oil on the good foot

[speedlimit85]

Yes the battery is good and I held the throttle open with the plugs out.

I think one of the times the timing plate went on wrong and I adjusted the chain.

Sounds fixable.

[bikerphil]

My guess would be the chain skipped a couple teeth and the compression is low as a result. Only way to verify would be to remove the valve cover and see if the dots on the cams line up with the arrows, with the crank at TDC.

[bikerphil]

Well, they are all even, but they should be around 140.

Something is amiss.

You did hold the throttle wide open when cranking right? Is the battery weak?

[speedlimit85]

Looks like it bounced to 90 on all 4 so compression is good.

[speedlimit85]

ok will do now

[speedlimit85]

You are right. The timing plate is on right.

I redid compression and now get 0 on all 4

I may be making it worse by running it

[bikerphil]

To do the compression test...

Remove all 4 spark plugs
Attach gauge to cylinder #1
Hold the throttle wide open and crank 10 seconds until the highest reading is acheived
Write down the number and move on to the next cylinder

Don't do the test with the engine running if that's what you did.

If/when you check the valve clearances, with the engine cold, they are...

.004"-.006" intake
.008"-.010" exhaust

They would be much, much larger if there is a bent valve.

Never seen a chain fail, the bike wouldn't run at all if it did. They need to be changed every 60K with the stock tensioner. With ACCT, they can go much further. I have one running with +125K on it.

[speedlimit85]

I think the chain failed. The compression test is hard to do with the bike running so bad. I tried to be wide open throttle. The test showed the left 2 cylinders at half and the right 2 are good, I think.

I wiil look again to see if I forced it 180 off.

[bikerphil]

When reinstalling the timing plate it could go on 2 ways 180 off or right

Yes it can, but if you look at it closely you will see it is offset so it properly fits only one way. Yes, it could be forced on 180 deg. off.

If you remove the valve cover and check the valve clearances with a feeler gauge, you will find the bent valve(s) fairly easily. The clearances will be huge compared to the unbent valve's normal clearances.

[Ranger_xs1100]

Are you checking the compression with the throttle wide open as BikerPhil mentioned in the above post? If not, your readings will be off.

[speedlimit85]

Now may be the time for the ACCT mod.

From left to right: 40 60 90 90 drop to 0. I have bad compression. Everytime it runs worse.

I had the cover off to change the valve cover gasket last year. Is that where I need to go next?

When reinstalling the timing plate it could go on 2 ways 180 off or right.

If it was- is 180 off then the C-mark was not in the right place when the chain was adjusted.

That could be what happened.

[bikerphil]

So the overtightened bolt on the timing plate probably did not break anything but when I loosened it to torque it right and turned the motor backward it bent a valve....

You won't bend a valve just by turning the motor backwards, it will only happen if there is a tensioner failure. Do yourself a favor, do the auto adjust tensioner mod (ACCT) at some point.

[speedlimit85]

All right. I will put the left side back together and see if I can borrow a compression tester.

[bikerphil]

I would compression check all 4 cylinders. If one or more is way off from the rest, valve(s) is probably bent. Do it with the throttle wide open. If they are all equal, then it is probably something else.

[speedlimit85]

I did NOT turn the motor with the cam chain adjuster loose. But something is not right. I am getting popping. So I may have bent a valve.

What can I do now?

So the overtightened bolt on the timing plate probably did not break anything but when I loosened it to torque it right and turned the motor backward it bent a valve....