I think its the first check.

• Haynes is known to have some errors in some editions, best use the free suzuki manual online.
• Yes my 2011 clearances are in spec.
• You could be doing it wrong if the cams arent in the correct position.

Originally Posted by Spanner Man

Good morning all.


I have found that many engines have some valves that require adjusting more than others. Especially earlier in the engine's life. There's not necessarily anything wrong. I think it's a case of the various components bedding in differently.
SV's seem to vary considerably. In around 50% of the bikes I service, some bikes need valves need shimming at 15k. Whereas others that haven't ever had the clearances checked don't require any adjustment at as much as 40k.

My own 900 Diversion, that has covered a whopping 172k. All of the clearances have been adjusted several times. Except for one exhaust valve, that was adjusted once at 15k. Since then, it has had a consistent clearance of 7 thou (.178mm to you youngsters).


Cheers.

Excellent, thats the kind of answer i was hoping for

"You could be doing it wrong if the cams arent in the correct position."

^^^^^^This

I did it properly and rear exhaust were both around 0.19mm, about right for a 30k bike I guess. I have intake valves dead on spec at 0.1mm. is it worth changing the shim?

beabert your table really helped me figure out what to do.

Originally Posted by beabert

Blimey my thread is back.

• Haynes is known to have some errors in some editions, best use the free suzuki manual online.
• Yes my 2011 clearances are in spec.
• You could be doing it wrong if the cams arent in the correct position.

Excellent, thats the kind of answer i was hoping for

Originally Posted by Serdna

"You could be doing it wrong if the cams arent in the correct position."

^^^^^^This

I did it properly and rear exhaust were both around 0.19mm, about right for a 30k bike I guess. I have intake valves dead on spec at 0.1mm. is it worth changing the shim?

beabert your table really helped me figure out what to do.

Glad it helped

Personally, if i was you, id be changing my exhaust shims as the clearance is very slighlty out of spec. Im very picky and go by the book for peace of mind. If you do decide to change exhaust shims, you might as well do the intakes too, it will likely save you having to change any on the next service interval.

However, as long as you do check and change on the next service interval you will be fine to leave them as they are. What you dont wanna be doing is leaving them as they are, and passing the next recommended service interview.(Another 15k)

The choice is yours really