can't get valve lifter to to work. not making contact with valve. very hard to pull recoil. do these levers wear out?

 

I haven't actually redone a valve train on a honda 4 stroke (a testiment to Honda riliability). But I have done them in V-8 gas engines and have had the opposite happen where the lifter gets stuck in the "lifted" position and turns the pushrod into an "S" shape. I believe these engines are overhead cams and therefore don't have lifters. I think they call them "followers" as they follow the cam and activate the valve directly. if they are hydraulic, they can wear out. If they are solid, you prolly need something else.

Thrashandcrashtilitstrash? Any thoughts? I know there are guys on this forum that have experience with this.

 

jjcava.... did you just put this upper end together or is it a bike that ran the last time you rode it ect..........More or less...what brought you to finding this problym?

 

the atc was giving to me, it supposedly ran .it has spark but is very hard to pull start , it doesn't look like it was ever the engine was ever touched. i noticed the decompression lever cable was missing and and spring in recoil was removed. i adjusted the valves they were very tight and i found the the valve lifter lever to decompress not making contact with rocker arm. was wondering if the levers wearout and if there is any tricks to adjusting the valves? thanks jjc

 

OH, so your rockers are adjusted fine to the valves, but the decompression lever doen't touch the rocker...........You find a ton of trikes and four wheelers with the decompression levers unhooked. It will be a heck of alot easier on your arm to get the missing parts and hook it up correctly. And yes the decompresson lever end can wear out if it is set up like I think it is.
look here Just make sure your valves are adjusted to .002 in with the engine at TDC. It will still start without the decomp lever hooked up.

 

It could be the reason it is hard to start is because it has a lot of compression which is a GOOD thing. On my high compression 185 I have to pull it past compression slowly then pull really hard and deliberate. Otherwise it will break your finger. Unfortunately, I know this all too well.