Engine Locked?

[Kingalls]

I have an 85 gs550 tscc. I have never had problems with the engine. Recently i replaced the leaky camshaft cover gasket. After I closed it up, I tried to start it. The motor turned over twice, then once or twice more slowly, and then came to an abrupt stop. The battery is not dead. The bike rolls in neutral but the back wheel skids if i try to push start it. I am pretty confident that i did not drop anything near the camshafts or mess them up in any way. Could this be a problem with the starter? Does anybody have any ideas?

[gs road racer]

Think about what you did before starting to check things.Anything missing? Did you have the plugs out? All bolts accounted for? Tools accounted for? it would be pretty easy to drop something in a plug hole or down the center into the cam chain.Discribe abrupt stop? Any noise?

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. Kingalls,

I wish you could have joined us under happier circumstances. Did the camchain get messed with? All I can do for now is invite you to my website to download a manual. It might help.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", the Carb Rebuild Series, and the Stator Papers. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...

Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[almarconi]

Try bridging the starter solenoid terminal with a screw driver, see if turns over. I suppose your starter could have failed.

Check all your fuses.

[TeamDar]

Put it in neutral and see if the engine turns with a wrench

[posplayr]

Put it in neutral and see if the engine turns with a wrench

+1 on that and take it easy

[gs road racer]

Do not turn the motor forward!! If you turn it see if it will turn backwards. But only a little. If something is in there going forward against a stuck object can do a lot of damage. You need to eliminate some things. THINK THE WORST, hope for the best and it'll get fixed without further damage.You haven't posted again give us a little more info. Is anything missing? Did you undo anything other then the cam cover? Any problems scrapping the old gasket off? I ask this because someone inexperienced with stuck gaskets pieces could use a lot of things to remove it that aren't engine friendly. IE sharp blades that could break off.Or slip with a tool and knock something into the cam chain tunnel.Give some more information please.

[1_v8_merc]

You didn't replace any Shims or touch them did you?
(is it even a Shim motor?)

I've had Shims pop out of the buckets before and lock up my cam....luckily I was turning the engine with a wrench and "making sure" the shim was seated correctly, lol.
So all I did was reverse the engine(thus making some room), and push the shim back into the bucket properly.
(i was replacing shims at the time, it's not like this happened out of nowhere)

I don't possibly see how this could happen, since i don't think you were touching the cam or Shims, but yeah......

[TeamDar]

This is not a shim model. TSCC 16 valve. You need to backtrack. If all you did was remove and reinstall the valve cover then you need to remove it again and see if the motor turns over. Then you can see if there is some interference in the valve train.

[madjack57754]

Second that. Remove the valve cover and look to see if anything was left in, or out.

[Rick65Cat]

+3
Pull the valve cover. The gasket wil be fine.

[Kingalls]

I've looked back and realized that the spring clamp on the breather hose is missing. I don't know how it happened but maybe it fell into the camshafts and down around the timing chain. I plan to open the camshaft cover again and take a look. I was also told I might be able to see the timing chain on the crankshaft if I take off the oil pan. Is this true?

[gs road racer]

You can't access anything through the oil pan you'll get enough of a look to **** yourself off and I'm sure that's already happened....I agree take the cover off but be VERY careful about turning the motor over until you've eliminated or found the problem.This may end up being something best handled by a shop. Everyone has moments like this take a deep breath and get on with it!

[tkent02]

This may end up being something best handled by a shop.

That's rather humorous, but yeah they can probably sell you a bike that still runs.

[almarconi]

Before tearing the engine apart, check the floor for the missing clamp.

I remember putting the forks back on my KZ and I had an extra spacer left over. I spend over an hour trying to figure out where it went only to finally realize that the spacer was actually an exhaust gasket that had been laying on the floor