What should I do about the 83 engine?

[wilcoy02]

hi all, hope you can help --now I know what the knockers club is all about now.
The motor has a knock. Please do not jump right in and say carbs yet. runs fine and idles great all carbs synched and they all work . I was resetting the valve clearance and when it came up to t1 on the no 1
cylinder and both valves closed there is a big clunk, crack just as the intake tappet starts to move in to open valve. Does this on every 360 rotation. but not sure if coming from #1 cylinder. when running has a horrendus knock sounds like in the motor, not sure if front or back. Could this be in the head or further in or is any other valves putting pressure on cylinders to cause this when it approaches t1?
Any ideas?
thanks

Was doing the valve adjustment to see if this was the cause of the knock.
I have ridden the bike about 100 miles with this knock.
Could the alt conversion have anything to do with this?

 

[slabghost]

Dang this is bad news. Can you get a recording of it for us to hear? Check compression. Try removing one plug wire at a time and see if the knock changes with one of them. I'm sure parts can be sourced for a full rebuild but I hope that isn't what it needs.

 

[dan filipi]

When did this noise start? Any work done on the bike just prior?
A loose pulley could make a knocking sound.
When does the knock occur, idling, under acceleration, coasting?
A loose stator nut can cause a knock also.

 

[wilcoy02]

I am not sure when it started. Maybe 3 weeks ago about 400 miles back. I ride maybe 40 miles to the store and what not.

The only thing I did was to put a flashing red light in my radio speaker to let me know when the kick stand was down. And I put a back up flasher on the tail lights.
Neither would create this mess I have now.

It starts as soon as the engine is started.
It is there on idle and gets very little quieter on acceleration.

Using a stethoscope it sounds like it is most noticeable on the left belt cover.

I can not decide to tear into it further or just ride it --That will eventually tell me what it is when it breaks down.

 

[chilidawg]

Apparently you can get the belts wrong by a tooth and it will not actually cause real contact, but just a knock, could that be it?

 

[wilcoy02]

I am going to take the belt covers off tomorrow. Will check the teeth.

 

[wedoo2]

The guy I have do the timing on my Wing (and belts cause I'm a scardy cat) had another one in that the owner put the belts on himself and had the timing off 180 degrees. I would admit to such a thing if that was me as I have no shame or fear of ridicule. The bike ran but had a noticeable knock and was under powered. He told me that they will run like that but it happens if you set the timing on the wrong stroke. Just a thought.

 

[brianinpa]

If the cam gear is off by a tooth, the sound is more of a tick than a knock...

Pull the plugs and check the compression. Are all the pistons actually compressing?

 

[dan filipi]

Check the cam pulley bolts are tight while in there.

Going by your description of what the valve is doing makes me think the valve is sticking or bent.

 

[mcgovern61]

Wes, if you get a chance to get a video posted to youtube to post here, that could go a long way for us to help.

 

[wilcoy02]

ticking of gl1100 83 wing
bike not started in 2 days.
idling 800RPM
Rev to 4,000 RPM
U=TUBE link for knocking. NOt good video but I was shooting for sound.

https://youtu.be/HrWu1gOHAyY

[video]https://youtu.be/HrWu1gOHAyY[/video]

 

[dan filipi]

My first thought is something dropped in the cylinder banging around. Have you checked the plugs and compression?

 

[mcgovern61]

It does not sound like rod knock or anything lower end. It does sound like a valve is stuck or a rocker arm is out of adjustment with a big gap. Could be a valve spring broke?

 

[wilcoy02]

If it was something that dropped in the engine it would not always sound when turning the engine by hand-at the same exact spot-- would it?

Compression will be checked this wkend.

 

[mcgovern61]

If you can hear when turning by hand in the exact same spot each time, you should be able to see something with the valve covers off. Have one person turn by hand while another is watching the valve train to see where the sound originates.

A compression test will tell you right away if it is a bent valve.

 

[kerryb]

I have an '83 with a knock that is quite obvious. Had 118k on it when I got it, made many repairs, head gaskets included, put about 2k miles on it before swapping to a new used engine. The knocking one ran strong. You may get many miles out of yours before the problem forces your hand.

 

[AApple]

mcgovern61 » Wed May 31, 2017 1:15 pm[/url]":3tn6zcig]
It does sound like a valve is stuck or a rocker arm is out of adjustment with a big gap. Could be a valve spring broke?

Ed zachary what I tried to post yesterday after hearing the video....but my post got lost in cyberspace somewhere. :head bang:

 

[made2care]

I have a similar "marbles in engine" sound but not as profound as yours. You can hear it on my "wanderer part 2" thread.

 

[wilcoy02]

This turned out to b a strange moment
I did everything that was suggested on the replies thanks all ok .
So now was time for an indepth diagnosis. With a stephoscope traces the sound to left idler pully . We took it off.
We were talking about the cam pullys should be tight with the belts on . But no tension turned the cam with tension on belt and heard play there looked around and the crankshaft pulley has about 1\4" in free play. Its not tight. Decided to quit for now

LWITZEL

 

[dan filipi]

Hmm, check the key and the slots it goes into. Maybe they got pounded out somehow.