Yay! I get to tear apart my motor!!

loudest143

loudest143

Insert sense of humor here---->
Woohoo! I blew my cylinder head gasket. Oh what fun this will be. Can you just feel the sarcasm and bitterness? Yes, it blew in my garage, petcock crapped out, flooded the head, and I blew gasoline right out the front of the motor underneath my cams. Not funny haha. So I'm pullin' off the top half, but NOT the jugs if I can help it. Got the gasket kit ordered, and would just like to ask anyone if they've got any friendly advice, other than take the appropriate amount of valium and hard grain alcohol prior to pulling off the top half. I'm trying to avoid pulling out the jugs and pistons. I know it can be done, but it can be a bit tricky as I've been advised.

Thoughts? Comments? Amusing anecdotes?

loudest143
 
That sucks loudest, but its best to make the best of it now. I just got finished removing the head from mine and just put it back this weekend. It was my first time so I just took it slow and had fun with it. Its not that difficult, but can be intimidating if its your first time. Great learning experience though. Do you have a manual for the bike?

Also, while you have it all apart you may as well clean up the valves and put in new valve seals. Seals are only cheap.

Best of luck and let us know how you make out.
 
Well thanks for the reply. I'm proceeding with caution, and bagging and tagging everything. My petcock was the culprit, just free flowing gas.... The timing of this absolutely blows, as my replacement decals just arrived, and I was intending on working on that this week. NOPE. Gas fumes instead of paint fumes for me.

How did you separate your top half from the jugs? My bike has had an oil leak from this gasket for a while, probably since I bought it a year or so ago. I've chased it around the head and never really could locate it. It was minor, as it would show up with little streaks of oil around the fins. More weepage than leakage, actually. I was figuring since it's already got some oil in that gasket, I could get my utility knife in there and score the gasket all the way around after the valve head was loosened slightly. Figured this would 'encourage' the gasket to loosen, if only a little bit.

Out of all of this, I'm the most frustrated that I finally got my exhaust wrapped and re-installed properly. Getting a 4 into 2 exhaust hanging was a real trick by myself. What a PITA. Well, now I can do that all over again. I'll be doing that then draining the oil tonite. Gaskets should be here thursday or friday. Good thing I have to work doubles friday and saturday. NEAT. All day wrenching session on Sunday.

loudest143
 
To separate just remove the nuts from the head bolts. On my KZ though, there were two small bolts also in the cam chain tunnel, not sure if your bike has these but thought I'd mention it in case. The head on mine separated with no issues. The gasket that was in there was a metal one and so it came off easy. I could have even reused the one that came off as it was untouched, but I bought a new one anyway.

I bagged everything as well. You don't need to if you're only replacing the gasket, but if you do remove the valves keep all the parts for each valve assembly together, don't mix them.
 
Hey, thanks again, and right on time, I have to say. I just got down to the pull..... I've got all my nuts out, and the bolts out, so it's now time to pull it off. My valves are still in the head, I've got a few pages to re-read in my Clymers before I go yanking, I'm gonna make sure I have everything done right. (proceed slowly, right? ;) ) My cam chain guide is kinda weird, the front or exhaust side was easy to pull, but my intake side is not shown in the manual so far, and it's held in with two bolts. Like I said, I've got a few pages to look over again. I'd rather not pull the head off clean, and snap a chain guide and drop it in the head. LOL


loudest143
 
Yup, nice and slow. I never took my time when I was taking the top guide off and a socket fell into the engine. Luckily I got it out with a magnet. Don't drop the chain down there either, I used a paint stick to prevent mine from dropping down.
 
I've got my cam chain wire tied up to the center frame member over the motor. I did find a small lock washer next to my interior spark plug hole on the left side. Musta dropped that while putting on the new coils, it's the same size as the studs where the lead wires attach to my coils. Good thing I didn't nick that into the motor with a spark plug at some point. Thought I had pulled that out with my magnet some time ago. Plus 1 in my stat line from the karma gods. :)

I did have one stud pull up with one of the interior bolts, though. Not all the way out mind you, but up. I was thinking I could leave it alone until I get the head off, then take two nuts and do the old jam nut on top and tighten the stud back in place. A small amount of wd40, just so I can make sure to get both the bolts back off.

BTW, anyone have ANY idea what plastigage is, and what the hell I'm supposed to do with it? I guess it's a measuring device for under the camshaft caps? It measures the play between the caps and the camshaft? What do ya do if there's too much play? I'm not really worried about these parts, as they were properly installed, and remvoved appropriately.

loudest143
 
Found out what the plastigage stuff is today, and I won't need it, as I won't be replacing cams. TY, Tom at Rice Paddy! My head pulled up easily, with no force whatsoever. O-ring gasket was in multiple pieces, and the main gasket was gasoline soaked, so I'm guessing it helped with the removal. Now its just waiting for the gaskets to arrive.

loudest143
 
you sound pretty lucky. normally a bad petcock would flood the cylinder causing a hydro-lock and you bend a con rod turning it over.
 
Ok, I gotta ask.

How does a bad petcock flood a cylinder? The fuel flows into the carb, and if your floats and valve is working properly, stops flowing if the bowl is full. If it overflows, there is an overflow pipe from the bowl and it goes all over the ground.

What am I missing?
 
Tim said:
Ok, I gotta ask.

How does a bad petcock flood a cylinder? The fuel flows into the carb, and if your floats and valve is working properly, stops flowing if the bowl is full. If it overflows, there is an overflow pipe from the bowl and it goes all over the ground.

What am I missing?
Click to expand...

