gs 700e ticking from engine, new after riding hard.

[Anonymous]

i've got a 85 gs 700e, it ran just fine untill yesterday. it was the first time i've really rode it hard since i bought it. i was starting from a stop and going through the gears full throttle, when shifting from 1st it didnt go into 2nd gear just stayed in nuetral and reved up (not quite to redline), well i ran through the rest of the gears when afterwards i noticed i loud ticking or tapping sound, not a knock. i rode the bike home it ran just like usual, didnt miss a lick, no smoke from the exhaust. the bike has 16,570 miles on it. does anybody have an opinion on what i did to it? any help would be great and thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

I'd check the valve lash adjustments.

[80gs1000e]

I bet its your cam chain tensioner. If it is, then you just need to take it off, clean it and reset it. If not that, perhaps its an exhaust leak at the header or where the pipes fit into each other. I would reset and clean your tensioner first. I did that to my bike and its very quiet now! You'll need to take off the carbs to do it but don't let that stop you, its easy.

[moto_dan]

Pull your valve cover and check that a rocker arm adjusting nut has not backed off...I didn't check and now I have a broken cam chain, several bent valves, broken rocker arms, etc. Fortunately I had another engine ready as a replacement, but an hour of checking would have probably prevented the failure. BTW it was an '85 700 engine.

[Anonymous]

thank you guys for the help, i'm a little wherry about getting into the motor but i'm going to give a shot soon. and thanks again for your time.

[oldschoolGS]

Dan, what happen to your bike?

[Billy Ricks]

I once had a couple of adjusters back out of the rocker arms after a particularly bad over rev on a missed shift. More than likely your problem.

[focus frenzy]

Pull your valve cover and check that a rocker arm adjusting nut has not backed off...I didn't check and now I have a broken cam chain, several bent valves, broken rocker arms, etc. Fortunately I had another engine ready as a replacement, but an hour of checking would have probably prevented the failure. BTW it was an '85 700 engine.

WHAT!!!!!when did you do that,Dan??

[moto_dan]

Pull your valve cover and check that a rocker arm adjusting nut has not backed off...I didn't check and now I have a broken cam chain, several bent valves, broken rocker arms, etc. Fortunately I had another engine ready as a replacement, but an hour of checking would have probably prevented the failure. BTW it was an '85 700 engine.

WHAT!!!!!when did you do that,Dan??

To focus and oldschool.... Sorry for the alarm, but my current engine is just fine. It was a couple/several yrs. ago that this actually happened. After rereading my post, it did sound as if it was more recent. Moral is though, I pull my valve cover ever few thousands miles and check my rocker arm nuts.

[oldschoolGS]

Good advice Dan, I also run a manual cam chain adjuster. It is good insurance with a stock motor and mandatory with the high lift cams I run. Billy is probably right, check for a loose adjuster screw or two. Ride On, Ed.
1983 GS750ED
2001 TL1000S (for sale)