Hitchcocks Forum

Hello all,

broke down during the week totally losing compression. I whipped off the push rod inspection cover to see the inlet valve push rod stuck up suggesting that the inlet valve was stuck in the open position.


got the bike home and feared a lot of expensive damage but when I stripped it down the rocker arm had "jumped" off the push rod and the two jammed themselves together. I pulled the head but there was no damage to the valve or the piston, thank the maker.


Your first thought would be that it was badly adjusted but it was fine on the last oil change and there was no tappet noise out of it before the incident. The only thing that might effect it is that the bike was probably hot on a long run on a hot day and then got cold hitting cold air and rain. Could that have effected things?


Not sure what to do as the push rod looks perfect. Maybe the valve springs weren't keeping enough pressure on the assembly and they should be replaced?


I love to hear advice from wiser then myself.

Which engine is it? Changing down a cog at too high a speed could have the inlet rod leaving the cam follower..

There is a mod for the electra sold by our hosts, which suffer this problem.. ref 90235 @ £15.00 a pair.. gwilly

Inlet valve sticking in the guide, perhaps? Unusual, I would think (more common with exhaust valves.) Is the rocker totally free to move? It might be worth splitting the inlet rocker and checking the oilway is clear.

Second Alan here - Valve or rocker sticking would do it, I'd whip the cap off and have a look at the rocker spindle.

thanks a million for all your help I'll have a look and let you know. It's an Indian Bullet 500 from 2003 but I wasn't changing gear just steady cruse.

Good call Allan, iron barrel at a steady pace is not going to throw a push rod... Does sound like a rocker running dry and sticking...

That thunderchild thread has made me jumpy regards top end lube...

I found wi the original iron journaled rockers that the rocker shaft wore a ridge on the top that corresponded with a fore and aft oil way in the top cap. The spring pressure made the rocker locate itself in the slot and the result was a weird intermittent clack noise which I posted about on a number of occasions previously. It is quite conceivable that this would cause the push rod to dislocate. If you take the rocker covers off and slacken the push rods right out of the way and check the freeness of the rocker movement you may find you have a similar issue. Linishing the lump off the shaft was a temporary solution for me although I'll replace with the ali journaled Samrats in the not too distant.

Gwilly top end lube shouldn't be a problem to worry about unless the scavenge pump has failed for some reason and then very quickly you will notice heaps of smoke because the feed pump will quickly put excess oil in the sump, same as wet sumped when starting up after sitting for some time. Bit hard to see if you are riding though

Had the same on an AJS once and it turned out to be a dodgey thread on the locknut which loosened allowing the whole length to shorten thus slipping out of rocker arm.