A number of things could cause it. The overflow tube is usually very small and if the flow of fuel is great then the overflow cannot keep up, so the fuel has to go somewhere, and so some will end up in the cylinders. Also, the overflow could have been blocked up. However, like you said, the float and valve mustn't have been working correctly for it to happen in the first place.

Make sure you change the oil and filter as well, since I'm sure some got into the oil. Also, make sure the float height is set correctly.
 
Okay some back story must be in order here.... Just repainted the bike, sandy bits and certainly some rust didn't get completely rinsed out of the tank. new fuel filter works but still some silt gets through, clogs floats, floats don't work right, gas flows right through while the bike sits for to days of inclimate weather. Pool of gas around the side stand alerts owner to problem, owner pulls plug, sees gas spurt out when firing starter, puts plug back in, gas spurts out through gasket on second fire. Expert troubleshooting session leads owner to believe gasket has let go, and needs replaced. ;D

I turned the cams via the crankshaft, everything seemed to function mechanically prior to the removal. Valve gap measured. Cylinders work well, no binding or bent shafts. Had that happen to me once while drunk, a bent shaft can really kill a moment, let me tell you. Head removed following evening to find gas all over the gasket area, as it had blown out through a spot that was already weak, and leaking a small amount of oil periodically. Weak gasket, hole, pull head replace gasket, replace parts, turn over, pray for ignition. Rebalance carbs that are soaking in Gunk Dip, to remove the rusty silt that was deposited from repaint.

Hopefully I've cleared this whole thing up.

Clear as mud, or silt in this case.

loudest143
*can someone email me a torque wrench?
 
Progress! Got the gaskets installed. No real big deal, just proceeding slowly, as advised. :) Here's the one multi hour time killer that nearly had me.... On my 1982 GS850g, I have electronic ignition. I have never had a lick of issues with it, and it's still the stock bits. To set your one and four cylinders to TDC, typically you align the rotor to the top, matching a couple of marks, which were well documented in my Clymers manuals. Done this type of static tuning on VWs years ago, so it was really easy for me to understand. The problem is, you align the mark with the sensor 90 DEGREES BEFORE TDC. Yeah, pulled those cams in and out a few times before I looked it up over at GSResources. I couldn't believe I stuck to the manual, I figured there was something wrong, since the electronic ignition wasn't really mentioned.

Bike started first push, idled, needs carbs synced, as I cleaned up the heads pretty good when they were off. No leakage from the bottom half as of yet. At least I got that goin' for me. I'll have it tuned up just in time for the snow storm on Tuesday. :p

loudest143
 
I lead a charmed life. No doubt about it. Got the carbs synced pretty well. Maybe not perfect, but what does it matter? It's gonna snow the rest of the week anyways. I'll be sanding and painting side covers and getting them all ready for my super cool logos from Swapmeet Louie. Nearing the end....

loudest143
 
Hello expert troubleshooters. Bike: 82 Suzuki GS850g. Topic:
Valve gasket replacement.

I tore down the top half of my motor, to just above the pistons.
Replaced gaskets, got it properly torqued to spec from my Clymers
manual. Cleaned the valve area and piston tops with a wire wheel,
lightly so as not to beat them up. I was successful in removing most
of the carbon, just a few bits in tough to reach spots that either the
wheel or a small brush wouldn't get. I was quite careful in filling
in the holes to make sure no debris went anywhere it shouldn't.
My valve shims were adjusted and replaced last fall, so I have no need
at this point to redo them. I had measured them prior to removal, and
they all were within spec.

My carbs could use another cleaning, but I do have the bike running
pretty nicely, with the help of a Morgan Carbtune that my neighbor
loaned me.

Here's the issue.... The top end seems very noisy. It is
mechanically functioning as it should, as far as I can tell. My
plugs, new ones, all look identical. I've only really ridden the bike
for 25 miles or so. I've got 20w50 dino oil, freshly installed after
the top end rebuild. It just sounds louder than it did previously....

I was thinking, that since all the carbon is gone, which could have
been a 'cushion', I might actually be hearing the engine noises that
have always been there, but just masked a bit by the carbon build up.
OR, loose camchain, but I did loosen the screw 1/4 turn and then lock
down the lock nut as the manual recommends. OR it could be that there
is something that I've missed....

Weird thing is the bike seems to ride as expected. Pretty much the
same, with no leaks.

Perhaps someone here can recall having a similar experience?

Oh yeah.... My bike has factory electronic ignition, and aftermarket
Accel coils and Dyna wires and NGK caps. All working perfectly before
the rebuild. No other performance mods.

Thanks In Advance,

Loudest143
 
Have you adjusted the cam chain tension since you put everything back together? If not, this will add a lot to the noise. The removal of carbon shouldn't make it any louder.
 
All comments are pointing toward cam chain tensioner. I've doubled this post up on another (friendly) site, and same comment was made there. I did adjust it right after putting everything in, but made no attempt to move further into it. I will pull the airbox off this evening, and adjust that puppy! I wasn't convinced that the carbon would mask noise, frankly, but I had no benchmark for it. NOOB right here.

loudest143
 
We're all noobs, all learning. Would be no fun if we knew it all. Your initial adjustment could have been incorrect. I know I did mine last year by the book but for some reason it sounded like a chain saw when I started it up! Found out that the retaining bolt was stripped. Fixed it and readjusted and all was well. Best of luck. Let us know if it doesn't change after adjusting.
 
Well, it's the journey that's often more fun than the destination. Drumroll............. CAM CHAIN TENSIONER. Readjusted it, loosened locknut, left hand twist of the screw, 'click' of the tensioner against the chain. Tighten locknut, start, smooth symphony of properly running topend. I may just write this one down in the back of the manual for safe keeping.

Thanks for all your help and encouragement.

loudest143
*the punisher lives.
 
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