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Cleaning out metal shavings from shims and cam

  • Thread starter Thread starter oddcycle
  • Start date Start date
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oddcycle

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I made a grave mistake. I had the valve cover off while doing some grinding on my bike. Now there are tiny metal shavings covering the cams and shims. I think I have done just about all I can to fix it with a brush, compressed air, paper towel and care.

Can I cover the cam chain, leave only the shims and cam exposed and spray it with some aerosol product? It would be easy to re oil the components afterwards, I'm just not sure what would or wouldn't leave a residue or have deleterious effects. I went to an auto store and they suggested brake parts cleaner. Is there anything less caustic that I could use? I only really need the pressure behind the liquid to flush everything out. The shavings are all pretty tiny bits of steel from a die grinder, I imagine I will certainly want it out of my engine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for reading.
 
Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm concerned that it's possible but unlikely that some shavings could have snuck into my valves. I have foolishly rotated the engine since realizing the metal is in there. Is there a way to check to see if the valves may be stuck open without removing the cam? I'd really like to avoid that.
 
I'd pull out the cams and wipe down every inch you can reach with clean paper towels. Maybe some brake cleaner on the paper towel. Pull the valve buckets one at a time and clean them after the rest of the head is done. You can not use brake cleaner spray because that will just flush the crud down into the bottom of the engine.
 
I'd argue that flushing it down and pulling the oil pan cover may be the only way to ensure that you've got it all out since the engine has been turned over.
 
Before turning the engine over, I would use a magnet around the buckets to pull out any metallic bits that might get wedged. If you have some non-metallic bits floating around in there, the magnet won't help, but that's the first thing that I would do.

Unless you had the carbs or exhaust off, you won't have gotten anything onto the valve's sealing faces.

.
 
I think I will take a little bit of each method. Magnet, then pull the cam, clean as much crap as I can out that way too and then flush it down the rest of the way. Would brake parts cleaner be the method for flushing it down to the oil pan? I would imagine draining the oil first would be wise if that's the case.

I've read the manual on pulling the cam, it appears to be about 1 page of information. Do any of your mark the cam before taking it off to ensure your timing is right? This page suggests that may be a good idea. It seems to me that if I leave it at TDC while the cam is off, I should be able to reinstall it with the stock lines. There wouldn't be a need to replicate what the stock timing marks show. Additionally as the attached photo shows, the manual appears to have a pair of vicegrips holding the cam during disassembly. This is shown in the photo but not in the written instructions. Any thoughts here? Is that necessary?cam procedure.JPG

As long as I have it all open, I think I'll rebuild the cam tensioner and reseal the tach unit. Any other suggestions of things to do while I have it apart this much?

I pulled the carbs after the silly grinding. The intake was promptly plugged with paper towel.

Thanks for your help!
 
The method i have for cleaning sludged up engines is(method will work with your situation also):
Remove oil plug and leave drain pan under
Run a magnet to ensure no metallic bits
Pull cam(s) and wipe first with oily rag, then dry clean rag and then set off to the side wrapped in a clean oiled rag
Plastic bristle brush and brake cleaner to clear all sludge and bits from every inch
Spray completely with brake cleaner to flush all brushing
Second plastic bristle brush and engine oil to re-oil and wash away any possible cleaner residue
reassemble cam and oil down everything
Pull the oil pan and oil pick up
Thoroughly clean pan and pick up tube
Wipe down inside of pan with oil
back flush oil pick up with oil and ensure the screen is clear
Reassemble, change filter and fill her up

Hope this process helps you out. It seems a bit overkill, but i would rather have over kill and it work the first time. Then pay the price for half assing it.
If your exhaust and intake were in place during grinding, your valves will be fine. If you have pod filters, i would remove them and blow them off. Either plug the intake or do it far away from the bike.
 
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