I have my engine apart at the moment to fix the result of a stuffed cam chain tensioner (no tension on chain, chain engraved it's name on the casing and chain is now rooted). While i was taking a precautionary look over everything else I could see, I found something that was a bit of a surprise (see pic).
It appears that I have been riding for an unknown amount of time with a broken exhaust valve spring. It seems the break does not seem to affect the ability of the spring to seat the valve. Everything on that side of the head looks fine.
The bike is an 04 FE650E and I believe it was one of the first in Australia (compliance plate dated 09/03). The other exhaust valve spring failed about 8,000-10,000km ago. It snapped in the middle of the spring coil and effectively stopped the bike instantly.
As i said, i have no idea when this failure occurred as the bike was running fine. The reason for the tear down was due to a heap of metal in the oil (alloy chips from the cam chain hitting the case) and this was a lucky find.
I wonder if there are any other bikes out there running fine with broken valve springs?
It appears that I have been riding for an unknown amount of time with a broken exhaust valve spring. It seems the break does not seem to affect the ability of the spring to seat the valve. Everything on that side of the head looks fine.
The bike is an 04 FE650E and I believe it was one of the first in Australia (compliance plate dated 09/03). The other exhaust valve spring failed about 8,000-10,000km ago. It snapped in the middle of the spring coil and effectively stopped the bike instantly.
As i said, i have no idea when this failure occurred as the bike was running fine. The reason for the tear down was due to a heap of metal in the oil (alloy chips from the cam chain hitting the case) and this was a lucky find.
I wonder if there are any other bikes out there running fine with broken valve springs?
