Suzuki V Strom DL650 - Valve Clearance Adjustment 

Greetings from the States, William. Yep--any time I have a valve cover off, I'm always hesitant and anxious about pressing the Go-Button for the first time! It's definitely not easy to get the rear CCT back in and installed, but it's good to know it is at least possible without removing the rear wheel. I simply can't comprehend how to do it with the earlier suzuki 650 twin CCT (1st generation SV650) without removing the rear wheel. I know people have claimed to have done it, but I can't picture how. Cheers.

Glad to hear you got it. I had to mess around with it for a while until I understood how the releasing mechanism worked as well. Once I finally hit it with the screwdriver I was like "ooooooohhhh... shit, that was easy". Mad8v's video really helps for a visual on what's actually happening.

@@matttriestodothings Hi Matt, I have finished my shim exchange and the bike is ready to ride running beautifully. All my clearances were right on the lower limit except for one intake valve which was spot on. The Suzuki dealer said I could leave them as they are because technically they are still in specification. I thought buggar that, I have got this far I will change shims. That’s what I did and now all the clearances are in the middle of the specified range. Thanks Matt, your video was invaluable, I couldn’t have done it without your help.

@@murraycharters6102 Murray, that's awesome to hear! Your thoughts on "I've got this far" was my same thought on why I wanted to go to the middle of tolerance--I doubt it'll need it again in the bike's lifetime. Congrats on getting the dreaded valve adjustment done!

Good on you for doing it yourself. I could see how they could justify that price--it's just a lot of time dicking around to actually get to the valves. With the DL just removing and reinstalling the fairings is a pretty time consuming chore, and there's always the risk of breaking a mounting tab on accident.

There's just a mountain of plastic on this V Strom that makes it a longer project. I'm thinking that'll be the case for most "Adventure" bikes these days. The thing is freakin' massive to me and yet I know it's dwarfed by some of it's competitors and bigger siblings. Crazy. Thank you for the Sharpie suggestion--added to my Amazon cart. I wish I could re-do this video and not zip-tie the front intake camshaft... I tried to edit most of it out, but it hurts continuity. Oh well. Biggest thing I imagine people would be interested in is whether you need to remove the rear wheel anyway. It turns out, you don't! The Suzuki 650 twin motor is actually pretty easy to work on. It's so much simpler to get to everything on an SV650 compared to this DL650 though. I quite enjoy the twin in the SV. It's pretty boring on the V Strom though--nothing to get excited about. Just a reliable mule of a bike.

Honestly, same. I worked myself up for about 2 weeks just pacing around my sv650 (essentially same engine) before I did it the first time. It's like anything with motorcycle maintenance though. It's always scary the first time and it takes 5-10x longer the first time. Then you make it thru and realize it ain't nothin' but a thang 😅

Thanks Vasil.

Thanks Frank. I bought a Hot Cams 7.48 "refill kit" that included 5 of every shim from 1.50mm - 1.75mm. I gambled on the fact that I wouldn't require anything over 1.75mm based on discussions on forums. It's possible a 1.80mm could be required, but I didn't need one for either my SV650 nor DL650. Bendy screwdriver is an ARES 51000. Just copy that into Amazon. It's $15.12 as of today. I tried a weaker one before that was no good. This ARES is better. I use the factory manual. There's also a link in this description to a pretty popular guide for people to reference. No worries about the questions--I had a lot of the same ones when I first did a valve clearance adjustment.

@@matttriestodothings Appreciate the response, Matt. I'll be ordering all the same stuff. I remember in 1978, I did a valve adjustment on a KZ 1000, but the shims were on top of the bucket- so much easier! No cam pulling. My roommate had a KZ 650, that had a redline approaching 10K. His shims were under the bucket, so the cams had to be removed. I heard any bike with over 10k must have shims under or they have a tendency to spit out.My '71 CB 750 had threaded adjusters- so easy.You not only try to do things, you get them done correctly. CircleNZ was a good ref., but I'll be using yours!

