Bandit 250 valve adjustment ?

[mops]

Hello fellas ;)

My little bandit just passed 20000k's and it is getting rattly form the engine - both hot and cold. I understand that might be cam chain or chain tensioner. ASwell aparently some bandit's require valve adjustment every so often. Can anybody confirm ? I do not have factory manual, so I dont know... I rebuild several car engines in my time and I got skillz and tools, just wanting to get some heads-up before i take my bike apart on on the weekend, and aswell trying to find out that the clearances should be....

[mops]

noone fellas ?
aparently some 600 and 1200 bandits have shim and bucket style valve adjustment ?

[Wasp]

not a clue, but mine was rattling more and more and i was about to look into it before the crash

[mops]

same as mine ;(

on the weekend, I'll pull the rocker cover and see wtf is in there....
maybe toomorow i'll call the $stealer, maybe they know something... even if these are adjustable then we will need to know the clearances ;)

[Wasp]

clearances for atleast my model will be at that japenese website

[Wasp]

synapse site says this:

Valve clearance (COLD)
Intake: 0.17-0.27 mm
Exhaust: 0.20-0.30 mm
Valve timing
Intake:
Open: 33 degrees BTDC (40H.P types: 24 degrees BTDC)
Close: 58 degrees ABDC (40H.P types: 44 degrees ABDC)
Exhaust:
Open: 63 degrees BBDC (40H.P types: 44 degrees BBDC)
Close: 35 degrees ATDC (40H.P types: 24 degrees ATDC)

also found another site in the process but havnt run it through a translator yet so i dunno if its any good http://bandit.rasshai.com/

[mops]

what is the synapse site ?
which year is your bike ?
i tried japanese suzuki website, but it is all in ... japanese.... duh...

[Wasp]

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www1.synapse.ne.jp/s-hara/bandit/index.html

mines a 1990 gj74a 45hp, on the site where other things differ they list both.

[mops]

allright...

i got the rocker cover off and i'm wondering how to adjust the damn things... aswell i think the cam chain is pretty loose to my liking... can anybody point me in the right directions ? i know the clearances and got the tools, just not sure which screws to attack :)

[Ixion]

Make sure the valve you are adjusting is fully closed. The cylinder should be at TDC on the firing stroke (called "on the rock"). Then slacken the locknut, there are two shown in the middle of your first picture, the nuts under the little square ended things. On top of the big springs . Then wind the square headed thing in or out to adjust the clearance. Once right, retighten lock nut. recheck clearnace. Move on to next valve, then next cyclinder. Once you've done them all, recheck all clearances again, Then turn the engine through half a dozen turns . Then recheck all the clearances again. If all OK, you're done (unless you want to recheck again : I would), and button it up.

Did I mention to recheck the clearances. And check that all the locknuts are tight.

[tl_tub]

Woops, didnt see that, forget this post :)

[Pixie]

If the 250 is like the bigger bandits,there will be a large notch on the right end of the inlet and exhaust camshafts.
Put the bike into top gear and rotate the engine with the back wheel till the notches are facing each other.(facing inwards ).This will put cyl 2 inlet,cyl 3 exhaust and cyl 4 inlet and exhaust valves into position for measurement and adjustment.
Now rotate the engine till the notches face away from each other ( facing outwards ).
Now cyl 1 inlet and exhaust,cyl 2 exhaust and cyl 3 inlet valves are in position for adjustment

[toymachine]

Dropped my bandit off to a fella on friday inpart to look at rattling i'm guessing the same as yours.

I'll post what he said once I get it back, hopefully early today.

[mops]

easier said than done. this square drive on the studs is a 3mm square hea. i got no socket for this. exhaust valves can be adjusted with a 3mm wrench (i got one), but intake valces require socket, and there is no clearance otherwise...

i dont have manual for my bike, just what i could find off the web. i got few exploded pics of a what i believe is 400cc bandit and it all looks very similar...

aswell i played with timing chain tensioner. this thing is a joke... ok i've seen few car engines inside but no mike engines... cam chain is surrounded by plastic 'guides' from all sides... the tensioner itself if a long plastic giude aswell... no wonder thin thing is rattly... but i founf ouy how the cam tensioner works, so i'm gonna put few things together (not thw whole bike, just enough to run engine) and i'm gonna play with cam tensioner... as it is easily adjustable from the outside of the bike ;)

[toymachine]

Fella mentioned in passing mine has automatic tensioners which can be problematic, and if so he'll make them manual..

