engine noise

[Tyler 900]

After adjusting valve's I have a louder engine. All the valve clearance where too tight. Now i have a loud ticking or clacking. Has anyone ever had an engine act like this after a valve adj.?

Even thou the bike sounds bad i rode it and it seems to pull fine. I rode it for about 15 miles, fairly hard after a good warm up. Sound is most heard between 1000 and 3000 rpms.

If the engine noise was anything major would a good ride at high rpm blow the motor quick?

My bike is an 86 gpz900r. I think they are known for running loud but how loud is a sign of a future engine failure?

I have a long trip planned and I don't want to blow the motor.

I also changed the oil after doing the valves. I went from a semi synthetic car oil i used as a temporary thing to motul 15w-20 semi synthetic

Could using a motorcycle oil make the engine louder?

Could this be a sign of too much valve clearance, I set them to the widest within spec.

anyone wanna share some wisdom

[rbentnail]

Did you use metric or standard (U.S.) measurements? Is it possible you may have used the wrong ones?

[QKENUF4U]

was it shim-over, shim-under or screw-locknut adjusters ?
the bike will be bit more noisey for sure since they where all tight and now they are looser. if it sounds like a sewing machine then its good. oh and next time go for middle of the road on your adjustments. depending on what type valve train you have they may go looser instead of tighter.

[2WheelFun]

As rbentnail suggested...check your gauge and see which one you used. If it is louder since you adjusted them...then they are to loose.

[Tyler 900]

Thank you for the quick response. It is a locknut adjuster.I was told to set them wide because they tighten up.

I used a standard feeler guage from an auto parts store. I was looking for an .18 mm and the guage had 2 numbers on each feeler, one was 18. I'll check to make sure its metric but i'm pretty sure.

I would say it sounds like a noisy sewing machine QKENUF4U.

If my gauge is correct and valves are set wide but in spec should everything be ok. Its an almost 80 degree day here so im going to check the guage to see if its right them ride it a little, wish me luck.

[Tyler 900]

I did use the wrong guage

Lets not talk about that one now

I have fixed that and the bike runs and sounds better.

I now have smoke comming out the left pipe. It shows up after the bike is warmed up. then it will smoke a very little at idle and a little more after you open the throttle.

if i let it cool down it dosen't smoke till hot again. I noticed a fair amount of smoke if the mirror when at speed over 50mph but not steady, sometimes i don't see any.

What could this one be?

Will i hurt the bike to run like this?

I quess im going to buy a compression guage. Spark plugs were to new to really tell anything yet.

[QKENUF4U]

i doubt ya hurt anything with them being too loose other than they told you wrong about how screw/locknuts wear. the screw/locknut adjusters will GROW IN CLEARANCE since they WEAR unlike shim-under/over getting tighter cause of valves wearing into the valve seat.
as for the smoke, might be a bit of ring wear showing up that you just didnt notice before , did you get some oil on your header ?is your valve cover leaking ? did you make sure the seals around your spark plugs where in place before putting the valve cover back on ?(might have pinched one and its now leaking)
good luck

[Tyler 900]

I did spill oil on the header because the valve cover was leaking but I fixed that and burnt that oil off, . The smoke is from the left rear exhaust on a dual pipe system.

How important are the seals or gaskets that go around the spark plug holes?

One of mine didn't have the sleeve that kept it on. When i took off the valve covers it was sitting on cylinder 1 while the rest where stuck to the cover. Looked everywhere for the sleeve but i think the last owner took i off.

I used gasket sealant and stuck it back but i didn't seal around the sleeve hole very well, just spark plug hole. The gasket holder sleeve is just a empty space isn't it? It doesn't "go anywhere" does it

If that gasket shifted would that cause the engine to smoke? or just get oil in spark plug holes