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Stiff valve tappet?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tiger cub
  • Start date Start date
T

tiger cub

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Hope you guys can help me out,

So I had my cams out today and was doing some work on my 1981 suzuki GS 650g and i noticed that one of my intake valve tappet was stiff/ stuck. After some time I finally got it out and swapped it with some other tappets and determined it was not the tappets but something else. Is this normal or is there something that I can do to fix this because all the other seven tappets move freely but this one dose not.

Any help would be much appreciated.

thanks
 
By "tappet" are you referring to the shim bucket? As in it doesn't rotate freely? Are you sure it's not the valve that's stuck?
 
Scored tappet buckets are not unusual. Occurs from overheating and/or poor lubrication. Could be debris contamination too. One way or another the situation must be rectified before putting the engine back in service.
 
What I meant to say was shim buckets, the other buckets move freely that I am able to pull them out and see the valve springs. But the one that is stiff/ stuck takes some effort to make it move, but it is possible to do because I have gotten the shim bucket out and swapped with other shim buckets to rule out that as being a problem.
 
Take a look/feel at the surfaces of the shim bucket and the passage. They should both be completely smooth. If not, there's your problem. I don't know what the shadetree mechanic fix for that would be but a machine shop can sort it out for sure.
 
tiger cub said:
What I meant to say was shim buckets, the other buckets move freely that I am able to pull them out and see the valve springs. But the one that is stiff/ stuck takes some effort to make it move, but it is possible to do because I have gotten the shim bucket out and swapped with other shim buckets to rule out that as being a problem.
Click to expand...

So the problem moves with the bucket? Or stays in the same hole? I have a bucket of buckets....
 
The buckets are fine, there was a little more than normal wear on that bucket but it was still smooth and worked like it should in the other holes. I looked in trying to see if there was any score marks but it was hard to tell. I think it is ether scoring or the valve that is causing the problem.
 
It is tough to see in if there is any visible damage, but if there was it would be in the middle of the hole where i can not see to. I also ran a tooth pick around to feel the wall of the hole but that was not successful in finding much. I really didn't want to pull the head but it looks like I am going to in order to resolve this problem,

Was looking on Ebay for heads and there was one that had the same problem as mine where the bucket was stuck at around half way, must be a somewhat common problem.
 
Last edited:
Good morning,
I'm thinking that there must be a way to fix this without removing the head, or to at least try... Are we to ass-u-me that it was running fine and you found this by chance, or did it hold the valve open and lose compression on that cylinder? If that happened, in the extreme then the piston would likely collide with it and if the valve was bent it would not be able to return to its fully seated position, you would then see that valve lower than the rest.. Since you can get the tight tappet out I doubt that it was holding the valve open and the problem must be minimal, possibly still run fine?
I myself would consider going around the bore with fine abrasive paper, say 600 or 1000 grade wet/dry paper, lubed with varsol or WD40, folded around a holder, popsicle stick or similar, in an up and down motion; you may need to go to 400 grit as the soft aluminium will tend to clog.
You can also clean up that tappet which I believe you said had more wear? Use the same paper, will take awhile but metal will be removed. Could make a holder and spin it in a drill, but finish up by polishing along its axis, in the direction that it slides.
Having just replaced my rings, gaskets and seals just to fix a leaking base gasket I would be trying anything to avoid going there -- again..
If you need more room, or just to see better, you may need to remove the valve springs, it can likely be done in situ, with some imagination, let me know if you need ideas..
Good luck
 
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