motor wont turn

[2wheeltom]

here is the story i was in the process of adjusting valves took out the shims afterchecking cleareance and the reusing some of the shims where i could on no. 3 intake i put in a slightly smaller shim and was starting to rotate the motor with a wrench apparently the shim wasnt in properly i heard a crack and assumed the shim had broke when i looked the shim was gone and i later found it on top of the motor??after this incident the motor will only turn 1 revolution of the camin either direction the valve in that cyl is going up and down am i not supposed to turn the motor when a shim is removed was hoping this has happened before and someone could help me out 1982 gs 1100 gl 8 valve thanks alot tom

[focus frenzy]

well if the shim was not in right and was forced out when you turned over the engine it could have, and likely did, put uneven pressure on the bucket and may have warped it.

the buckets run a very close tolerance and it takes very very little to lock them up.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!

Hi Mr. 2wheeltom,

I'm glad you've joined us. Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of suggestions and links to vendors and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. You'll find lots of GS lovin' all around.

It sounds like the shim was forced out of the bucket as you turned the motor. Nothing to worry about, just put it back in. Let's hope there's no permanent damage. Sometimes as I'm doing my check, the tappet depressor tool will slip off the bucket, give a loud "POP!", and splatter me with oil.

Do not turn the motor without all the shims in place. You can scar the cam lobes or worse. I've tried to document the valve check procedure as well as I could. You'll find a PDF file on my website.

Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Don-lo]

A non-seated shim will depress the valve a lot. It's possible you bent a valve and the hung valve is not letting the piston pass. A bent valve will give you enormous valve clearance.

[Nessism]

A non-seated shim will depress the valve a lot. It's possible you bent a valve and the hung valve is not letting the piston pass. A bent valve will give you enormous valve clearance.

Bent valve would be my guess as well. To check, put that valve on the base circle of the cam and check clearance, if it's abnormally large, the valve is bent.

[chef1366]

Take off the cam and pull the bucket. I bet the bucket got cockeyed.

[tkent02]

Take off the cam and pull the bucket. I bet the bucket got cockeyed.

Can you rotate the bucket by hand? That will tell you if it got cockeyed.
It should rotate easily if the cam lobe is not pushing that shim down at the time.