Hey all, time for the old oil change and I decided, after reading about all of the fun problems associated with it here, that I would tear off the clutch cover and inspect the cam chain tensioner.  It didn't look good from what I read; the plunger was out about 16-17mm.  The girl's at 6400mi. (2005 S40).  1500 from me in the past few months, the rest from the previous two owners.

My question is, I guess, what are my best options and is she still ridable in the meantime?  I know I need to talk to Verslagen about getting one of his set-ups, but what about the mean time?  I LOVE to ride, and can't stand just seeing her on the stand waiting to be fixed, but if safety is a concern I may have to...any advise is greatly appreciated.
~Cheers, Chris

Now is a good time.
But it has to be fixed before 22mm
1mm = 1000 miles
You have about 5mm to get that fixed.
How long till winter for you?

B- yep, that is just the cylinder portion of the plunger.  I will replace the chain eventually, but may take the cheap road for now (Verslavy) if thats safe.

Verslagen, I'll PM you about getting a verslavy.  If it could last till 8000mi that would be the next oil/filter change and would be closer to winter.  I'm in Raleigh, NC so it never really gets to be "winter"...if it aint snowing, I'm gonna be riding, or at least trying.

Could this have been cause by low idle speed mixed with heavier weight oil?  The PO had the idle set very low (thumpa thumpa low) and was using 20W-50.  I've set the idle higher and am using a 10W40 now.  Just an idea.

Yep.  Just posted a pic.  Looks exactly like the one from the tech section unfortunately I was in the same spot as you.  Figured I'd be good.  It's a low mile 2005...PO's can be a B!$@* I'm learning...

Only had 4,500 miles on my tensioner and it was at 21mm when I took off the side cover.  Whew!  Saved by the Verslavy!  New oil filter and oil, new side cover gaskets, valve adjustment, and much quieter on the road!  But, since I too had to use the second hole inthe Verslavy, it will be new cam chain time when I tear into it again.  A couple of years, based on the number of miles I ride per year.

Justin, we know from the OEM cam chain mgf that Suzuki didn't buy the OEM's top of the line silent drive chain, and now they (Suzuki) are buying a substitute chain from a Chinese supplier for the current production bikes and aren't even buying the original OEM's chain any more.

Nothing on the 2000 and up bikes are lasting like the original 1987-2000 bikes lasted ....   "made in China" ring any bells with anyone?

bill67 wrote on 09/09/11 at 16:59:35:


But it has a good fuel gauge right?  

The world is the way it is --- bikes designed in the 80's and tested out with American and Japanese grade components may not perform or last in the 2012 models built off a Chinese vendor base.  

Sorry, that's just the way it is.   And it affects all makes of bikes, we just have data on ours to prove it because it and we have been around that long.

Our OEM bone stock engine is slow revving and could run push rods just fine.   We rarely break 5,500 rpms in stock format.   Heck, a putt putt person won't ever break 4,500 rpms.

Mod your bike though, and you can go up to 7,000 rpm and pushrods simply won't work at those RPMs.

As far as these new bikes showing very low cam chain wear mileage -- hell, we were all shocked when they started dying less than 25,000 miles about 5 years ago.  

Verslagen kept a database of cam chain wear out miles and extension amounts back then, so if there is a sudden new downward shift just lately he should be able to say so, definitively.


Verslagen, Isle 3 --- data spill on Isle 3