Valve Adjustment-need advice

[soliecirc]

Inspired by the "valve cover sealing" thread I decided it was time to stop letting my leaky valve cover dictate my choice of footwear and actually do something to prevent the oil from dripping onto my left shoe every time I ride.
I ordered some "three bond" and figured I would just "plug" up the leaky spot.  Thought this would be the best route for my novice level of wrenching skills. Somehow found a link posted to a YouTube video of the guy in New Hampshire doing a valve adjustment on a r100. Dove in, bought a torque wrench and the measurement shim thingys and went for it. Just removing the covers was a big step into the unknown for me.

I followed the steps in the video but also relied on the clymer manual.

After finding TDC as indicated by OT WHILE IN 5th gear, I adjusted the intake clearance to .10mm and exhaust clearance to .20mm on one side of the bike. Rotated the wheel until I found OT in the little window and did repeated the clearance settings on other side. (For the most part)
1-After rotating the wheel a few revolutions I found that if one side was at the proper clearances, the other side is WAY off. There is a large gap. Is that correct?

2-one of the lock nuts doesn't adjust properly, must be damaged, so I can't set the clearance to exactly what it should be. It is just "closed" or rather, the two are touching no matter what part of the cycle or revolutuion its on. Is this a major problem or not the end of the world?

3- I put it all back together to see if it would start and it did. Couldn't tell if it sounded right or extra loud. I felt extra sensitive to every noise because one, it was 11:30pm and was paranoid about bothering neighbors and a sleeping wife and two, first time doing anything like that and was concerned for complete failure of bike. Let it idle for 1 minute and found left side was warm and right side was cold. Is that normal?

4-took covers off and fair amount of oil came out of both sides. Noticed that the left side kept dripping well after everything was shut down. Will it stop or could that eventually fill up the entire cover once sealed properly?

Thanks for any and all input!

[georgesgiralt]

Hello !
Your valves should keep the .10 and .20 gap when cold no matter how many revolution you put on the motor.
So you'd better redo the valve clearance job another time to correct this.
One cylinder staying cold indicate that this one is not working enough (I bet it is the one with the wrong clearance ?) So again, redo the job...
Oil dripping from the rocker arm assembly shows that theses get oiled well. That's good. And no, the valve cover won't fill up as the oil will return back to the sump (some will stay in the cover, but it is a very small volume).
The valve adjustment is made with a special screw and a locking nut. Both are with a fine thread, well hardened and can be damaged if you put too much torque on the locking nut. I suggest you buy a new screw and nut and change them before they strip down much further.
I do not think they are this expensive.
Do not bother to change the four of them. Only the one which is experiencing a problem. Normally, they should last for the life of the bike.
Hope this helps.
P.S. the only thing to know about valve clearance job is to know how to use a wrench. So not so difficult and very useful skill to master for the performance of the engine. Keep on !  

[Bob_Roller]

If you have no clearance between the valve tip and the rocker arm when it is cold, don't run the engine until you get this fixed .

When the engine gets to operating temperature, that valve may be open a bit, not a good thing for a valve .

There is oil supplied to the rocker arms when it is running, so oil will drip out of the lower ends .

The oil that lubricates the rocker arms, goes back to the oil sump by way of the push rod tubes, so the rocker box area, does not fill up with oil .

As goergesgiralt said, if a cylinder is cold, it's not firing .

Remove the adjuster that won't adjust properly and post a picture of it, maybe we can see what the problem is .

[montmil]

My following comment is just slightly off-center to your valve adjustment adventure:

Park the bike on the centerstand anytime you're off the machine for more than a few minutes. This will assist in draining the valve train oil back into the sump.

Check the engine oil level. Overfilling can lead to minor start-up issues such as excessive smoke. Quite a few Airhead owners keep the oil level slightly below the 'full' mark on the stick. be sure you confirm oil levels with the dipper cap unscrewed and resting on the lip of the filler hole.

Do replace the valve adjust hardware; both nuts and the threaded adjustor screw. Suggest you park the bike until this is accomplished as there is a certain amount of risk involved operating the bike with questionable lash hardware and adjustment.

You are fortunate to live near an Airhead guru. Forum member Mike Valenti also resides in Sandy Eggo. Find him. Take quality barbecue with you.

[Mike V]

Monte ... you're too kind.  Not sure if I'm qualified as a guru, just a lover of the machine and someone who has learned through many mistakes.