[mops]

allright... well... i forgot to mention...

i checked all the valve clearances. exhaust valves are all good (did few minor adjustments, but they were still within the specs). for exhaust valves clearance is about from 0.20mm to 0.30mm, and they are were around 0.23 to 0.25 mm with 2 valves about 0.28 so i got them down to 0.25

intake valves seem tight... factory specs recomment 0.17 to 0.27 and the are few 0.17, few 0.15 and 2 are i think 0.13.... sadly i cannot adjust them wihout proper tools...

i'm putting the bike together to test run it... watch this space...

[Wasp]

can ya do mine too? :hug:

[mops]

no worries buddy ;) let me just find my 3/8 extension bar that will reach from auckland to welly.... :dodge:

[mops]

Fella mentioned in passing mine has automatic tensioners which can be problematic, and if so he'll make them manual..

I would be really keen to find out the results. let us know definitely.... as well find out from him what exacly he did. whether valve clearances were out of spec's... too loose or too tight ? whether cam chain guides were worn ? (mine appear to be not worn at all, but what do i know anyways....). report in full and let us know how much did you paid ;)

i did put my bike together... maybe it is a tad quieter, but still kinda rattly to my liking. next weekend i'm gonna arrange myself a siutable valve adjusting tool and loosen up those intake valves and balance carbs...

what i found is that it is possibly to adjust the camchain tensioner with tneing running :gob: so basically you can adjust it to be most quiet. if it is too loose you will hear the distinctive cam chain rattling. it's not too hard... with the right tools it can be done wihout dissasembling anything ! :yes:

[mops]

just came back from a ride...

it does seem quieter (cam chain tensioner being the prime suspect), but i can still hear some valvetrain, so next week i'm going to do it properly ;)

[toymachine]

Didn't ask those questions, didn't see the post before going. He said those engines are fairly prone to it anyway, mines alot quieter but it's still there, but not a worry. He's had like 10years experience with Suzukis or something so i'm fairly confident in his advice.

[Pixie]

easier said than done. this square drive on the studs is a 3mm square hea. i got no socket for this. exhaust valves can be adjusted with a 3mm wrench (i got one), but intake valces require socket, and there is no clearance otherwise...

)

A tool can be made using a square drive wood screw as a socket.use something as a handle and choose the correct size screw ( one that takes a #2 bit )

[El Dopa]

Have a look at the 250 and 250/400 FAQ sections of this forum.

http://banditalley.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php

There might be something in there worth reading before you get stuck into it.

[Bonez]

. sadly i cannot adjust them wihout proper tools...

I just use a pair of long nose pliers for the square screw tops and the correct size spanner for the lock nut on my old GSX750, which has exactly the same setup. Easier than you think I feel. Just don't rush it.:yes:

[mops]

i got a tool off my buddy... i actually thought about square drive wood screw....

so that's sorted, however.... i see a major issue.

i checked out banditalley, and in fsq section, 250 bandit valve clearances are:

Inlet: 0.10 - 0.15 mm or .004" - .006"

Exhaust: 0.15 - 0.20mm or .006" - .008"

which is different than what I came across before, which is (read first few posts of this thread)...

i'm concerned now... nobody knows exacly. will call colemans and find out what they have to say....

[Wasp]

hmmm, Im not sure how different the engines are but its possible that they are quite different between models

[mops]

Hey guys update...

so it's like that...

that japanses bandit 250 website states valve clearances:
Intake: 0.17-0.27 mm
Exhaust: 0.20-0.30 mm

while banditalley FAQ states
Inlet: 0.10 - 0.15 mm or .004" - .006"
Exhaust: 0.15 - 0.20mm or .006" - .008"

so I called colemans in auckland today and the dude in workshop told me to not adjust valves, because if I take rocker cover off I'll loose oil pressure and my engine will die... he told me that red rocker cover vvt models are automatic and to not take rocker cover off.... I'm like OMG WTF... never ind them... called the bike store on the shore and they told me
intake 0.1-0.2mm
exhaust 0.2-.025mm

which is yet another set of dimensions... but they told me to call RedBaron, they imported few of these so they may know....

[mops]

redbaron told me that:
bandit 250 1995 onwards:
intake (non variable): 0.13mm - 0.018mm
intake (variable): 0.10mm - 0.20mm
exhaust : 0.20mm - 0.25mm

[Wasp]

aye, looking at that japanese synapse site again theres not alot if anything on any of the "newer models"

[bumsex]

I wouldn't worry overly... if you've got valve clearance that is good.
Just ride the thing oh and change your oil.