NAME THAT SOUND! ....ugh

Smallzphoto wrote: Hery All!

I have a pretty serious mystery sound that I need help diagnosing.
When I shut off my engine I hear what sounds like a piece of junk rattling around in my engine for a second before coming to rest.

Give a listen to my video here and tell me if it sounds familiar to any of you.

It sounds like its in the top end somewhere. would anything actually have room to rattle around like that if it were in the bottom with the bulk of the oil? Am I crazy? I have no idea what it could be.

Here are some notes as to what I have been experiencing lately that may or may not be helpful:

1982 kz440 ltd
9000 (ish) miles on the odometer but the speedo didnt have a cable when I got the bike so.... who knows.
The bike sat for 3 years until I recently brought it back to life.
It needs valve seals (oil fouling on the left spark plug.)
The head gasket has a slight weep of oil.
The Cam Cover on the front of the engine leaks,

I adjusted the valves to spec 2 days ago and went for a ride afterwards.
I was pushing the engine a bit hard going up towards the 7-8000 rpm range for about 30 secs or so every so often.
About 20 miles into my ride the engine got a bit buzzy with vibrations and it sounded like a valve on the right hand side maybe had gotten a bit loose again. I checked the valves today and they are still adjusted properly. The clicking from the right side of the engine seemed to have stopped but when I shut it down...... rattle rattle rattle,......

Also, My left exhaist sounds a bit more "poppy" than the right does..... Theres a video attached for that as well but I'm not sure if its related to the main mystery sound.
Ugh. Just when I thought I had a ridable bike!!!!!!

Please help with any advice/knowledge.
This is my first "project" bike and I'm trying to stay sane while I work on it but...... (bangs head on wall)

Thanks in advance!!!
-Smallz

Here's the rattle:

rattle.mov

Exhaust sound related?:

leftexhaust.mov

That sound can be heard while the engine is running.
A longer observation is needed.
There is no need to buy a mechanics stethoscope. A long screw driver can be used instead.

SWest wrote: Is there a pan? I had a 750 twin come in and it hopped on it's center stand. Turned out to be the counterbalancer coming apart.
Steve

Never been inside a KZ750b.
It would be virtually impossible for the KZ400/440 to fly apart. And I've spun one up over 12k.


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You should have seen this one. It was coming apart.
Steve

I tried using a screwdriver as a stethoscope before I drained the oil and pulled the clutch cover but since I'm not a mechanic and have never heard another kz440 engine, I really had no idea what I was listening for. Hah.

This is my first endeavor into working on an engine so my knowledge is limited to my manual, YouTube, and this forum

I have a gasket kit on the way this week and would need to reinstall the ones I removed to get into the bottom end before I could get oil back in it and give it another listen.

I might as well just take the valve cover off before I put oil back in. Maybe I'll see something obvious when I do.

It would have to be obvious for my newbie eyes anyway haha.

So based on Nebr_Rex' opinion, should I feel confident that it's probably not the counter balancer on the kz440?

Is there anything else that it could possibly be that wouldn't involve me taking the entire engine down?

I'm just worried about the fix becoming much more complex than my skill set and wallet can handle.

I've got about $800 into getting the bike running so far and have only been able to put 60 miles on it since I've owned it

I guess the point of me saying all of this is that I'm trying to keep from being too discouraged by this process.

I initially had budgeted $500 to get the bike back on the road and I'm already well past that.

You guys rule. Thanks for the knowledge so far!

Ive pulled the valve cover, cylinder head, and cylinders today and havent seen anything blaring that seems like it might be making that sound. I needed to replace the head gasket and valve seals so I was gonna have to do this stuff eventually anyway haha.

Im probably gonna have to pull the starter cover and left side engine cover next to see if I can finally find it.

In the mean time, Ive taken some pics of the valves and cylinders. Can anybody weigh in on if they look good/bad?
Theres a bunch of carbon crap on the valves etc. Is that something that just needs a cleaning or do they look like they need replaced?
Im gonna tackle this kinda stuff before I reassemble so I only have to tear it down once haha.

Thanks in advance!


Valves:


Left side valve:


Right side valve:


Piston tops/cylinders:

Left Piston:


Right Piston:


Left Piston:


Right Piston:




Also...... Under the Middle Cam bearing, Theres a brown drip cooked on to the head. Does it look like anything I should be concerned about?

Clean the piston top and combustion cambers.
Renew the valve seals and set the valve clearance right to spec.
The brown dip under the cam bearing could be burned in liquid gasket sealant but nothing to worry about it.
The pistons are not OEM (ART brand) but looking good,(you have to measure cylinder bore,it could be the next re-bore size over stock diameter).
A compression test before disassembly would help if new piston rings are needed, to late now to say.
A carb rebuild is also necessary by the "wet" looking surface of the left piston and combustion chamber.
Looks like a really fat air/fuel mix condition, (unburnt fuel).

Scirocco wrote: Clean the piston top and combustion cambers.
Renew the valve seals and set the valve clearance right to spec.
The brown dip under the cam bearing could be burned in liquid gasket sealant but nothing to worry about it.
The pistons are not OEM (ART brand) but looking good,(you have to measure cylinder bore,it could be the next re-bore size over stock diameter).
A compression test before disassembly would help if new piston rings are needed, to late now to say.
A carb rebuild is also necessary by the "wet" looking surface of the left piston and combustion chamber.
Looks like a really fat air/fuel mix condition, (unburnt fuel).

Yes they are ART pistons, look at all the pictures.


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