Help! Engine experts.. George!

Tearing into My TE-250 and was noticing some scratches on the cam... well today found this gouge on the Rocker arm on the exhaust:


it looks like the Auto Decomp did it... it's kinda hammered also here is the portion that I think smacked it:




Question 1) is that part of the exhaust cam the auto decomp ?

Question 2) is this Normal for that gouge to be there ?

Question 3 ) I need a new exhaust Came and Rocker arm don't I ?

Question 4) has this happened to anyone else ?

Thanks for your help !

Yes, that's the auto decomp.

Not normal, but not all that uncommon from what I hear. I guess your valve clearance wasn't too tight was it?

I'd replace both.

I tore into mine just to make sure it was working right and it didn't look anything like that.

The valves were in spec all around... the end affected was the exhaust and it was toward the tight end of spec... .006 inches where the spec was .006 to .008.

So if I replace the Cam and follower I wonder if it will happen again? were the clearances off to begin with (must have been) and will the new cam with auto decomp have better clearances....so I'm good to go...

Thanks for the response... Just putting out more questions for the peanut gallery...

George should be back in the office today.

With the pics and calling him you should be able to figure out your next move.

Thanks,

Just thinking out loud... what it I took the auto decomp off ? sounds like a real chore though... would this hurt the electric start ?

have 154 hours on it... I'm shocked this happened.. bike has been bulletproof...

I'm worried about this happening again with the new cam and auto decomp on it.... was this maybe a casting issue with the metal on the auto decomp ? I wonder ....

Thanks for the reply... I will probably do this...

Just talked to George

I was under the assumption that I could run without the auto decomp... I can't or shouldn't

I was also under the assumption that I needed to buy a whole new cam to get a replacement decomp. Turns out I can order the auto decomp alone an keep the cam.

As far as the rocker arm, they are on backorder from Italy.. He told me just to swap another rocker arm over an I should be fine...

All in all , I continue to be impressed with the quality of the folks around here and this site and am proud to be a member of this community...

Thanks Guys..

Kevin Miller

Just found this thread through the search feature.
My auto decomp did the exact same thing and my rocker looks just like the pics (09 SMR 510). Interesting.

Well, i'm going to chamfer/clean up and deburr mine and see what happens. I did notice the auto decomp was a little "sticky" and probably wasn't moving out of the way of the rocker arm with centrifigal force like it's supposed to.

I wonder if this is what started causing the ticking sound my bike has developed.

Anyway, i'd like to know if the thread authors bike had a ticking sound too: and if it went away when he replaced the auto decomp and rocker arm.

Can you also explain a little more about this auto-decmp device and what is happening here?