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Hi! I've been reading through the forum for awhile have found a lot of great advice here, but I'm finally posting as I am have trouble finding any reference for what I'm dealing with both on the forum and in the service manual. Hopefully someone can help get me going in the right direction..
I have a 2017 TW. Engine compression had dropped to around 85-90. It would still run if I sprayed a little starter fluid into the carb, but it was sluggish at best. I knew at the very least I needed to replace the engine head gasket, so I decided to look into replacing the intake and exhaust valves as well since I had been running the bike pretty hard towards the end of last year. I took the engine head off, replace the gasket and accompanying o-ring, and got stumped by the lock washer that needs to be removed to change out the valves (anyone have an advice for getting it off?).
I decided to reassemble for now. I put it back together to a state where I could set and verify timing. I got everything set and began to rotate the engine through the crankcase to make sure the cam chain and sprocket turned with it.Once they had rotated to where the line on the cam-sprocket is around the 10 o'clock position, they stopped turning as if stuck. It seems this is where the exhaust valves should compress and open but it is struggling to do so. I can continue to rotate engine via crankcase and I can hear the piston moving. If use a ratchet on the cam sprocket bolt to rotate the sprocket, I can push it through valve compression and then it will turn again with the engine when I rotate via the crankcase, but this throws off timing and everything jams up again once it reaches the next valve compression.
I reset timing to where it should be right and decided to reassemble the bike to an operable state as I heard getting the engine to fire up might be enough to free stuck valves. No dice. Engine will not start.
If anyone has any ideas or insights, they would be greatly appreciated. If all else fails, I'm also gonna check with my local mechanic about bringing in the engine head to have the valves professionally changed out, but I'd much prefer to do the work myself if I can figure what to do and how to do it. Thanks in advance.
I have a 2017 TW. Engine compression had dropped to around 85-90. It would still run if I sprayed a little starter fluid into the carb, but it was sluggish at best. I knew at the very least I needed to replace the engine head gasket, so I decided to look into replacing the intake and exhaust valves as well since I had been running the bike pretty hard towards the end of last year. I took the engine head off, replace the gasket and accompanying o-ring, and got stumped by the lock washer that needs to be removed to change out the valves (anyone have an advice for getting it off?).
I decided to reassemble for now. I put it back together to a state where I could set and verify timing. I got everything set and began to rotate the engine through the crankcase to make sure the cam chain and sprocket turned with it.Once they had rotated to where the line on the cam-sprocket is around the 10 o'clock position, they stopped turning as if stuck. It seems this is where the exhaust valves should compress and open but it is struggling to do so. I can continue to rotate engine via crankcase and I can hear the piston moving. If use a ratchet on the cam sprocket bolt to rotate the sprocket, I can push it through valve compression and then it will turn again with the engine when I rotate via the crankcase, but this throws off timing and everything jams up again once it reaches the next valve compression.
I reset timing to where it should be right and decided to reassemble the bike to an operable state as I heard getting the engine to fire up might be enough to free stuck valves. No dice. Engine will not start.
If anyone has any ideas or insights, they would be greatly appreciated. If all else fails, I'm also gonna check with my local mechanic about bringing in the engine head to have the valves professionally changed out, but I'd much prefer to do the work myself if I can figure what to do and how to do it. Thanks in advance.