Valve adjust gone bad

[tbot]

Help. Lost the valve cover dowel pin inside the engine. I was only able to drop the oil pan an inch or so. I fished in there with a magnet, nothing. In order to drop the pan all the way, I need to take the headers off. They are so frozen, they just destroy my tools. Any suggestions?

[Red01]

Can you run the magnet down the passage the dowel fell down?

[terrebandit]

I'm assuming that you heard it fall down INTO the engine?  Are you sure its not sitting in one of the little pools of oil on either side of the cam shafts?

If it did fall down in the engine and what Paul said doesn't work, you have no recourse but to pull the header and drop the pan.  

Dave

[interfuse]

If it did fall down in the engine and what Paul said doesn't work, you have no recourse but to pull the header and drop the pan.

Or turn the bike upside down and shake until it falls out.  

 

[B12Teuton]

Are those things made of steel or aluminum?

[tbot]

I'm assuming that you heard it fall down INTO the engine?  Are you sure its not sitting in one of the little pools of oil on either side of the cam shafts?

Come on guys. I'm hurtin here. When I lifted the valve cover, I heard that dowel tink it's way down into the engine. Unless I miss my guess, I think it went down the drain tube. I'm praying the dowel is in the pan.

Sending a magnet down the drain tube wont work.

Have any of you had to remove the headers??? I afraid I'm going to break a bolt off.

[tacoman]

I've had luck with stubborn old bolts on my boat by soaking them good for a day or so with penetrating oil.  Wipe clean and use a torch to heat the bolt.  Tap on the bolt with a hammer a few times, it can help. Keep trying and hope you don't twist the head of the bolt off.

[Gary N]

I did the same thing and was able to retrieve the dowel pin with a flexible magnetic pickup tool by removing the right side cover and fishing around the bottom of the engine/trans.  There's enough room to maneuver a pickup tool under the gears.  The pine came out the first time I tried!  

You can't get down to the bottom of the engine case by snaking a magnet down the holes in the head.

Good luck!

[theroamr]

I've removed my headers to wet sand and clean them up . It was hard to break them loose . Just use a solvent like wd-40 or something and let it work in for about a day . Re-try next day . Hope it works .

[gearset01]

That sucks...
How did it happen did it fall as you were lifting the cover or during handling.
My bike is close to the first adjustment milage, and I would really like to avoid this scenario.
I have had luck with stubborn brake mount  bolts by heating with MAPP gas and spraying down till they cool with BLASTER TM penatrating oil.
Pin

[Red01]

Sending a magnet down the drain tube wont work.

If the passage was big enough for the dowel to fall thru, you can send a magnet down it. You might have to go get a magnet small enough to fit, and you might have to drill a hole in it and put it on a string...

[terrebandit]

Come on guys. I'm hurtin here.

Didn't mean to make light of your situation.  I bought my bike used and when I did my first valve adjustment on it I noticed that one of the dowels was missing.  Anyway, I was freaking like you, wondering how much damage that thing did in the engine for over 8 thousand miles!  I took a deep breath and lo and behold I found that SOB sitting in top of the engine in a small pool of oil.  Its amazing that it didn't find its way down the cam chain tunnel or get wedged under a cam over that many miles... Thats why I said to check that... I didn't know your situation.  Sorry.

Have any of you had to remove the headers??? I afraid I'm going to break a bolt off.

Heck yeah.  Take mine off all the time for spring cleaning.  Just soak those bolts down good with "PBlaster" and let em sit for a day or two.  Then turn them out with an allen socket with nice even pressure.  If they won't budge, then you might have to use a hand impact and put a little rap on them with a hammer while twisting.  Works for me....  If they are all rusted up in there I'd be extremely carefull.  If the bike has been stored inside, you won't have a problem.

Dave

[tbot]

Well, I went and bought a breaker bar and broke the headers free. Scary, but they all came un-done. After that I dropped the oil pan. I had to go fishing up the oil drain tube from the bottom....but it was there and came out on my second poke with a magnet.

I've learned a lot. First, the oil sump screen would have stopped it from getting into the engine. I still would have been uncomfortable. Second, finding exhaust gasket is a bit.......still no luck. Have some on order.

The clearance is tight between the valve cover and frame. Advice: First remove the oil breather on top ot the valve cover. Then remove the fairing supports from the frame (4-10mm nuts). Next have someone watch for the dowels as you lift the cover (armed with a magnet). If you decide to check your spark plugs, do not leave them out for any length of time. Finally, when I put the dowels back in, I put some RTV under them to gaurantee they stay put next time.

As soon as I get the exhaust header gaskets, I'll be back on the road again. The cost fot this mistake: breaker bar $10, hex socket set $10, oil pan gasket $10, o-ring kit $10, header gaskets 4 @ 5.00 each, torque wrench $20, plus oil (change it a 200 miles back, it was clean). Yes, I needed some of this stuff anyway. But it still hurts.

My only fear now is that the re-used valve cover gasket might leak. Life goes on.

[tbot]

Sending a magnet down the drain tube wont work.

If the passage was big enough for the dowel to fall thru, you can send a magnet down it. You might have to go get a magnet small enough to fit, and you might have to drill a hole in it and put it on a string...

Thanks, but the magnet sticks to everthing, including the drain tube walls. The tube is "s" shaped. You would have to use a flexible but firm magnet from the top or a firm one from the bottom as I did. Live and learn.

[Red01]

As soon as I get the exhaust header gaskets, I'll be back on the road again. The cost fot this mistake: breaker bar $10, hex socket set $10, oil pan gasket $10, o-ring kit $10, header gaskets 4 @ 5.00 each, torque wrench $20, plus oil (change it a 200 miles back, it was clean). Yes, I needed some of this stuff anyway. But it still hurts.

My only fear now is that the re-used valve cover gasket might leak. Life goes on.

Look at the bright side, you still spent less than you would have at a dealer for the labor part of a valve adjustment and you got a bunch of new tools.

While the service manual tells you to replace all the gaskets in/on the valve cover every time you take it off, the truth is they can be re-used many times without problems (just put a dab of RTV on the spark plug tower gaskets to keep them in place and dabs at the cam plug corners). I'm at 37K miles and still have the original valve cover gaskets installed and the bike's been thru several valve adjustments. Even managed to get the main one a little pinched once, popped the cover, put it back in place, and it is still oil tight. I'd say it's time to change them when they get brittle, dry and/or cracked. As long as they're soft and pliable, they should be fine.