Hello all,
I very recently purchased a 1982 Goldwing Aspencade. When i was purchasing it, the owner did not have it running and had been "working on it" to get it running, which it wasn't. The engine turned over very well, sounded like it wanted to fire but just would start up. The guy had put new carbs on, new plug wires, new coils, and a new battery. (he had the receipts for all of this. 400+ dollars of parts) Anyway i gave him some money (500) and I took the bike home.
I tore down the bike so i could get to stuff to start going through it. The plug wires were in the wrong locations so i corrected, tried to fire=huge backfire through the exhaust on the right bank.
I removed the timing covers and checked timing=dead on perfect.
Checked the valve lash= #3 exhaust was so far loose that the valve wasn't even moving. The rest were out but not that bad. Anyway i set the lash on #3 (and the rest of the ones you can do while on T1) and was hand rotating the motor to T2 to do the rest of the valves and the engine locked up on me. Oh crap! Rotated the engine backwards (front side crank) and checked my #3 lash and it was perfect. Rotated the engine again = locked after a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a rotation. So i loosed the lash on the valve all the way out. Engine still locked up. Loosed all the valves so none were moving = engine still locks up.
Ok Fine. I'll pull the head. so i did, and lo and behold what i found.
I am assuming the bike wouldn't start due to horrible valve lash and incorrect spark plug wires after the previous owner replaced them. He replaced the carbs because the bike had sat a while and they were full of varnish. I image when he swapped the carbs he dropped a screw down the intake and after cranking on the starter the screw got sucked in through the intake valve into the #3 cylinder.
I see one little scratch in the valve relief from the screw but no damage to the cylinder walls. I see no external damage in the head, but will open the valve and thoroughly check before putting it back together.
Other than the screw, the internals look really good i think. Hardly any carbon at all.
Anyway, thanks for letting me share my find.
P.S. I'm brand new to the forum. I've had many bikes in the past (Honda, Harley, Kawasaki, Yamaha, etc.) This is my "cheap" project to get me back riding since i haven't had a bike in a couple of years.
I very recently purchased a 1982 Goldwing Aspencade. When i was purchasing it, the owner did not have it running and had been "working on it" to get it running, which it wasn't. The engine turned over very well, sounded like it wanted to fire but just would start up. The guy had put new carbs on, new plug wires, new coils, and a new battery. (he had the receipts for all of this. 400+ dollars of parts) Anyway i gave him some money (500) and I took the bike home.
I tore down the bike so i could get to stuff to start going through it. The plug wires were in the wrong locations so i corrected, tried to fire=huge backfire through the exhaust on the right bank.
I removed the timing covers and checked timing=dead on perfect.
Checked the valve lash= #3 exhaust was so far loose that the valve wasn't even moving. The rest were out but not that bad. Anyway i set the lash on #3 (and the rest of the ones you can do while on T1) and was hand rotating the motor to T2 to do the rest of the valves and the engine locked up on me. Oh crap! Rotated the engine backwards (front side crank) and checked my #3 lash and it was perfect. Rotated the engine again = locked after a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a rotation. So i loosed the lash on the valve all the way out. Engine still locked up. Loosed all the valves so none were moving = engine still locks up.
Ok Fine. I'll pull the head. so i did, and lo and behold what i found.
I am assuming the bike wouldn't start due to horrible valve lash and incorrect spark plug wires after the previous owner replaced them. He replaced the carbs because the bike had sat a while and they were full of varnish. I image when he swapped the carbs he dropped a screw down the intake and after cranking on the starter the screw got sucked in through the intake valve into the #3 cylinder.
I see one little scratch in the valve relief from the screw but no damage to the cylinder walls. I see no external damage in the head, but will open the valve and thoroughly check before putting it back together.
Other than the screw, the internals look really good i think. Hardly any carbon at all.
Anyway, thanks for letting me share my find.
P.S. I'm brand new to the forum. I've had many bikes in the past (Honda, Harley, Kawasaki, Yamaha, etc.) This is my "cheap" project to get me back riding since i haven't had a bike in a couple of years.
