[Hobbes]

Was adjusting my clutch yesterday and after making some changes, went to take her for a spin. I made it to the end of the driveway, had a balancing issue and started to tip the bike over. I caught it before the fall, but my hand on the throttle was my main grip. That, of course, caused my engine to rev way up. I started to hear pinging, what I've read here as sounding like pebbles in the motor. Hit the kill switch as soon as I could, but I fear not soon enough.

When I tried to start it after that, I still heard the pinging noise  and she kept wanting to stall. Put it away for the day. Went out to start it today. With the bike still off, when I went to prime the engine I hear a loud ping so I did not try to start her. Does this mean I ruined the piston?

The good news is the clutch seemed better for the few feet I did go before the blunder. 

[The Garbone]

I would check your push rods, maybe one popped off or is bent.   I imagine if you dropped a valve you would have interference between the valve and piston.  It would sound more like a hammer less like a ping.

You need to remove the rocker covers and rockers to pull the push rods and check em on something flat..  Another thing you can do while you have covers is retorque the head bolts to 20"lbs.  

[Hobbes]

Thanks for the advice. I will do as you suggested and hope that is the case. I am really bummed about breaking my bike and would love for it to be something simple.

I know this probably sounds really stupid, but what is the rocker and rocker cover? Is that something I can do myself with normal tools?

[Leonard]

Thanks for the advice. I will do as you suggested and hope that is the case. I am really bummed about breaking my bike and would love for it to be something simple.

I know this probably sounds really stupid, but what is the rocker and rocker cover? Is that something I can do myself with normal tools?

The rocker covers are the roundish metal things about the size of a fist at the very top of the engine, held on with four bolts.  Yes, normal tools should do the trick.  The tank must come off first, two bolts and the gas line, pull back and up.

[Hobbes]

Thanks, Leonard. I just took the tappet cover off and there was LOTS of up and down movement. Can I just tighten that up or would that mean that I probably knocked something loose and would still need to pull off the covers?

Oh yeah, the ping is heard when the left push rod (intake, right?) goes up.

[The Garbone]

Lots of movement? 
You could try to put the engine at TDC and readjust it to spec.
 
I would pull the intake rocker cover and have a look..  If it is a bent rod or broken adjuster it should be pretty cheap and easy to fix.  If you dropped/ bent the intake valve well..

Does the compression feel good when you move the engine with the kicker?  If so it is probably just a bent pushrod.. I have 2 old ones sitting in the garage if you want one...

[Hobbes]

The Garbone - I had practice tonight and did not get a chance to monkey with the bike before the sun went down, but am planning on doing it tomorrow.

Compression still felt good when I used the kicker so hopefully you are right. I will let you know about what I find and may take you up on your offer for the push rods. Now that I know my bike may not be really broken too badly, I can hardly wait to get out there and take a look. Darn nighttime!
Kim

[Ice]

Hopefully its just the sounds of a valve train that's bedded in.

[ace.cafe]

It sounds from your description of the loose pushrod, that it might be related to the pushrod, and possibly limited to just the pushrod.

Sometimes it doesn't do any major damage to over-rev the bike like that for a short period, but sometimes it could.

From your description of the play in the pushrod, I think a full inspection of the pushrod for straightness, and integrity of both ends would be a good idea to start with.
Sometimes they bend or jump out of place when they are over-revved.

We'll keep our fingers crossed for you, that it's just a minor issue like a pushrod adjustment.

[The Garbone]

Don't worry about pulling the tank and covers,  they actually come off pretty easily. You can also use this as an opportunity to check the torque on the head bolts,  this might head off a future oil weep from head/barrel junction..    The entire operation goes pretty quick and you end with a better feel for the bike.

[Hobbes]

Alright, I pulled the covers off to take a look - well I pulled one of them off. The one cover does not have enough clearance to the frame to get all the way off. Anyway, the push rods were not seated at all against the rocker arm. I took of the tappet cover and adjusted them like they should be, however the rocker arm closest to the front of the bike has some play in it, maybe 1-2mm that prevents me from having no up and down movement at the tappet cover. Is that normal? The other rocker arm does not seem to have any play in it and the push rod is tightened down with no up/down movement. As far as I could see, the rods looked straight (a bit hard to see the rear rod since the cover did not come off all the way).

I did not see a way to tighten down the loose rocker arm. Put her back together and run her?

A picture of what I found when I removed the covers. Kim

[The Garbone]

Well. That front rocker looks not so good..

Either you have:
1. Dropped/bent the exhaust valve (good compression says probably not)
2. The Push rod is bent or broken
3. The actual rocker is sticking/damaged

I would pull the rocker block and fiddle it as well as look at the push rod.

If your piston is not at TDC (top dead center) you will not have play on one or both of your push rods. You can only check for the proper clearance at TDC.   However ,  you should never have an air gap like that front rocker has.

[Hobbes]

I was able to tighten the push rods at the tappet cover so that they rest well on the rocker. The pic is my 'before' work done pic. I was just concerned that there was some play in the one rocker that still gave me about 1mm up/down play on the push rod.

If I take the rocker block off, will there be something in there that I can adjust to tighten the rocker arm?

[The Garbone]

Well,  don't adjust the push rods unless you know the piston is at TDC.. If you do it with the engine in the wrong positions you can really screw things up.

To pull the block you just take off the 4 bolts..  It should come off easy.  There is really no adjustment on the arm but you can check to see if it moves freely..  Once the arm is removed the push rod just lifts out the top and you can check it out for bends and such.

When you put the rocker block back on just snug it up those 4 nuts a bit more than finger tight,  you don't want to over tighten those bolts as the head is aluminum.

[MotoJ]

I was able to tighten the push rods at the tappet cover so that they rest well on the rocker. The pic is my 'before' work done pic. I was just concerned that there was some play in the one rocker that still gave me about 1mm up/down play on the push rod.

If I take the rocker block off, will there be something in there that I can adjust to tighten the rocker arm?

That 1 mm. is probably the amount of deflection in the rod. You can maybe straighten that much.