Service costs on Gen 4

Its a terminology things

Velocette refers to "penny shims" and Roger refers to "tappet and cam followers". They are both one and the same thing in Suzuki terms. There is a shim or tappet which is a metal disc available in a range of sizes and you measure and insert the appropriate size. They are a bit thicker than what you would normally think of as a shim but they are the same thing and some manuals refer to them as shims.

For this "first batch" of Gen4s there were a load of vehicles coming up for their second service at the same time across Europe. Suzuki ran out of cam cover gaskets which have to be replaced when checking the clearances. Therefore many dealers did not check the clearances as the delay for the gasket was many weeks. Our dealer didnt check them and informed us that they were not checked but they said they had a good listen and there was no sign of a noisy tappet. They had discussed this with Suzuki technical support in the UK at the time.
 

So had anyone on here actually been charged for replacing these parts in a Gen4?

There's plenty of them done over 24,000 miles now, l wonder how many of these engines have had valve clearances go out of tolerance

I have a copy of Suzuki Service Manual A6G415.

The relevant page for valve clearances clearly shows a cam follower - sometimes called a bucket - being measured by use of a micrometer from the top surface ie wiped by the cam lobe to the underside ie that part that touches the valve stem top. There are no separate shims either listed in the chart for sizes or shown on the illustration. The cam follower is it. If the clearance is out you measure the original follower and replace with a new follower that gives the correct clearance.

Yes, it is normal, at least in my experience, for there to be shims that the technician would remove from a box of numbered shims and replace as required. The shims were approx. 10mm across and 3mm thick, the 3mm being variable to change the clearance. To do the job properly you needed a micrometer to gauge the shim and then "do the maths".

From an engineering point of view it's simple and practical but from a "suits" concept of cost it means keeping sets of followers instead of shims. From a technicians point of view there is little to choose as both systems require the removal of the cam followers to adjust the clearances.

Once set up at the factory, there is little to go wrong or wear so the clearances will inevitably remain within gauge, especially as the plus or minus is fairly broad.

Roger

That's quite a surprising way to do things. The shim over bucket design can be adjusted without removing the cams, which is better practice even though it an infrequent event. There are an array of special tools available which keep the valve open thus allowing you to remove and replace the shim. Exhaust valves in particular are prone to closing up over time due to the erosion of the seat whereas the inlet rarely shifts as you said because wear is negligible. 

I agree, the bucket only is the cheapest and simplest way to do it, but the shim over is the easiest to maintain.

Roger