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GS550 Engine Tick

  • Thread starter Thread starter XJlimitedx99
  • Start date Start date
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XJlimitedx99

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Hey guys, been awhile since I've been on here.

My 1985 550e sat for the majority of last year and I finally got it up and running today. Unfortunately it has developed a tick in the left side of the top end that I would like your guy's opinions on. I know people say these 16v TSCC are noisy motors but this is worse than noisy. Video down below.

Last year the valves were adjusted by a shop. It did not sound like this after the service. Today I ran the bike for a few minutes and it was ticking. I then changed the oil and ran it for another few minutes. It was still ticking, and the speed of the ticking correlates with the rpm. After running for a bit it seemed to quiet down so I took it for a spin up the street and the ticking came back.

I'm not very comfortable working with the internals. I was thinking I'd pull the valve cover gasket and poke around a bit looking for the source. Any tips on what I should be looking for?

 
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Sounds like loose tappet (or sticking valve ). Odd that it started doing this after its nap.

Remove camcover and investigate. Good time to make sure camchain tensioner is still able to move out against chain.
 
So I finally got around to pulling the cam cover off. What I found was quite disturbing, take a look:

IMG_4806.jpg

Yep, that's the tappet laying down next to that valve. The bigger problem is the nut is nowhere to be found. This leads me to my next questions. Most importantly, where did the nut go? I've been running the bike a fair amount and it hasn't exploded yet. I looked around with a flashlight and fished with a magnet as much as I could with no success.

Next question, how did this happen? Like I stated before, the shop did the valves last year. Is it possible that the nut was never put on or was never torqued? I might go back to the shop and have them make this right but would rather not if I could slap another nut on there and call it good.

Obviously I'm very concerned that it's going to get jammed somewhere that will cause catastrophic damage or be dangerous for me.

Where should I go from here?
 
Drain you oil and drop the oil pan.
Ad do not patronize that shop again
The jam nuts are tricky bits I had one come loose years ago
it ricocheted around and ended up in the sump
it was not marrred so I put it back together and ran it for 50 plus kms before I got rid of the bike.
 
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They were the last ones in there, it's obvious they screwed it up. Good luck.
 
You can clearly see the threaded adjuster in the pic
get a brighter light and some extra young eyes to help search the valvetrain
then drop the pan
 
Look also at the tip of the tappet and the valve. As the screw backed out it would have been hammering, probably mushroomed the end of both.
 
I wonder of the adjuster length exceeds the total travel of the cam follower?
If so no damage to the valve or follower would occur
 
Cipher said:
You can clearly see the threaded adjuster in the pic
get a brighter light and some extra young eyes to help search the valvetrain
then drop the pan
Click to expand...

I thought my LED light and 21 year old eyes were working okay :cool: I will definitely do a thorough double check before dropping the pan. I also might go by a smaller magnet to allow me to snake it down the cam valley better.

tkent02 said:
Look also at the tip of the tappet and the valve. As the screw backed out it would have been hammering, probably mushroomed the end of both.
Click to expand...

Funny you mention that, check this picture of the tappet. Notice the threads on the valve side are pretty marred up. IMG_4808.jpg

Thank you guys a ton for the quick responses. This bike has been giving me hell but I've definitely learned quite a bit about working on these bikes.
 
I FOUND THE NUT!

IMG_4829.jpg
I can't thank you guys enough. I found it on top of the overhang directly below the oil pickup. Looks like it fell down into the cam sprocket, got chewed up and spit out the bottom. I am so thankful this didn't cause my engine to implode. Take a look at this (next post).
 
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