Sounds nasty now - why?? Test your ears..

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You can see some of the lobes by removing the side plates , one where lift pump bolts and the one in front, which cylinder did the flat rollers come off I’d be tempted to back off tappet adjusters on their cylinders and remove push rods and see how it sounds different when running on 3, did you try feeling for listening for tapping on each tappet when running
 
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It would be unusual for a rocker to have to too much play but it must be possible. They obviously should rotate freely but there shouldnt be any free play. If any rocker can be moved up and down in relation the the shaft there is a problem

Col
I’ll get the cover off again and take another look - I didn’t notice any wear in the rocker bushes but I’ll double check for any vertical movement. Ta
 
View attachment 265372 You can see some of the lobes by removing the side plates , one where lift pump bolts and the one in front, which cylinder did the flat rollers come off I’d be tempted to back off tappet adjusters on their cylinders and remove push rods and see how it sounds different when running on 3, did you try feeling for listening for tapping on each tappet when running
I didn’t think the lobes looked iffy so avoided removing the side panels but may have to now. Rollers slightly scarred on cylinder 2. Good idea to remove push rods - didn’t think of that. Did pull the ht lead from each spark plug - didn’t have any noticeable affect on the rattle. Next chance I get I’ll look at the rocker shaft again and try without push rods in turn and see what happens. As well as trying to feel for anything odd.
 
Maybe measure each valve clearance wit a dial gauge rather than feelers, engine age might mean weird stuff is worn so when you sat valve clearance using feelers you might actually be setting it to double the factory setting.
Used to be a tool for this exact job called a clickadjust.

Ps I hope you did not mean 25mm? post number 77.
 
Thanks. Meant .25mm!
Have a dial gauge but had difficulty getting it to the right positions to measure accurately but will attempt again as noise does sound tappet related doesn’t it so worth persevering there before further stripping I think.
 
How do the adjuster screws look on the rockers. They should all point roughly in the same direction when adjusted correctly. If you have one or more completely different from the others those are the ones to investigate.
I’d still want to have a look under number one piston with so much damage. It could be the first to start self destructing with such a good hiding.
 
Managed to get some time today, so ran it with the cover off again and it was pretty clear where the issue was - valve 3 had a huge gap. Could I have missed this one when setting the gaps after putting the head on? Certainly possible :oops: But on setting it again I noticed that the spring seems a lot less stiff on this one - it can be compressed when adjusting the valve clearance (ie the rocker will push it down). This doesn't happen on the others so I'm thinking that spring needs replaced (mine only has one per valve). But I re-set the gap anyway as best I could and triple checked all the others. Upshot of all that.... the noise has gone! Result..
This is what it sounds like now:

Remembering that it used to sound like this:

So a huge difference.
It still sounds like one of the valves is a bit 'sticky' to me, but I'm going to see how it beds in for a bit. It may well be the dodgy spring so I'll get that changed when I can.
'course now you're all thinking 'did he strip the entire head and disassemble everything when all he needed to do was check the tappet gap?' - well i'm asking myself that too... :mad: But i'm pretty certain the gaps were all good before i stripped it as it was the first thing i checked. That's my story anyway and I'm sticking to it!
And the stripping down was actually fun - makes a huge difference when it's not your daily drive any longer so no time pressure to get it back on the road, no more working on it in the dark and rain.
Cheers for the company while i worked through it - all your tips on what to check and how were incredibly useful as always.
TS
 
Managed to get some time today, so ran it with the cover off again and it was pretty clear where the issue was - valve 3 had a huge gap. Could I have missed this one when setting the gaps after putting the head on? Certainly possible :oops: But on setting it again I noticed that the spring seems a lot less stiff on this one - it can be compressed when adjusting the valve clearance (ie the rocker will push it down). This doesn't happen on the others so I'm thinking that spring needs replaced (mine only has one per valve). But I re-set the gap anyway as best I could and triple checked all the others. Upshot of all that.... the noise has gone! Result..
This is what it sounds like now:

Remembering that it used to sound like this:

So a huge difference.
It still sounds like one of the valves is a bit 'sticky' to me, but I'm going to see how it beds in for a bit. It may well be the dodgy spring so I'll get that changed when I can.
'course now you're all thinking 'did he strip the entire head and disassemble everything when all he needed to do was check the tappet gap?' - well i'm asking myself that too... :mad: But i'm pretty certain the gaps were all good before i stripped it as it was the first thing i checked. That's my story anyway and I'm sticking to it!
And the stripping down was actually fun - makes a huge difference when it's not your daily drive any longer so no time pressure to get it back on the road, no more working on it in the dark and rain.
Cheers for the company while i worked through it - all your tips on what to check and how were incredibly useful as always.
TS


I would be careful of that valve with the large clearance, if the valve shaft is bent and it has rotated to the sticky part and the not seating fully on its seat it could, A burn the valve itself and B maybe stick once to often and stay stuck so the the piston hits it.
 
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