My 1981 kz550 timing advancer is blown

Here are the 3 photos I just took of my frozen 1981 Kz550-A2 model timing advancer:

MY PEN IS POINTING TO THE PART OF THE ADVANCER THAT SHOULD FREELY ROTATE A BIT - BUT IT IS FROZEN



MY PEN IS POINTING TO THE ARROW ON THE ADVANCER THAT SHOWS THE DIRECTION IT SHOULD ROTATE (clockwise)


HERE IS THE BACK SIDE -- QUESTION: IS MY PEN SITTING ON TOP OF THE PART THAT SHOULD ROTATE (but is now frozen) ???



I know these timing advancers are cool but I have zero experience freeing them up.
I'm tempted to boil the little f'er in a pot of malt vinegar.

Anyone have advice on a way to coax this sucker back to life?

By the way, let me pass on the *symptoms* that led me to pop the right crankcase engine cover off to look at this guy:

1) lots of knocking or 'pinging,' I mean I thought the motor was throwing a rod, that's how noticeable the knocking is.

2) cannot get the bike to rev much past 5000 rpm

3) down on power bigtime

4) put in new plugs and they are ghost-white

I knew the carbs were fine, I had them all apart, they are all stock, cleaned thoroughly, has stock airbox, stock exhaust stock everything, bike has only 14k miles.
Also has new battery, fuel levels in each carb are fine, new plugs, healthy spark at each plug, firing on all cylinders.

What really got me thinking 'Its the timing' was my 1974 Kaw S3-400cc triple 2-stroke, which is points and condenser, were WAY out of time once and the knocking on this 550 reminded me of that pinging and the solution (fix the timing issue).

In this case, I have a frozen-solid timing advancer.

Any ideas on how to free her up without damaging? This is a cool little piece of the bike,
small part, but big influence, like your cat when the dog starts messin with it.

Good penetrating oil would be my first idea. Kroil,Deep Creep, & PB Blaster are some of the brands I've used in the past.

MFolks wrote: Good penetrating oil would be my first idea. Kroil,Deep Creep, & PB Blaster are some of the brands I've used in the past.

Okay -- will do, and thanks MFolks.

I'm thinking to put the non-moving part of the advancer in the grips of a bench vise, and then use a pair of pliers-gently- to get the moving part of the advancer to break free.
Sound reasonable?

I just can't see a way to get any leverage to pry the moving piece to break it free, but would like to know if the vise/pliers approach is a bad idea after I douse it in PB Blaster?

Try heat first(hair dryer, get it nice and hot, then apply the penetrating oil, let it sit for a while, then careful application of force to get it to move.

Thanks MFolks, I have never seen one of these apart -- after soaking it in PB Blaster then letting it set for a time, I just held on to the non-moving part and applied light twisting to the cam lobe and it came free.

Then to my surprise the cam lobe part slid off an axle that's connected to the non-moving plate of the advancer.

I used some '00' fine steel wool just a bit to knock off the corrosion, wiped the shaft and the axle clean, put some high-temp grease, just a bit, on the axle and re-assembled and put it back on the 550.

MAN what a difference. This Kz550 rips, I am surprised at the power, it is almost healthy.

When the bike is idling, it sounds like helicopter blades.

I'm going out now to check compression, and do the cam chain adjustment.
Thanks for your help.

Happy I could help with the advise, most mechanical items don't give me too much trouble.

I have great compression, 152-152-148-152.
Cam chain is not making the noise -- it is self-adusting.

My new spark plugs are bleach white. This bike is running lean-lean-lean.
Pinging at idle.
Gonna post in the carbs section.

If not already done, would use a strobe-type timing light to verify alignment of the F mark with the permanent case timing mark at idle rpm.

Good Fortune!