TOPIC:

I tried adjusting my valve clearances on my '80 KZ440 LTD. I followed the instructions in the owners manual, and I thought everything went smoothly. But when I fire it up, I now get a very loud clacking noise coming from the engine.

I didn't run it very long for fear of damaging something.

Any suggestions on what it might be, or what I should do to try to fix it?

Thx.

I would double check every thing. These valve trains are a bit noisy with proper valve clearances. How's the oil, old or low oil well make it noisy too.
Mark

Hmmm, a loud clack probably isn't good...Was it running well prior to the adjustment? Did you have to make any large changes to your valve clearances? Would it turn over smoothly by hand before you bolted the cover down? Did the noise seem like top end noise or something else? The valves may tick when adjusted.

The best thing to do now is to open it up again and have a look around and re-check your clearances. Let us know what you find...

Sam

Skyman wrote:

I tried adjusting my valve clearances on my '80 KZ440 LTD. I followed the instructions in the owners manual, and I thought everything went smoothly. But when I fire it up, I now get a very loud clacking noise coming from the engine.

I didn't run it very long for fear of damaging something.

Any suggestions on what it might be, or what I should do to try to fix it?

Thx.

Thanks both of you for your replies.

I first checked the oil. It was a little low, so I topped it off.

Next, I opened the valve caps back up to check the clearences once more. I was surprised to find that both the exhaust valves clearences had become quite loose. I thought "A-ha! There's the problem." So I re-adjsted them, and tightned the locking nut down good and tight. When I fired it up, the clacking noise was still there. Also, when I pulled the plugs, they looked slightly wet.

So again, I opened the caps and checked. Once again, the exhaust valves were quite loose.

I started again, re-re-adjusted the clearences, and also checked the intake clearences--they were good. Tightened everything down good and tight. Fired it up. This time the noise wasn't quite as bad, but it was quite noticable. Before I started, there was a very slight clicking noise from the top end, but not nearly as loud as it is now.

It seems to run okay now--for the short time that I ran it. Again, I am a little afraid to run it to long for fear of damaging something. I haven't ridden it yet. Just rev'd the engine a bit.

Samwell, to answer your specific questions, it was running well prior to adjustment. I don't think I made huge changes to the adjustment. To get the feeler guage in, I had to back it out a bit. Then I tightened it down on the guage until there was some friction pulling it out. Then I tightned the locknut there. It did turn over smoothly by hand, though I never removed the top cover. Just the valve caps. The noise does seem to be coming from the top end. You said valves may tick when adjusted, but this is louder than I think could be considered "normal".

Any ideas?

It's tough to say without hearing it but these top ends do rattle a bit. There's no hydraulic cushion like in a car, these are all metal. When adjusted there's some clearance so it has to make noise. I'm used to a noise top end, my bike with hot cams runs even more clearance.
Mark

Mark Wing wrote:

It's tough to say without hearing it but these top ends do rattle a bit. There's no hydraulic cushion like in a car, these are all metal. When adjusted there's some clearance so it has to make noise. I'm used to a noise top end, my bike with hot cams runs even more clearance.
Mark

Thanks. Yeah, I know it's hard to diagnose without actually hearing it. All I can say is that it is quite loud, and I have a hard time believing that this is "normal".

Skyman, Please excuse this real real stupid question but, are you absolutely sure the cams were in exactly the right orientation for each valve, when you adjusted the clearances?

Take your valve covers back off.
Take plugs out.
Turn it over by hand and watch what's going on all the way around.
If nothing looks odd, for example cams rocking back and forth because the chain is loose, start feeling things.
Grab the end of a rocker and turn the engine over.
When it's at it's loosest point, wiggle it up and down by hand. You'll find out if any are way out of spec pretty quickly this way.

BARNEYHYPHEN wrote:

Skyman, Please excuse this real real stupid question but, are you absolutely sure the cams were in exactly the right orientation for each valve, when you adjusted the clearances?

Not a stupid question at all. If I understand you correctly, to the best of my knowledge, they were in the right position. I followed the instructions in the owners manual.

1. I removed the valve caps and plugs, and also removed the breaker cover.
2. I used a socket wrench to crank the engine counter-clockwise until the right intake valve went down, then up, then continued to turn until the "T" mark aligned with the timing mark.
3. I adjusted the right intake/exhaust valves.
4. I then made one rotation with the socket wrench until the "T" mark again aligned with the timing mark.
5. I then adjusted the left valves.

Does that sound right to you? Does that answer your question?

Duck wrote:

Take your valve covers back off.
Take plugs out.
Turn it over by hand and watch what's going on all the way around.
If nothing looks odd, for example cams rocking back and forth because the chain is loose, start feeling things.
Grab the end of a rocker and turn the engine over.
When it's at it's loosest point, wiggle it up and down by hand. You'll find out if any are way out of spec pretty quickly this way.

When you say "take your valve covers off", do you mean just the round caps, or the whole top cover? I'm not near my bike right now, so I'm going by memory. With just the caps off, I can't see much besides just the valve tops and the rockers. I can't really see the cams themselves to see if they are "rocking back and forth". Do I need to take off the whole top cover to see what you are describing or should I be able to see this with just the caps off?

Sorry for being so naive. This is all new to me, and I'm trying to learn it. Thanks for your help.

Caps should be enough. With flashlight you should be able to see enough of the cam end of the rocker to tell if there is anything unusual going on. If it was running fine before, I doubt there is. Only mentioned it because it's something you can look at while the covers are off.

Skyman, proceedure certainly sound good to me, right on the money. Try what Duck suggests to see if you can glean any more info. Good luck, let us know.