Puffing from carbs but compression seems okay

The valves on my 1980 kz440 were ticking but the bike ran. I did my first ever valve adjustment and the bike still ran but the ticking was louder. I adjusted again and the valves no longer ticked but now the bike will not start. I keep checking the valves with a 0.20mm feeler gauge and they are within spec.

I checked and cleaned out the carbs, replaced the ignition coils, wires, and plugs. I also did a static check of the timing and the ohmeter spiked right at the F mark.

I talked to a mechanic and he said the valve seat may be messed up. I did a compression check and got right around 130psi on both sides. If the valves weren't sealing I would think the compression would be low.

Currently, the bike will crank and it sounds like its firing and the exhaust pipes get warm, but I get white smoke coming back out of the carbs. I would appreciate any help on where to go next as I am lost!

Thank you!

Update:

I checked my ignition coils and the resistance was incredibly high. Got a new set installed and the bike would not start but the spark was much brighter now, so thats a plus.

Last night I took the top off of the carbs and found that the right carb diaphraghm had two tears in it. I tried to patch with superglue and some rubber glove material and it looks like the hole is closed but again, the bike will not start. It sounds like it fires a few times and then it just quits.

I went back and looked at the manual and checked the valve adjustment again. The manual says that top-dead-center for the piston should be when the timing mark aligns with the "T" mark. When I take a spark plug out and look in the cylinder, it looks like the piston reaches the top of its stroke at the " mark which is the advanced timing mark if im reading this manual right.

Has anyone else had this problem or could my timing be worng???

Did you properly clean the carbs by taking them all apart and soaking the bodies in carb dip followed by replacing the O-rings? Is the stock airbox installed? The bike won't run for crap with the stock jetting unless the airbox is installed.

The carbs were cleaned and I made sure the jets were clear. I cant imagine that they are clogged again since the bike hasnt run but I'll take another look at them.

The "airbox" is a very ghetto pod filter job that repalced the air filter but left the main box. The bike ran fine-ish like that before.

Dont know much about your model but for smoke to come out your carbs means your inlet valve must be open when the bike fires.
So must be either valve or ignition timing.

I don't know much about those bikes but it sounds to me like your timing is off. Does it have a timing chain and did you have to remove the cams in order to re-shim your valve clearances?

By the way, yes, the T mark when aligned should be TDC.

hardrockminer wrote: I don't know much about those bikes but it sounds to me like your timing is off. Does it have a timing chain and did you have to remove the cams in order to re-shim your valve clearances?

By the way, yes, the T mark when aligned should be TDC.

The 440 has a single chain-driven camshaft, and uses adjustable rockers rather than shim adjustment for the valves.

Thats what I thought. I tried to double check by rotating the crank and looking in the spark plug hole. When the cylinder would come up and just as it started to move down I would stop rotating it and look where the timing indicator was. If the piston is at TDC (just before it starts to go back down) then the indicator should be aligned with the T mark, correct? I'm not missing something about what top-dead-center means?

When the crank is aligned at the T mark you should be TDC.

Its been awhile but I finally got around to looking at the carbs. The right diaphram was torn in two parts and some of the jets seemed dirty. I did my best to patch the tears and cleaned out the jets.

Here are some pictures of where everything lines up at TDC. At the " mark it looks like the piston is at TDC while the piston looks about 1" lower when aligned with the T mark.

I also included a picture of the plate with the points. The marks are from the PO. I have never worked on anything like this but would this plate being misaligned account for my piston being in the wrong place?

Which way are you rotating the engine?


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Another thing to check is the points gap. Make sure you have at least .015" when the points are all the way open (check this with the ignition off, of course).

My 440 would barely run and loved to spit out of the carbs until I got the points set right.