Noisy valves

[lieberty64]

A bit of a long one, sorry.
Got this one 3 years ago, after being sat since 2000, less than 30k miles still.
Got it running, was quite easy as it seemed to have been serviced before being taken off the road.
To start with it was running perfect, smooth and quiet, after a while the right cylinder started to become noisy, checked the clearances and found the exhaust valve was running with no clearance at all, adjusting didn't solve the issue. Also the compression was lower this side.
Took the head off, ground the valves to a nice even circles and after getting it running again, it improved a lot.
With riding it again the rattling returned, not all the time, more in mid range.
More than being worried that it's something critical, to be honest I just don't enjoy riding it like this, driving me nuts.
Checked compression, which is top and even both sides and in desperation took the head off again. "Unfortunately " couldn't see anything obvious, filled the head with liquid for 24 hours which was held and now I'm at a loss.
Any ideas anyone

 

[Stirlingmoz]

What are the valve guides like ?

Particularly the exhaust valve guide as they seem prone to wearing faster than the inlet guides.

You’d need to pop the head off again and release the valve spring to check for a wobbly valve and a worn guide.

 

[theoneandonly]

IME , on other bikes ,
loose valve seat ? but the 24hr liquid test should find this ? ( i once racer a Monty with a seat that was falling out only on stripping and heating , did it fall out )
pushrods get shorter giving a bigger clearance
rocker arms bend doing this ^^^^^^^^^^
cam followers wearing do this ^^^^^^^^^

I'm coming your way tonight , i have £50 , I'll do you a favour ......

drop the sump , any bits ? Guzzi's drop golden cornflakes when the big ends are beginning to go , they rattle a little bit between 2.5-3 k rpm ...then go quiet above this ?

 

[SteveHop]

Have you checked the rocker end float ?

 

[lieberty64]

IME , on other bikes ,
loose valve seat ? but the 24hr liquid test should find this ? ( i once racer a Monty with a seat that was falling out only on stripping and heating , did it fall out )
pushrods get shorter giving a bigger clearance
rocker arms bend doing this ^^^^^^^^^^
cam followers wearing do this ^^^^^^^^^

I'm coming your way tonight , i have £50 , I'll do you a favour ......

drop the sump , any bits ? Guzzi's drop golden cornflakes when the big ends are beginning to go , they rattle a little bit between 2.5-3 k rpm ...then go quiet above this ?

Thanks, definitely sounds like top end

 

[Kenny]

I'll go for cam followers, if all else on top end has been checked.

 

[The Other PaulG]

And you’re sure it’s not the camchain?

 

[mikeyboy]

I had an engine a few years ago with noisy valve gear,couldn’t find much amiss on the usual stuff.
Turned out to be a worn rear cam bearing( in front of the oil pump.

 

[theoneandonly]

has the wife gone out ?
pop the head in the oven and heat it .

 

[Gelandestrasse]

Another thing to consider checking is the oil flow to the rockers. Sometimes over-zealous use of silicon sealant barrel/block interface can block them. To check the flow you turn the engine over with the rocker covers off (taking the plugs out and grounding them helps....). You should get a trickle from both rockers.

 

[cookie]

In one case IME, "noisy rockers" were solved by making sure the gaskets and o ring selection on the oil filter cover were appropriate to the canister depth

 

[theoneandonly]

well ? what happened ?