Learned a lesson about PO's today

[Guest]

When I bought my bike the PO mentioned he had just done the valves recently. It ran on 3 cylinders and sounded like it was missing hard. So I spent time rebuilding carbs (was going to be done anyways but not the point) and making sure fuel delivery was good. Didn't phase the engine. Tore it down to check the valves and wow. The gasket was beat and looked like it had been on and off multiple times. The cylinder that wasn't firing had intake valve clearances closer to .3 mm (.08 -.13 is spec). I've never trusted PO's but man this one was way off!

On a side note, what kind of negative side effects could have been caused by this? Anything I should watch out for coming up?

[tkent02]

Actually you need to get the spec right yourself. It's .03mm to .08mm. A lot of us use .05 to .10mm. At .13mm it will probably run OK, make some noise. .3 Can't be good for it and it would run like crap but it's not the cause of a completely dead cylinder. You said misfiring hard, you mean completely dead as in never firing at all on that one cylinder?

It probably didn't do any permanent damage if that's what you're asking.

Ah, stupid PO tricks.

[yank]

Actually you need to get the spec right yourself. It's .03mm to .08mm. A lot of us use .05 to .10mm. At .13mm it will probably run OK, make some noise. .3 Can't be good for it and it would run like crap but it's not the cause of a completely dead cylinder. You said misfiring hard, you mean completely dead as in never firing at all on that one cylinder?

It probably didn't do any permanent damage if that's what you're asking.

Ah, stupid PO tricks.

Tom,Not to stir the pot from memory i thought the clearance was.003-.005 inch or.08-.13 mm I'm pretty sure I have been doing.005 inch on my 16 valve 1100 achuly did it yesterday AM had not started it yet got the gasket late yesterday,I think I will check my book before I start her.

[mdturner]

Straight out of the suzuki manual says .09-.13 mm.

http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/GS750_16valve.pdf

And honestly it was running so bad I couldn't really tell if it was truly missfiring or what. It just was rough. Now though it's running really smooth and after a carb sync it will be golden

[yank]

Just looked at my suzuki manual it says .09-.013 mm or .004-.005 inch and on Basscliff site it says .003-.005 inch or .08-.13 mm A little more will not hurt it will give you more time in between

[Big Rich]

Different models have different specs apparently. I just did the valves on my GS450 and it's the same as Tom suggested: .03 to .08mm

It does make a good point to check the service manual and double check things yourself though.

[yank]

Might be the 8 valve specs,like you say good to check. I don't think he said what model.

[hjfisk]

The shim motors are different than the adjustable 16 valvers

[bwringer]

The shim motors are different than the adjustable 16 valvers

Yep. OP didn't specify what sort of conveyance was under discussion until later.