I am certain about using inches rather than millimeters. My push with gauge was horizontal to lifter, not directly pushing down on lifter. But, the 'spring' only occurred on 2 valves. If I pushed harder on the others, would they 'spring' too? Anyway.... my afternoon project later today is to recheck and remove cams to see what I can see. I'll post what I find. But indeed. Something is not kosher.
Huge valve clearance???
- Thread starter Kim.ST.MN
- Start date
bdalameda
PaleoCyclist
Sometimes this is easy sometimes not depending on the engine - you also have to be very careful and cover up all openings in the engine to make sure the valve spring retainers don't fling out and end up inside your engine. The valves are very small on the st1100 compared to car engines that I have used this method on so it may not be possible to use the compressed air method, but could be worth a try. The larger the valve diameter the more force the air pressure pushes on the valve to hold it in place. I've heard of the rope method but never tried it. It would be really fun trying to get the cord or rope down a 10mm sparkplug hole.
How do you compress the valve spring w/o a spring compressor? The one I am familiar with looks like a big C clamp. One end of the C bears on the head of the valve, the other end of the C is forked and presses down on the valve spring retainer, which is a disk. Once you use the clamp to compress the spring you put the two pieces of the split collar on the valve stem, release the clamping pressure and the retainer slides up under expanding spring pressure trapping the collar in a tapered hold in the retainer. Is there another variation that gets bolted to the cyl head and bears down on the retainer disk?
Check this video at 4:45 for the actual tool. Eric the Car Guy is removing a valve spring using compressed air.
https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-and-specialty-tools/valve-spring-compressor-and-measure/oemtools-25220-valve-spring-compressor/231210_0_0 this one is easier to use..... you can get it at just about ant auto parts store ... fairly reasonable
you still need to use compressed air.
bdalameda
PaleoCyclist
I have one of those spring tools. It's made for much larger valve springs than the ST has. I would use the old hit the valve spring with a spark plug socket and mallet approach - the keepers will pop out. Then when re-installing the springs compress the valve springs and safety wire them through the coils to hold the spring compressed and then install the spring, keepers etc. and cut the wire and pull it out. I still have doubts that the ST valves are large enough to allow the compressed air to hold them well enough to remove and re-install the springs. You may spend more time trying this method than simply pulling the head.
Of course, it is not yet even determined that there is any broken spring.
The engine has been running fine, so I'd think compression is reasonable. Letting it sit shouldn't hurt it, but all mechanical things need to be given a good run once in a while.... I would recheck the clearance again, then again with a warm engine that might alleviate any issue with sticking valves (ethanol crud build-up on the stems). I am skeptical there is a broken valve spring especially on two valves. A compression check will also be beneficial... compression will be very low on a leaky valve. If compression is low, a leakdown test with compressed air in the offending cylinder will confirm where the leakage is occurring... if it's leaking. Jes sayin' jumping to a conclusion of broken valve spring at this point is a bit premature......
I don't have a 1300 head in front of me but there are other ways to compress and remove the spring. I have modified a tool similar to this ......... we don't even know if the springs are broken.
I'm still betting on gummed up valves from ethanol. Needs cleaned and run.
probably more likely than two broken valve springs, but.... If the valves are gummed up and aren't closing any further than the huge gaps he's measuring, then wouldn't the bike exhibit some running issues? Or do they close normally at operating temperature and running speed, but then gum up and not close properly at room temp with hand cranking??
valve check is done cold right? 
yesvalve check is done cold right?
The 67,000 mile bike ran fine but figured I should check valves, not knowing if/when the previous owner checked them. At this point I am going to chalk it up to potential user error. That is, my exertion on inserting gauge might have been the issue. I remeasured those 2 odd guys using minimal pressure and recorded rather normal gaps. Actually, all of the valve measurements are within range, except 1, it was only .0005 inches off. I'm going to let that one go. But, plan to recheck in the Spring.
Thanks for all the feedback. I learned much.
Thanks for all the feedback. I learned much.
glad to hear that all appears to be normal after all, but I'm still trying to imagine stuffing .090" of feeler gauges into a .009" clearance. Whenever I have one that's a loose 9 but tight 10, squeezing the next thicker gauge in is noticeably more difficult, even when its only .001" thicker, I can't imagine putting an extra .080" in the gap and not noticing that its taking a lot more force than is necessary. Were you straining to force the additional gauges in before, or were they sliding in rather easily??
John OoSTerhuis
Life Is Good!
Doug is being too kind... there’s something very odd about this explanation/resolution. Sorry to say it...
John
John
Well.....it can take surprisingly little force to open valves with feeler gauges. It's hard to explain the "feel" in feeler gauges.
John OoSTerhuis
Life Is Good!
If you can somehow force a broomstick into a toothpick sized gap on two valves, why not the other 14 also?... That’s some order of magnitude of “feel” in my experience.
Maybe I misunderstood/missed something...
John
Maybe I misunderstood/missed something...
John
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when a story makes no sense at all, and the OP stops asking for advice and mentions possible user error, I'll walk away because there's a good chance some of the originally reported facts were not really true. I hope that the engine is actually OK, since valve issues with ST1100s are rare.