so i've been meaning to adjust my valves.... for a while... a long while...  and now my valve/cam area is getting rather noisy, and the engine is kinda rougher feeling.

so my question is (drum roll)
What happens when you let the valves get really out of adjustment?

Does the bike just perform sucky?
Or does it eventually damage the head and valves?
And if it does cause damage, how far does it have to go to be catostrophic?

Any help would, as usual, rock.
Thanks.

the main problem from the lack of a valve job is increased wear and tear on the top part of the engine. A little more carbon build up and Ya to a degree a lack of performance will also follow and a much noisier Gs is the end result.

catostrophic?
na not really unless you go like 30k and never check them...
wost case scenerio is that the cam chain got all stretched out so that the tensioner was useless and the chain sort of flops around up there

Well ... did you get that performance problem sorted out ... this may be why ... if its tight on 1 valve it will be bad enough to stop running on that 1 cyl. The rest may be loose and noisy ... and they can wear to a point where when the cam opens the vlave ... if the clearance is high enough ... you can chip one of the 2.
Cool.
Srinath.

i had it performing as well as it ever had, but it's been getting steadily noisier, and less smooth feeling.
and i remembered that a while ago i had checked the compression, and it was quite different from one cyl to the other. i can't remember the #'s.

the problem is that all my tools are in mount vernon, and me and the bike are in toledo (about 2.5 to 3 hour ride away).
and my work schedual has yet to permit me the time to go get them.

i might get an opening next week, if so i think i'll try to ride it down are get my tools

i've only been using it to get to work and back, i just wanted to make sure i wasn't going to break a valve by trying to take it to get my tools.

thanks for the info, this forum has been a steadily rocking force in my life since i got my bike and wandered in here.

Quote from: Church6360and now my valve/cam area is getting rather noisy

What does this noise sound like?  My '04 GS has 8200 miles on it, I got about 1500 miles ago and have never checked the valves.  It has a kind off ringing, well maybe clanging or rattle sound that happens when I'm at speed and riding along.  It is coming from the engine area, I think.  The bike has good power but I'm wondering if I shouldn't be checking the valves.

it has become a more pronounced clicking or ticking kinda sound, but only really on one side. the other side sounds more normal.

i wish i had decent equipment to record the noise and post it here

my thought with the one side noise is that maybe the valves one side are too loose causing the low compression. but without my compression tester and ect. i can't really say.

Quote from: flyingbeagle71My '04 GS has 8200 miles on it, I got about 1500 miles ago and have never checked the valves.  It has a kind off ringing, well maybe clanging or rattle sound that happens when I'm at speed and riding along.  It is coming from the engine area, I think.  The bike has good power but I'm wondering if I shouldn't be checking the valves.

U might want to plan on opening up the crankcase to check for Goat's and/or Stalwart's syndrome (do a search), but just going by your description I don't think you have much to worry about. Many GSs suffer from similar cases of engine noise. My 2002 developed it with about 6500 miles. From what I've read it's due to incorrect cam clearances, and is not a serious problem. I'm sure list members with more in depth knowledge of the phenomenon will pine in at some point.

Clacking (instead of clicking) would be a bad sign and mean that you are probably hammering the valve seats and the valve faces together, slightly dishing the valve heads, and really killing your mileage. You wont notice the power loss because it happens gradually.

Valves should be checked every 4000 miles. Is there perhaps another unit of measure you wish to use that helps remind you of when to have the valves adjusted? Like every three or four months? I perfer to use the odometer, because it's so much easier to read 8000; 12,000; 16,000; 20,000...etc.

For the love of god just get them checked!  :lol:

If it wears tight you could burn a valve, not that expensive but a pain because you nead to change it and order a new valve/seals/gaskets. Not maintaining your valves/bike could cause further problems down the road like possibly dropping a valve rendering your engine useless, or you could wear out your cams etc etc.. just simple maintenance is so much better than wondering what will happen.

Quote from: WAPU might want to plan on opening up the crankcase to check for Goat's and/or Stalwart's syndrome (do a search)

Okay, I have searched for Goats and Stalwart (actually it was called Starwalts Disease).  Sounds like it could be Goats Syndrome.  The bike has been down on it's left side thanks to the previous owner.  I knew about it when I bought it, the little ball at the end of the clutch lever was broke off and there were a few scrapes on the left side engine cover.  I noticed the other day while looking it over that one of the cowling attach points was bent a little.  I thought is must have been a minor fall, probably not moving, but maybe it was a little more severe.

Okay, I'm a little worried now that I may have Goats!!!  

Fret not! Easy stuff first! Have your valves checked. Then check the electrical output.

Goats as it gets bad will make for a motor that acts like its out of balance ... it may charge till the end ... there may be just enough magnet and coil left to muster your test voltage ... chech for resistance between coils and continuity to ground ... though mine was almost OK in all ...
Cool.
Srinath.

can someone explain Stalwarts disease?  I can't seem to find it on google.  I'm having a similar clicking sound coming from my bike.  I also recently dropped the bike at low speed.  Yesterday, the engine stopped firing on one cylinder and lost power.  After riding it to a safe place.  I got off, inspected then let the bike warm up for 15 minutes.  After that, it ran like nothing had happened.

Any thoughts?

O

Quote from: Octouscan someone explain Stalwarts disease?  I can't seem to find it on google.  I'm having a similar clicking sound coming from my bike.  I also recently dropped the bike at low speed.  Yesterday, the engine stopped firing on one cylinder and lost power.  After riding it to a safe place.  I got off, inspected then let the bike warm up for 15 minutes.  After that, it ran like nothing had happened.

I only found one post here on GSTwins.com for Starwalts and it was related to the starter disentigrating.