So, first, a little back story...
Beginning of summer I rebuilt the motor on my '94. I had pulled the motor for second gear fix and found the oil pump o-ring issue and some main bearing damage. I also discovered that somebody had been in the motor before. Both cam chain tensioner guides were broken, which I picked up a used set from Sean for an exceptional price. New bearings, rings, seals trans, and HD oiler installed and it was running like a top again.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago...
On my way home from work, after getting off the freeway, the bike was running rough and lacked power badly! Seemed like it was running on 2 cylinders. I limped it on home a few miles and parked it. Started it up the next morning and it seemed to idle fine, but was really flat and popped back through the carbs when I gave it some throttle. My mind went immediately to ignition (ignitech and cops) or carb issues. Troubleshoot the ignition, no issues. Shotgunned the carbs, no improvement. Checked compression, 185-195psi on all 4. I happened to be standing behind the bike with it running on the lift. The exhaust note sounded funny. I put my hand over the pipe and it was pulsing pressure and suction. Hmmm, cam timing issue? Got the valve covers off and sure enough, front bank (#2 & #4) was out of time by 1 tooth.
I got the timing set back to the correct position today. Kind of hard to look down inside the engine to see the tensioner guides with the engine still in the frame. I have one of those cheap endoscope cameras that plugs into my cell phone. I'll poke it around in there and see what I can see before I button it up.
Has anyone else ever seen or heard of issues with cams jumping time?
Beginning of summer I rebuilt the motor on my '94. I had pulled the motor for second gear fix and found the oil pump o-ring issue and some main bearing damage. I also discovered that somebody had been in the motor before. Both cam chain tensioner guides were broken, which I picked up a used set from Sean for an exceptional price. New bearings, rings, seals trans, and HD oiler installed and it was running like a top again.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago...
On my way home from work, after getting off the freeway, the bike was running rough and lacked power badly! Seemed like it was running on 2 cylinders. I limped it on home a few miles and parked it. Started it up the next morning and it seemed to idle fine, but was really flat and popped back through the carbs when I gave it some throttle. My mind went immediately to ignition (ignitech and cops) or carb issues. Troubleshoot the ignition, no issues. Shotgunned the carbs, no improvement. Checked compression, 185-195psi on all 4. I happened to be standing behind the bike with it running on the lift. The exhaust note sounded funny. I put my hand over the pipe and it was pulsing pressure and suction. Hmmm, cam timing issue? Got the valve covers off and sure enough, front bank (#2 & #4) was out of time by 1 tooth.
I got the timing set back to the correct position today. Kind of hard to look down inside the engine to see the tensioner guides with the engine still in the frame. I have one of those cheap endoscope cameras that plugs into my cell phone. I'll poke it around in there and see what I can see before I button it up.
Has anyone else ever seen or heard of issues with cams jumping time?
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