fastbob Posted April 28, 2017 Posted April 28, 2017 Browsing through the routine maintenance section of my GSXR 1100 workshop manual the other day I came upon the part about re tightening the cylinder head bolts. Apparently I should have been slackening them off and re tightening them every 4000 miles for the life of the bike. Not a straightforward task by any means. Tank off,plastics off,thermostat,plugs,and finally rocker cover off before you can even see the bolts. So my question is who actually does this ? I confess I have only done it once in 40000 miles so that's nine times too few! The bike runs fine and there are no oil leaks or any water in the oil . All opinions awaited with interest. Quote
Tango Posted April 28, 2017 Posted April 28, 2017 Yeah.....I do it every 1000 miles.....ah, no, wait, maybe I just dreamt that I did..... Gotta say this is the first time I've heard of that......can't really see the point of it TBH...... Quote
Mr Fro Posted April 28, 2017 Posted April 28, 2017 Only time I've ever re-torqued head bolts is after a rebuild. Quote
iangaryprice Posted April 28, 2017 Posted April 28, 2017 First time I have heard of doing this, I have known head bolts need to be re-torqued 500miles after refitting head (let it settle down then re-torque).I would have thought loosening the head bolds could damage the head gasket. I have a GSX600F, similar type engine, not seen anything in the manual about re-torquing head on mine. Quote
fastbob Posted April 29, 2017 Author Posted April 29, 2017 Well I hadn't heard of it either,as I say I kind of stumbled upon it the other day.http://i.imgur.com/adl7uIO.jpg Quote
ThePhatomfart Posted April 29, 2017 Posted April 29, 2017 Your looking at the wrong manual for your bike, the one you are looking at is the GSXR 89-92, yours is the GSXR 93-98, it doesn't state to do that in that manual Quote
Lateralus Posted April 29, 2017 Posted April 29, 2017 Your looking at the wrong manual for your bike, the one you are looking at is the GSXR 89-92, yours is the GSXR 93-98, it doesn't state to do that in that manualI like to think that you didn't have to check any of that, it's just part of your encyclopedic knowledge of all manuals. Quote
Bianco2564 Posted April 29, 2017 Posted April 29, 2017 Is it just referring to the exhaust and a poor translation included head bolts? Quote
fastbob Posted April 29, 2017 Author Posted April 29, 2017 Your looking at the wrong manual for your bike, the one you are looking at is the GSXR 89-92, yours is the GSXR 93-98, it doesn't state to do that in that manualYou're absolutely right! I wrongly assumed that it would be the same . I did have the L model years ago and I never tightened the bolts on that either and that was still going strong at 100000 miles.I still refer to this old manual for general info on torque settings etc because I cant seem to get a 93 WP manual. Thanks for that! Quote
fastbob Posted April 29, 2017 Author Posted April 29, 2017 Is it just referring to the exhaust and a poor translation included head bolts?That was my first thought but no, it means both . It's in the periodic maintenance chart as well. Anyway it's no longer an issue, see other replies. Thanks. Quote
fastbob Posted April 29, 2017 Author Posted April 29, 2017 Thanks for all the replies. Let me put the question in another way . Purely out of interest,who would actually do this if their manual DID state that it was required ? Quote
Joeman Posted April 29, 2017 Posted April 29, 2017 Thanks for all the replies. Let me put the question in another way . Purely out of interest,who would actually do this if their manual DID state that it was required ?Does it provide the sequence in which to re-torque them back up?If not you could easily do more harm than good. Quote
fastbob Posted April 29, 2017 Author Posted April 29, 2017 Thanks for all the replies. Let me put the question in another way . Purely out of interest,who would actually do this if their manual DID state that it was required ?Does it provide the sequence in which to re-torque them back up?If not you could easily do more harm than good.Oh yes,it's in the picture I posted here. Diagonally,working from the centre. Quote
Gerontious Posted April 29, 2017 Posted April 29, 2017 Be interesting to see the publicity material produced for this particular run of bikes. for instance.. were they advertised as being lighter. with the engine casing being some 'all new' alloy that offered significant weight savings.and it turned out that this alloy was 'moving' too much during repeated hot/cold cycles.or maybe it didn't.. that this procedure was deemed unnecessary and dropped from following years manuals. an abundance of caution to begin with.. that turned out to be a waste of time. Quote
fastbob Posted April 29, 2017 Author Posted April 29, 2017 Be interesting to see the publicity material produced for this particular run of bikes. for instance.. were they advertised as being lighter. with the engine casing being some 'all new' alloy that offered significant weight savings.and it turned out that this alloy was 'moving' too much during repeated hot/cold cycles.or maybe it didn't.. that this procedure was deemed unnecessary and dropped from following years manuals. an abundance of caution to begin with.. that turned out to be a waste of time.It an interesting point. Just to be clear , the requirement to tighten was for the oil cooled L model GSXR 1100 and not as I mistakenly assumed, the water cooled WP model. So am I to right to be thinking that this need to regularly re tighten head bolts is,as most of you suggest , practically unheard of? Quote
Tango Posted April 30, 2017 Posted April 30, 2017 Maybe they had a lot of cam cover gaskets that they needed to get rid of...... Quote
fastbob Posted May 2, 2017 Author Posted May 2, 2017 Maybe they had a lot of cam cover gaskets that they needed to get rid of...... Nice notion but its reusable. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.