Valves Ticking Louder After Adjustment

Before I begin, let me introduce myself.

Name is Jason. I live in Wisconsin near Milwaukee.

I'm an ASE certified auto tech with over 15 years experience in auto and diesel.

I recently acquired a 1985 Honda VF500F Interceptor with about 27,000 miles that is in very good shape and runs great.

So far I pulled the carbs out and went through all the jets with a needle, carb cleaner and shop air.

When I first bought the bike it had a very slight ticking coming from the valves, so I adjusted them to the specs provided on the sticker atop the rear fender under the seat.

I then started it up and it all sounded good.

I take it for a 10 minute ride and as the engine warmed up, the ticking got a lot louder.

So I take everything back apart a second time and adjusted them somewhat tighter. Exhaust and intake valves together.

Since I have no documentation on the proper way of doing the valve adjustment other that what I found on the INTERNET, I adjusted them the same way I adjust any Honda vehicle when I comes into my shop.

Each cylinder was brought up to top dead center of the compression stroke, and each cylinder was adjusted at a time.

As I said, it runs perfect all the time but it's only when the engine warms up does it start ticking louder.

Before I adjust anything, the ticking never changed and was always the same no matter how cold or warm the engine was.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Valve clearance:

In: 0.10-0.14 mm

Out: 0.11-0.15 mm

http://www.manualede...ntretinere.html

Valve adjustment description starts at page 47.

Note that some model VFRs (mostly 4th Gen bikes, but I suspect the same can happen with other gens were known to have a bit too much camshaft end float that can cause ticking when the engine warms up. Supposedly not harmful to the engine, but Honda did provide a fix for free for 4th gen bikes which involved drilling open a oil passageway near the end of the camshafts so more oil can cushion the area and eliminate the ticking....

Note that some model VFRs (mostly 4th Gen bikes, but I suspect the same can happen with other gens were known to have a bit too much camshaft end float that can cause ticking when the engine warms up. Supposedly not harmful to the engine, but Honda did provide a fix for free for 4th gen bikes which involved drilling open a oil passageway near the end of the camshafts so more oil can cushion the area and eliminate the ticking....

The early vf series had different problems, lubrication of the camshaft was an issue. Causing engine faillure.  But this ticking is related to the valve clearing adjustment, so i presume something went wrong there.

Did you use the two feeler gauge method of measuring the rocker clearance?

Thank you VFRBert for the manual. I appreciate it very much.

I did not use the two feeler guage method, but I will as soon as I have the 3-4 hours to rip the bike apart again.

I will definitely update this when I do everything the way the manual tells.

Ok...

So opened it back up a couple more times to adjust the valves.

The first time I went with specs of .004 for the intake, and .005 for the exhaust. All while using two feeler gauges.

Put everything back together and still the same problem. Somewhat quiet at first, then louder ticking after warm-up.

Took everything back apart again today...

This time I cut the specs in half.  Intake @ .002 and exhaust @ .003

Did not use two feeler gauges, but instead loosened both adjusting lock nuts and while I was adjusting the first one, I tightened down the other just enough to take out any play.

For the most part most of the ticking is gone and it's even a lot quieter than it was when I bought the bike. While there is still some ticking, but so little that I'm just going to run with it for the rest of the summer, I do plan on pulling the engine and this winter and going through everything including all gaskets, seals and clutches.

In the end, I don't know why specs didn't work out the way it was supposed too, but I'm happy with it now and there's some info for anyone else that might have the same problem I did.

One more question......what method did you use for positioning the camshafts to measure the clearance?

I did what the service manual told me to do... Using the timing marks through the hole on the right side cover to bring each cylinder to TDC.

I have a much easier time adjusting by ignoring the timing marks and  simply positioning each cam lobe heel at the rocker arm contact surface. Different strokes and all that......