Hi, I have just joined this forum after something went wrong with my bike last night, i looked online and found info here about SVS. I had a slight ticking noise, it didnt sound major at all, even a little like a lose clamp or something, I wasnt even sure it was engine related. After about 10klms/6miles something felt wrong and i limped the bike home another 3klms on 1 cylinder, when i pulled up at home the bike would still idle but there was no pressure at all from the rear cylinder out the exhaust. After reading all the info here i thought it was SVS so today i started pulling the rear cylinder apart, there did seem to be something wrong with the exhaust valves but after removing all the covers i was able to de-press the 2 exhaust valves without too much trouble so i then thought i may have had a collapsed lifter. After pulling out the 2 lifters i discovered the real problem, the bottom of the lifters have been eaten away by the camshaft lobes, I am totally 100% PI$%ED OFF about this as i had only replaced both camshafts and all 4 lifters myself about 5000klms ago!!!
I bought the bike in that condition and bought all the parts and fixed it myself, that was about 3 years ago but only about 5000k`s as i had lost my license and only got it back last week, so i changed the oil and have only ridden about 150k`s so far, not even through the 1st tank of fuel.... I havent pulled down the front cylinder yet but im expecting the same result.
How common is this fault, if at all, Im not sure if the cam lobes are ok as the lifter material is probably softer than the cam, I had a quick look with a little Single LED Light and felt the lobes which didnt look or feel too bad, should i just replace the lifters and see how i go or not??? The bike is a 1999 and has done a few klm`s but is in great condition apart from this AGAIN!!!!

Rick Yikes those look BAD. Can't be much help on this end as both my bike are fine and I've not had the problem.

There were a batch of bad lifters in the early years. I myself had to replace my lifters due to a bad one after about 5000 K.

Did you properly break in the new lifters? Break in paste, no idling, etc.??

Doc

Yer not pumpin oil brother. Ya can't wear things out that fast with oil going to all the parts. Sorry, don't give up yet.

DocShadow wrote:
There were a batch of bad lifters in the early years. I myself had to replace my lifters due to a bad one after about 5000 K.

Did you properly break in the new lifters? Break in paste, no idling, etc.??

Doc
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AND to add to that what oil /mfg/grade were you using when you installed the new lifters that just went bad/worn down.

Even though this is an older R* that could have an oil pump drive issue if that was the case theres no way it would have run for 150 miles with no oil pressure,the bottom end/crank/rods etc would have been trashed likely siezing up well before the 150 miles he went on his last ride.

Scott

DocShadow wrote:
There were a batch of bad lifters in the early years. I myself had to replace my lifters due to a bad one after about 5000 K.

Did you properly break in the new lifters? Break in paste, no idling, etc.??

Doc

Hi Thanks for the quick reply, looking back im not sure if i did "break in properly" It was over 3years ago. I did buy the "Clymer" workshop manual and followed all the steps, I did put some special grease called Molybdenem or something similar under the lifter faces but im not sure about the No Idling part..

New cams and get some aftermarket lifters for a 318 CI Chrysler. See my post below. Read the break-in posts for fresh installations here on the forum.

The cams will be out of spec after dishing the lifters.

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AND to add to that what oil /mfg/grade were you using when you installed the new lifters that just went bad/worn down.

Scott[/quote]


Not sure what grade of oil but i changed it and the filter many times even after just a few hundred klm`s because i knew there would be still contaminents in the oil..

This is Doc's response in 2007 when I dumped mine by using new lifters on old cams, and not breaking in properly.

I have the JB2011 Lifters. No Issues.



Doc's words:

The ones I have (JB2011 I think) are Melling lifters and are used in:

American Motors - 290 to 401 - 1966-79 - 8 Cyl.
Chrysler - 273-360 - 1965-02 - 8 Cyl.

Doc

ricks_1969 wrote:
===================

AND to add to that what oil /mfg/grade were you using when you installed the new lifters that just went bad/worn down.

Scott


Not sure what grade of oil but i changed it and the filter many times even after just a few hundred klm`s because i knew there would be still contaminents in the oil..[/quote]
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Well if you used over the counter pass car oil thats a problem because it doesnt have the proper zddp lvl in its additive pkg to properly proitect the FT cam/lifters in the R* even if you used proper assembly lube but not oil with proper zddp lvl for breakin.

You need to use motorcycle specific oil with a min of 1250-1300ppm zddp and most oils for pass cars these days has a max of 800ppm zddp which isn't enough zddp to properly protect a FT cam'd
R*.

Many bike oils have zdp in range of 1400-1700ppm zddp for better protection against excessive heat and also for ft cam proitection in case of R* & HD motors still running old school Ft cams & lifters.

Mobil 1 v twin 20-50 syn oil and amsoil MCV syn 20-50 are hi quality oils specifically mfg'd for old school air cooled v-twins that have the proper zddp lvl and no friction mods that can in some cases cause clutch issues too.

New FT lifters can wear out very quickly when not properly broken in along with not running oil with proper zddp lvl too.

I have seen ft lifters/cam lobes wear out durring breakin 20-30 min breakin period due to improper install /not following proper breakin procedures etc.

Scott