Sol,

Those adjusters can be a little tricky sometimes and some tappet adjuster movement can happen when trying to secure the locking nut. Give me a hollar, if the bike is running why don't you swing by the house and we can go through the process together in the shop. I'm in Mission Hills right next to Old Town.  Next weekend?  Or if you don't want to ride the bike maybe I can swing by your place.  Pretty tied up this weekend but am more than happy to help if I can.

As previously mentioned; the oil dripping is a good thing, not to worry about that.

Send me a PM

-Mike V.

[montmil]

I just knew that the mention of good barbecue would awaken Mike V.

Get yourself down to Lockhart and let Mike and I know when. BTW, 'ol Bengt Phorqs retired this week from Hunt Oil Co in Dallas, so weekdays are now like weekends for both of us.

Our mantra: Every evening is Friday Night. Every day is Saturday.

[Mike V]

Monte,

Not to divert the thread but the tentative plans are to be in Bulverde - Lockhart sometime the first or second week of June.  Smitty's, Blacks, Kreitz here we come.  Then on to the Carolina's.

I won't pass through without giving you and Mike a shout.

-Mike V.

[soliecirc]

Thanks for the replies. Bike is parked and will remain that way. Mike, when is the next tech day in San Diego. I can coordinate trailering my bike down from Escondido to a tech day.
If there isn't a tech day anytime soon I would be happy to provide a feast from Phil's BBQ if you came up is way sometime next week.

[soliecirc]

Quoted"The valve adjustment is made with a special screw and a locking nut. Both are with a fine thread, well hardened and can be damaged if you put too much torque on the locking nut. I suggest you buy a new screw and nut and change them before they strip down much further"

Priced this out at bmw Escondido and it was $23. The guy said the screw or threads may be salvageable. I wait for the experts (mike and his crew) to check it out and make the call

[nhmaf]

Soliecirc -
Also, for your information/education on airheads - the pistons on the left and right both go in toward Bottom Dead Center and out to Top Dead Center at the same time.  But, they are 180 degrees out of phase, so when one side is on the top of the compression stroke, the other side is on the top of the exhaust stroke.  This is why one side will/should have both valves closed (and the .1mm and .2mm gaps for the valve lash) while the other side will have the exhaust valve pushed down/open.   Similar thing happens on the intake/power stroke.

Once you understand the valve sequence thing you can watch the vallve gear going through its motions and get very close to the OT mark and know which side is the one that should be adjusted at that time.

[soliecirc]

Ok. Not ready to give up on this. Answer this for me. After I put in 5th gear, find OT, set clearances on intake and exhaust on right side, how far should I rotate the back wheel?
Until I see OT again for the first time or a full 360 degrees?

[georgesgiralt]

Until you see OT again.
BTW  360 ° on the rear wheel on five is a *lot* of engine revolution.
When the crankshaft make a whole turn (from OT to OT again) the camshaft make half a turn (1:2 ratio).

[montmil]

You can also watch the valve train action as you rotate the engine. Spark plugs are out, right? Turns much easier when you don't fight compression.

With valves set correctly, there's just enough clearance -with no valve spring pressure on the rocker- to feel a wee bit o' wiggle by moving the rocker arm up and down. The pushrod can also be rotated easily. These little clues help confirm the valve is fully closed. Obviously, you still want to see OT in the window as a final confirmation.

Some Airhead owners will disconnect the battery negative cable, remove the engine's front cover and use an Allen wrench in the rotor bolt to rotate the engine. Several mild arguments can result when folks recommend this technique. I'm just saying...

BTW, If you are fortunate enough to have Mike V run up to make a BMW house call on you, I'd encourage you have all the correct parts on hand. No one could really help you if they're working with boogered up bits.

[donbmw]

Ok. Not ready to give up on this. Answer this for me. After I put in 5th gear, find OT, set clearances on intake and exhaust on right side, how far should I rotate the back wheel?
Until I see OT again for the first time or a full 360 degrees?

Are you sure you have the OT Mark for the RH side.

I start on the LH side rotate wheel while watching for the intake valve start to open then start looking for the OT mark. Go to RH side and watch for the same and go back to and watch for the OT mark.

If you set both valves at the same OT mark one of the cylinders will be off at TOP DEAD CYLINDER.

Don

[Barry]

how far should I rotate the back wheel?  

It's an awful lot easier if you don't use the wheel at all.

Disconnect the battery negative lead, take off the front cover, remove the plugs and rotate the engine slowly clockwise with an Allen key on the alternator rotor bolt. One turn of the Allen key = 1 revolution of the crankshaft.

Lots of people do use the back wheel to rotate the engine but it's not easy to spot the timing marks flying past.