No problem Fred. Realistically what you need to do to be sure that you aren't going to damage the engine is to be sure that you're timing is correct. If you check the fronts at the correct 'F' and the rears at the (270° after) 'F' and the markings on the camshafts align with the images in the manual, you're going to be fine. Even if somehow you had gotten off by a pin somehow, it would still be "okay", it just wouldn't run right. Check those cam alignment markings _after_ resetting the cam chain tensioners in. I should have emphasized this more since it's easier to get an accurate reading of the "flush" marking when there is no tension. Yes, the reason I like to rotate several times by hand is so I can hear/feel any interference. The interference of concern would be the valve hitting the piston. This would come from getting the timing quite screwed up and (imho) much more likely to happen if you pull both cams out at once. It's more of a sanity check I like to do just to make sure I didn't have some major brain fart. It also allows me to go back and double/triple check the clearances and verify my cam lobes and markings are where I expect them to be based on the pictures I took prior to disassembly and the drawings in the manual. So yes, your assumption is correct. I think you're going to be fine. I'm just a nervous nelly about anything I touch because... idk why. Probably beer.

Hey Murray--I'm pretty sure you'll need to pull the bolt all the way out because the tensioner plunger will not depress unless you are able to unwind the tension on it. If you watch Mad8V's video about the tensioners, it should do a better job than my video did explaining why. Check this video around 1:10 here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w_A6wQ7p-PM.html It's definitely a bit of a pain to remove the rear cam chain tensioner. If you've got your bike on sturdy ground (especially if you have rear spools and a rear stand), it's honestly probably easier to just remove the rear wheel instead of trying to get creative with socket extensions/bendy screwdrivers like I did in this video. The good news is you may not have to mess with any of it. There's a good chance your valves are all still in spec--a lot of examples of people at that mileage that don't need any adjustment.

No problem Craig. Hopefully it's useful.

Ares 51000 flexible screwdriver with 1/4" drive. $15 on Amazon. www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B082BJ47W9?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

@@matttriestodothings Man...I just wanted to come back and say thanks! That flexible driver made all the difference in getting that rear tensioner bolt back in. Without it, I'd still be in the garage!

@@treering Oh that's just friggen awesome to hear man! Congrats on the valve adjustment. Onward and upward to the 2022 riding season!

Going back into my purchase history.. it looks like I bought the factory manual for $90USD+fees in 2018 from www.genuinesuzukimanuals.com Parts Number: 99500-36250-03E For the most part you can almost always get away with one of the Clymer manuals for a lot cheaper for most maintenance items. I'm also willing to bet you can find a digital download by going to the bike-specific forum stromtrooper.com

That's a great question, and thank you for prompting me to bring a DL650 manual into the toilet with me this morning. The valve clearance measurements are both taken at the "F" for the front and rear, yes. Picture from manual 1D-40: i.imgur.com/NbeA0fe.jpg However, for removal of the REAR camshafts, you need to have the markings to line up in a certain way on the camshafts, and that doesn't happen at "R" on the flywheel. It happens at "F". The instructions I'd printed from somebody else doing this procedure on a SV650 made a point of it here: i.imgur.com/Wy8ArN9.jpg Additionally, the Clymer SV650 manual corroborates it on page 106 "Installation (Rear Cylinder)" #2 here: i.imgur.com/UAIdaG0.jpg

Wow thanks for all the help! So if I'm reading this right, I check and adjust the front cylinder on the "F" then rotate it 270 and check the rear cylinder on "R" but if it needs adjustment I need to bring it on around so it would have been 360 to start with which will align it back up with the "F"?

@@stringtwister7654 Yes. It gets goofy with the rear check being at the 'R' but the adjustment and removal of the camshafts on the rear being on the 'F'. I found the article I was thinking of. They did an awesome job explaining it--far better than the manuals. Ironically, the Clymer manual does a far better job than the $140 Factory Service Manual I bought. Link to article: circlenz.co.nz/suzuki-v-strom-dl650-valve-check-and-adjustment/

Honestly, if you've got a good shop that will do it for $325.00 and you trust them... it's actually a pretty good deal. There's a ton of time involved removing fairings and other nonsense. If you told me $625 I'd probably tell you to start thinking about doing it yourself, but $325 sounds well within the realm of reasonable. That is if they're doing the actual valve adjustment. I'd just ask what the clearances are set to on each of the 8 valves when they're done. They should be able to give you that information even if they don't pull a camshaft and replace a single shim.

for you or others, have a valve check done first and liklihood is they are going to do only that unless your bike is beat up , most v's go 80k with no adjustment needed. if it fails the check and needs shims, that is a good price for that job, but a poor price for just checking and doing no adjustment (the 95% likely scenario.

