Well, I've gone and done it.

I turned 12,000 miles on my 07 GS500 today. Took it out for a spin in the mountains and about 30 miles from home it started acting funny. I noticed a slight knocking and then my speedo quit working. A couple minutes later the knocking was getting louder, especially above 3000 rpm's. I was about 20 miles from home and tried to baby it by keeping it below 3000 rpm's and it just got worse, no matter what rpm I was running. Eventually I pulled over and called a buddy to come pick me up. I tried to start it to drive it up into his truck and it wouldn't do anything, it would try to roll over, but only for a second. So...what's going on? I know next to nothing about engines but it sounds like a valve issue to me.

Issues:
* knocking
* won't roll over (sounds like compression?)
* speedo stopped working

Help a brotha out folks, what do I do?


Took this picture about 20 minutes before her heart attack.

so you've hit 12000 without ever doing a valve check/adjustment?
it would help if you listed out the maintenance that HAS been done to better understand the condition the bike might be in.

I bought the bike last year with 8,800 miles on it. I did take it in to get a valve check adjustment last year not knowing if it had one or not. They said it didn't need one, it was running just fine. I changed the oil right around 9,500 miles. Haven't done anything else to it. I've check the oil ever so often and it's been fine. That's it as far as maintenance goes.

(not a pro) haha
have you tried to start it since then? what happens?
gas level?
was the knocking rhythmic or erratic?

im not sure how the digital gauges are wired in, but i would check the harness and make sure all the connections are in good order.

i dont know why at 12000 it would do anything special along the lines of wear'n'tear..

hopefully someone can come along soon.

again my advice is to just give as much info as possible. =] good luck

Yeah, tried to start it and it acts like it wants to turn over for a brief second. The knocking is definitely rhythmic which sounds like some valve issue or something. This video is exactly what it sounded like before it died...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0UK0A3iHT4

in the video the sound smooths out when rev'd. did it do the same for your bike? check the cam chain tensioner as that may have given out. the cam chains on our bikes are known to rattle after some time.
either way, it's close enough to the point of a valve adjustment so when you get the top off you might as well check for any unusual wear (excessive wear on the cam chain, any visible issues with the guides for the chain, the cams, and the valve buckets, springs, and shims.)

and the comments under that video give a good hint or two that you could have verified?

Yeah, mine doesn't smooth out with higher revs, just get's louder.

pop the top and take a look! 6 bolts, 6mm allen wrench. check your book but basically to get into the valve cover you take off the tank, take off the breather cap (4 10mm bolts?) and then take off the valve cover by the 6 6mm allen bolts.  take a picture and see if anyone on here sees anything out of the ordinary.

Have you checked the oil level today?

Not that I'm scolding, as I don't check every day either.  But if my bike started knocking and then quit, I'd check the oil.  With extreme trepidation.

Quick question, and hopefully it's not thread jacking because if Jonathan is going to check his oil we want to make sure he does it right....

I know the bike should be upright when you check the oil, but are you supposed to do it with the engine warm or cold(warm seems like the right answer to me), and most importantly, are you supposed to check the oil level by just pushing the dipstick in as far as it'll go, or do you actually need to screw it all the way in and see where the oil is that way?

dont think warm or cold makes THAT much a difference. but level the bike out fairly vertical and just drop the dipstick down. no screwing it in.

pandymai is right.

And temp doesn't matter for a level check.

OK. So I'm pretty stupid. I went out and checked the oil 30 minutes ago. B O N E D R Y. Just got back from the shop and put TWO AND A HALF QUARTS in it. Crossing my fingers that the knocking would go away when I started the bike, it didn't. It's loud as hell to fellas...dang.

Oh, man that sucks.   

Sorry to hear it.

Quote from: jonathanneely on May 19, 2010, 03:37:42 PM
OK. So I'm pretty stupid. I went out and checked the oil 30 minutes ago. B O N E D R Y. Just got back from the shop and put TWO AND A HALF QUARTS in it. Crossing my fingers that the knocking would go away when I started the bike, it didn't. It's loud as hell to fellas...dang.

That sucks.

I bet you never do that again, though, and you'll check it routinely from now on!

yeah you might as well get out your allen wrenchs and start pulling fairing peices and motor mounts.  that motor needs to be tore down and rebuild burnt bearings and all need to be replaced.  knoocking = pull over and turn off bike asap.

Just curious, did the oil pressure light ever come on?

Nope. Oil light never came on. What do you think it would cost me to have a rebuild done?

i would pull the oil light and see if it has a blown bulb

A little late for that now, and it's the least of my worries. It lights up before starting anyway.