How important to check valve clearances ?

[Florida Guy]

Background:
I recently purchased a '93 GSX1100G with 2,500 miles from the original owner.
I was told he never had the valve clearances checked due to his busy schedule.

My question:
I have it on good authority that it is important that I have them checked soon.
I would like to get other opinions. How important is this ?
I shudder when I think about leaving the bike in the shop and what damage might occur. On the other hand, I don't want the engine damaged by my neglect. Last time I visited (a different) shop, my other bike was returned to me with a scratch on the tank, chip on the fender, and small gouge in the timing cover.
This bike is mint and I hope to avoid a similar situation.
I plan to use a different shop this time.

This is not something I am able to accomplish myself, so I will have to pay to have it done.

[chef1366]

It's better to hear the valves instead of smelling them.

You can do it. Does your bike use shims?

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Florida Guy,

I don't know what the maintenance schedule is for your bike. But on mine, the valve checks should occur every 4000 miles or so. Valve checks are not hard, but they must be done meticulously. The check itself doesn't take long at all. It's the disassembly and reassembly that takes the time. And valve checks are very important to the health of your motor. Running too tight will burn valves.

I'm pretty sure you've got the lock nut adjustments on the GSX1100G (you are a lucky duck to have that bike!) and you can get an idea of what it takes by looking at the 16-valve adjustment guide on my website (graciously provided by Mr. basic).

I've heard many horror stories of bike shops mangling up our classic bikes. That's why I'm learning all of this stuff as quickly as possible. Good luck to you.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[rapidray]

You DEFINITELY need to have the valve clearance checked. The thing about it is that you can't hear a TIGHT valve like you can a loose one! Bite the bullet & either buy a manual & learn to do it yourself, or take the chance on a shop. If you take it to a shop you need to explain to them your past experience with damage to your bike & make sure they know that if your bike is damaged when you pick it up that they will need to make it right. Ray.

[simon kuether]

Definately get them done.Definately find another shop.Give the dealers a miss and find "old mate"-the one man band-who loves older bikes.You can tell them by the smile when they first see your bike.Not the sarcastic smile of (sadly) many dealers now,but the smile of appreciation and anticipation.Cheers,Simon.

[psyguy]

find "old mate"-the one man band-who loves older bikes.You can tell them by the smile when they first see your bike.Not the sarcastic smile of (sadly) many dealers now,but the smile of appreciation and anticipation.Cheers,Simon.

what a cool tip !

[chiphead]

May I be so bold as to ask what you paid for this most excellent machine. If you don't want to publicly state this a PM would be fine. Or you can just tell me to go screw myself. I would probably buy one if I could find one with a price that is acceptable to me.

And as the others have stated, you definitely are due to have the valves adjusted. These use a rocker and adjustment screw. Not that hard to do. Pick up a manual and have a go. The trickiest part is to get the locknuts on the adjuster screws tight enough to stay while at the same time keeping the proper clearance without over tightening.

[Florida Guy]

May I be so bold as to ask what you paid for this most excellent machine. If you don't want to publicly state this a PM would be fine. Or you can just tell me to go screw myself. I would probably buy one if I could find one with a price that is acceptable to me.

Hey chiphead - I had the same bike I bought new as a leftover in '94 (long gone) and really wanted to get another one at this time as I really liked almost everything about the bike.
I looked for about 6 months before finding this '93. I wanted a mint, low mileage example, preferably still with the original owner.
I found this bike over on the GSX site at Yahoo! The original owner decided to sell after all this time as he needed the money to invest in his business.
I paid $2,500 for the bike, then paid $595 to have it shipped to me in Florida.
If you are really interested in finding one, there are 2 that were just listed for sale - one with 6k miles, the other with 15k. This bike was produced from '91-'93 only, and are virtually clones of each other. I believe the '91s came in 4 colors, but the '92-'93 were only available in maroon or black.

[drhach]

Not to suggest that you shouldn't adjust your valves, because you should. However, the risk of not doing it is not that great. Eventually what will happen is that the bike will become harder and harder to start and eventually will not start. Obviously you want a good running engine and as previously stated, "a somewhat loose valve is a happy valve". You won't destroy your engine if you don't do it though. It just won't really run well and eventually won't run at all.

[Nessism]

You won't destroy your engine if you don't do it though. It just won't really run well and eventually won't run at all.

Tight valves, particularly the exhaust valves, can burn because they will never close which is critical to their cooling. Very bad. That said, their is minimal risk with an engine that only has 2500 miles on it.

[chiphead]

Hey chiphead - I had the same bike I bought new as a leftover in '94 (long gone) and really wanted to get another one at this time as I really liked almost everything about the bike.
I looked for about 6 months before finding this '93. I wanted a mint, low mileage example, preferably still with the original owner.
I found this bike over on the GSX site at Yahoo! The original owner decided to sell after all this time as he needed the money to invest in his business.
I paid $2,500 for the bike, then paid $595 to have it shipped to me in Florida.
If you are really interested in finding one, there are 2 that were just listed for sale - one with 6k miles, the other with 15k. This bike was produced from '91-'93 only, and are virtually clones of each other. I believe the '91s came in 4 colors, but the '92-'93 were only available in maroon or black.

Thanks Florida. I'm a member of the GSX forums on Yahoo and I'll check it out. Been a bit since I've passed through there. You got yourself one heck of a sweet machine. Enjoy the ride.

[Skyboy8950]

That all being said, I just got a bike and did a valve adjustment. The bike was the hardest cold start ever. 1min of cranking to get it started. It was horrible. Most of the valves were .1 to .15 too tight. Who knows how long that has gone on for. After the adjustment, it started on one crank! Vroom Vroom!

Little effort, huge reward!