@albion2742. I am 79 and I am in the middle of doing a shim change. My 2017 Strom XT 650 has done 52,000 km. I purchased it new in April 2018. There is no way anyone could do a shim change for $325 There is a ton of work to do. I didn’t get a price but I estimated a cost of about $A 1,200 to do the job. I am slow and methodical. Lots of my friends told me “ if it is running well leave it alone” This is my first valve clearance check. Only one intake valve is in the middle of the range and all 7 of the remaining clearances are right on the bottom end of specified tolerances.

@@murraycharters6102 我的朋友也是告诉我，如果车辆运行良好，杂音不要管它！ 我觉得我必须仔细阅读官方手册，来重新调整气门间隙以及正时系统😬

Not many. About 10,000 kilometers. Probably even less when I shot this video. It was winter and I was curious. I won't bother looking for several more years or 30,000+ kilometers now.

heh, thanks man.

I think you should be fine. I'm quite surprised you'd be able to get the chain to jump off without removing the tensioner--I'd make sure it still seems like it's functioning properly (that is, that it still extends and applies tension once you reinsert it). But yes, you should still be able to use the first cam as a guide considering it didn't move. Ultimately, as long as you get those markings in the same place, you be fine. You could pull both cams if you wanted (but I don't recommend), but doing them one at a time makes it much simpler mentally to put them back into the same spots because you'll always have 16 pins between marks.

@@matttriestodothings Thanks for confirming. I now have such good access to the tensioner from above I'm wondering if I can get the exhaust rod/sprocket/chain back in place without having to crawl under the bike to remove/reinsert the tensioning bolt. Maybe I can get a buddy to hold the tensioner down with a flathead while I button everything back up. Can't see a reason not to try.

Every other example I've seen of people doing this has been done with a collection of extension sockets. A wobble would be best. I hadn't seen anyone else use the bendy screwdriver. That being said, when I do this again in the future... I'm just putting spools on the swingarm and putting it on the paddock stand and taking the rear wheel off.

@@matttriestodothings thanks! Gonna tackle this later today.

@@Max.527 How did you go Max. Hope all was well. I’m doing mine soon

@@murraycharters6102 follow this video. All was very well explained and it went smoothly for me!

It would be a bad sign if it *didn't* run normally. Sounds like you've got it figured out!

@@matttriestodothings I am on vacation and always double guess myself after putting things back together carefully! lol

@@Max.527 Hah, I know that feeling well! Enjoy your vacation!

I guess the first question is.. Is the exhaust smoking white at all? That would indicate a head gasket leak or failure. My initial guess is water pump seal. Shit I wish I had some useful advice.

How much water are we talking about? And are you certain it's coolant, or is it just water? In the winter if you're doing a bunch of short ~3-7 minute rides where the bike isn't getting totally hot, it can introduce condensation into the engine that doesn't evaporate out. That didn't sound like your issue, but just want to rule out variables.

Not sure there is a download of the service manual for free. I have the big ass hardcopy.

Nope. These are shim under bucket. So instead of changing the tappet height on a rocker arm, you change the shim out to different sizes to affect the valve clearance.

Yep--same concept. I did my 2001 SV650 before I did this 2018 DL650. I'd still work with a model-specific service manual though. Depending on the year of your SV, the cam chain adjusters may look and operate slightly differently.

@@matttriestodothings thanks bud. New subscriber right here. 👍

@@smithdavid3420 hah, don't get your hopes to high. Thank you though.

@@matttriestodothings your dead right i bought the manual today it's the same but your video is way better for me because I don't read English well.

@@smithdavid3420 I think videos are useful. I'd just make sure you have the actual instructions as well.

A lot of people do exactly what you mentioned and are just fine. I'm not saying it's the best idea, but I've heard a lot of stories of bikes over 50k miles that haven't been touched.