My Hotcams Install Experience

[mitchn06]

Install was a breeze, but i found more problems. My "ticking" i thought i was hearing was from the rocker arms. at some point they may have been oil starved or just plain too hot IDK. they were so worn that the metal was "peeling" off the to the sides and the intake and exhaust arms were meeting and hitting one another on their passes. the cam was obviously worn too. on the pics, look on the edges of the arms where the lobes pass over.

[akarob]

Thats pretty impressive. You know, members here are going to demand more details. My first question is was the bike ever run low on oil? In the top picture, they don't look discolored from heat, just deformed. The bottom pic is not as clear but looks worse.

What Hot Cam - Stage? What kind of oil were you using (probably not the root cause)?

Damage like that is pretty scary.

[terrordactyl250]

ive heard of when people do job like that on the motor and there oil line isnt primed it wont shoot oil up to the head. i always loosen my oil tube and make sure oil it pumping. those are some scary pic. i would go with oil deficiency. those rockers look liek brake pads. i just installed my hotcam aswell. did the break in period. and running really good so far. good luck on your project.

[mitchn06]

its a Stage one. i have better pictures on the camera, i used my mobile upload on photobucket this morning. i'll get some decent pics later tonight. i've run several weights of oil 15-40 10-30 mainly. i bought the bike used, so i'm not sure of the condition when i got it. here i thought i was gonna do a quick cam swap and now i'm digging deep in a project i'm scared to pull the rest off and look at the piston and valves. i suppose it would be the right thing to do though.

[mitchn06]

if i can get a good pic, they are discolored up the arm a bit. i just could not believe it though, they were touching as they crossed paths, at one point when i had it it may have been low on oil, but i can't remember. its so dang hard to get a good accurate reading on these bikes.

[HeadTrauma]

IMO, there are really too many unknowns to be sure what the root cause was.

[ThumpNRed]

Valve clearance too tight maybe...

[gunz]

IMO, there are really too many unknowns to be sure what the root cause was.

Agreed.

[mitchn06]

alls i can do is replace the parts and move on!

[scalejockey]

Valve clearance too tight maybe...

That's what came to my mind first..but it looks like all the lobes were affected.Who knows...,many other things could of happened...My stage two is a couple years old on my 01,no wear or problems, so far..

[ThumpNRed]

That's what came to my mind first..but it looks like all the lobes were affected.Who knows...,many other things could of happened...My stage two is a couple years old on my 01,no wear or problems, so far..

I thought about that... wondered if the same measurement method was used on all of the valves. A new mystery for us to chew on ?

[mitchn06]

yes the same measurement method was used, but, if the exhaust rocker was stuck on the intake, that may have thrown off the measurement.

I'm suprised the dang thing ran as good as it did with this "little problem"

Edited March 31, 2010 by mitchn06

[mitchn06]

here's some more pics, you can see the discoloration on the rocker in one of them

Possible, the discoloration was well obviously caused by heat but does one think that it was caused by the friction of the rockers knockin on each other? or was it in fact oil starvation? that is the question!

[terrordactyl250]

was it before or after the hot cam when you noticed the wear? was your cam toasted too when you toke it apart? is it in specs?

[mitchn06]

i initially heard all the top end noise and researched here on TT and decided that it was probably the auto decomp mechanism on the cam. so i ordered the cam. i first noticed this noise last year, continued to ride since i guess even with a defective auto decomp, it is still rideable. the cam is out of specs as well, with that much wear on the rockers, you'd have to guess the cam would be worn down.

[Crashradius]

I have seen something that appears similar. My former engine builder tried to heat treat the rockers on my XL600R with disastrous and expensive results. Needless to say you should just do all the work yourself.

Crash

[cmpbaja]

I just had the same issue on my 00' BRP. I found that the oil pump was worn and not pumping enough volume. ? Replaced the oil pump, cam with a stage 1, all the rockers, did a valve job replaced the intake valves that were a bit worn and did the top end too! Bike and rider are very happy now!?

[terrordactyl250]

yea i would go with not enough oil going to the top end. fried them. yea i was having problems with my auto decompressor. idk if you remember but its all good now. id say get some new rockers. and oil pump and you should be set. or make sure it properly primed. ive been reading around (i really want a xr650r) and i just want to see what kinda problems they have. and the oil pump was one of them. well thats what ive heard.

[mitchn06]

i guess i never really thought about the oil pump as being a problem. how does a guy figure out if the pump is good or not?

[terrordactyl250]

well i check to see if oil is being pumped to the head by loosening the oil feed bolt where it bolts into the head. and if i loosen it a little and oil starts spraying out i know it all good. im not sure what you would have to do. im not good with liquid cooler motors.(im more of 2 stroke and air cooled) im sure some of the other guys would know.