SuzukiSavage.com - Trouble Adjusting Valves...

Wake51

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Trouble Adjusting Valves...
10/02/11 at 22:40:09

I recently plunged into the engine to fix an oil leak, so I'm also going to use the chance to adjust the valves. My first time undertaking such a task.

Problem is... I'm having trouble finding top dead center - compression stroke. I understand the 4 stroke engine cycle and I know that both rocker arms are supposed to have free play as both valves are closed. Problem is, I can't reach a point where both rocker arms have free play. I can reach a point where the exhaust rocker will move just enough for me to know, as I can feel the vibrations from it clacking against the contact point, but no physical movement. I've yet to find a point where the intake rocker has free play at all. So now I'm wondering if I messed something up when I fixed the oil leak...

- I don't know exactly what this 'freeplay' is supposed to feel like.
- When turning the alternator bolt, after the portion of turn on the wrench with resistance, its gets easy, and the cylinder feels like it falls to the bottom of its stroke without me pushing on the wrench. Is this normal?
- Finally, I started turning on the alternator bolt and moving the engine around right after I replaced the freshly sealed headcover without even thinking, could this possibly screw up my seal and prevent it from being oil tight?

Thanks for any input, it has been a nerve wrecking weekend for a rookie wrencher. I'm no longer nervous about assembling a computer I have coming in the mail after this job. Granted I wouldn't be posting this if I trusted my mechanical skills!

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28834 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Trouble Adjusting Valves... Reply #1 - 10/02/11 at 22:51:13 turn the wrench the same way the wheels go forward? compression stroke comes right after intake stroke. turn the engine till the intake valves move up then down. then look and the crank, the next time the marks line up you're at TDC of the compression stroke.
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Bubba Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 956 Denver, CO Gender:	Re: Trouble Adjusting Valves... Reply #2 - 10/03/11 at 06:43:52 http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1278347767
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Gyrobob

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Re: Trouble Adjusting Valves...
Reply #3 - 10/03/11 at 07:31:06

Clean out the area around the spark plug, take out the plug, clean your finger off, stick your finger over the hole, rotate the engine. When you feel air trying to escape, you are on the compression stroke.

Having the plug out for whatever else you want to do at this work session makes it really easy to turn the engine over. Just don't let anything fall down into that hole.

In the late 1950s early 1960s a dealer in San Jose for Berliner Motor Corp (Ducati, Matchless, Moto Guzzi, Norton, Sachs, Zündapp) was a one-man shop. He was a salty old guy who had several drilled out spark plugs with rubber tubes attached to them just for this type of maintenance. He liked to be able to hear/feel the cylinder blow and suck as he wrenched the motor over for various tuning tasks.

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RidgeRunner13 Serious Thumper Offline haulin' the groceries! Posts: 649 Mustang Island, Texas Gender:	Re: Trouble Adjusting Valves... Reply #4 - 10/03/11 at 08:43:25 Since I'm turning the engine slowly with a wrench, I just use a straw held in the spark plug hole to feel for TDC. That way I can get it exactly at TDC so I can do a leak down test when I finish adjusting the valves. If it's not rght on TDC for that test, the engine will turn when you pressurize the cylinder.
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Howitzer

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Re: Trouble Adjusting Valves...
Reply #5 - 10/03/11 at 17:11:02

I did my valves this past weekend for the first time. I also couldn't find any free play in the rocker arms, though I'm pretty sure I found TDC. I turned the timing knob thing counter-clockwise, watched the intake (backwards facing) rocker arms go down and up, and then I matched up the notch and white line to find TDC.

Can anyone elaborate how the rocker arms have free play? Are we supposed to be able to lift the rocker arms?

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serenity3743

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Re: Trouble Adjusting Valves...
Reply #6 - 10/05/11 at 05:24:02

When at Top Dead Center, you should be able to "jiggle" the tappet that sits atop the valve stem, because there should be a slight gap there (0.004 - 0.008). But free-play isn't what determines TDC. The position of the camshaft/rocker arms tells you when you're approaching TDC. The rocker arms push DOWN on the intake valve stems (the ones nearest the carburetor) and when they come UP, the next time the mark on the crankshaft lines up, you're at Top Dead Center.

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