Has anyone had experience with the compression release provision for the 500 Rubicon engine? The engine runs strong, starts good and never misfires......Just plain sound like a thrashing machine in the top of the engine. Valve adjustment was just re-done and made no change.......adjustments were within spec when examined prior to adjustment......thanks Tass

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]I guess everyone is as much in the dark as I am..........I have taken it to the dealer and he has ordered pieces and parts for it. He explains that it is an automatic system that is part of the complete cam assembly. I will examine the defective pieces after repair and perhaps put a brief description in here of what I see............Tass

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I picked up the Rubicon a couple days ago, I got a first hand look at what the compression release was built like. It is an extremely compact array of flyweights,springs,cover and extra lobe on the cam that holds the exhaust valves open below 600 rmp. Since the engine idles at about 1200 rpm the only time it is holding the valves open is before you hit the starter. The thrashing noise from the top of the engine was not the compression release as Dustin (Outlaw Motor Sports in Enterprise Oregon) had initially diagnosed. Upon tear down and inspection it was discovered the hard surface had, over a period of 2000 miles, come off of the rear cam bearing. This allowed enough movement to cause the clatter I heard and once in a while a tremendous vibration/growling sound. The trough under the cam held 99% of the hard surface material and the excellent filtering system took care of the remainder. In spite of the bearing failure the camshaft lobes, rocker assemblies, compression release, front cam bearing, cam gear and timing chain were virtually new in appearance..absolutely no wear or scoring at all, not even what I would have expected from normal useage. Honda indicated they had no record of this bearing ever experiencing a premature failure like this one.
My machine was out of warranty, over 2000 miles of mountain use, about 14 months old, I fully expected a sizeable repair bill.............Thanks to Honda and Dustin at Outlaw Motor Sports I paid only for an oil change and 3 hours labor.............A quality machine backed by a quality company and a truly fantastic dealer............There are lots of horror stories out there about product and dealers so I thought you folks might find this one interesting...................Tass

 

I happy for you that it didn't cost you an arm and a leg. The dealer sounds like they take pride in their customers.
The local Honda dealer here where I live kept my Yamaha V-Star in their shop for 5 days trying to track down an intermittent gasoline leak. They replaced two screws on the carbs and never charged me a penny for the work.

Mind you I have spent over 9000 dollars there last year buying atv's and I was ready to pay for this service but they did it for nothing.
Go Big Delta Honda.