I made no adjustments to the valves after seeing there was approximately a 1/4" valve clearance.

Are all four valves at 1/4'' clearance?
Was there anything obviously amuck? ie loose valve lash adjusters, loose rocker arms, loose camshaft bearing caps, anything broken, or...

 

No, just the 2 intake valves on cylinder 2 were at 1/4" clearance. All other valves were within spec or close to it. There was nothing else amuck that he could see.

 

That much clearance looks like more than the throw of the cam. Valves were not opening but injectors kept spraying gas. This problem only started during the last ride. Running on one cylinder would wreck power and gas consumption. You do not mention how much noise, if any, it was making. Only guess that I can come up with is the rocker arms slipped sideways on the rocker shaft and were no longer riding on the cam lobes. Often there are some light springs to keep the rocker in position.
I don't know what to make of the fact that both valves are involved.
Hoping others will chime in who have more to offer than a guess.

 

That much clearance looks like more than the throw of the cam. Valves were not opening but injectors kept spraying gas. This problem only started during the last ride. Running on one cylinder would wreck power and gas consumption. You do not mention how much noise, if any, it was making. Only guess that I can come up with is the rocker arms slipped sideways on the rocker shaft and were no longer riding on the cam lobes. Often there are some light springs to keep the rocker in position.
I don't know what to make of the fact that both valves are involved.
Hoping others will chime in who have more to offer than a guess.

Thanks for the reply. Engine sounded normal. The only issues were loss of power and gas consumption.

 

are the adjustment screws missing the cap on the end of each? I haven't seen a 2020 in person but my 06 400 and 11 500 have a cap on the end of each adjusting screw that contacts the top of the valve stem. Might want to look for some pieces hopefully still on top of the head.

 

I called it. LOL

 

I'm reaching to come up with something that would affect both valves at the same time, never heard of this happening before. Those adjustment studs are only showing to be .75in length, there's no way you could even get them to meet the valves. Makes me think somethings happened in the combustion chamber to bend those valves, keep them from closing/extending.

Did he rotate the motor through to the exhaust valves on the rear cylinder? If those fitments were all within "spec" that would tend to rule out the cam being the issue

 

I'm reaching to come up with something that would affect both valves at the same time, never heard of this happening before. Those adjustment studs are only showing to be .75in length, there's no way you could even get them to meet the valves. Makes me think somethings happened in the combustion chamber to bend those valves, keep them from closing/extending.

Did he rotate the motor through to the exhaust valves on the rear cylinder? If those fitments were all within "spec" that would tend to rule out the cam being the issue

the caps are missing on the end of the adjustment studs. I don't think that would be enough to make up all the distance but will eat up a good chunk of it.

 

He didn't note a difference in the end of the adjustment studs? Looks like the end caps on missing on both of those. I'm assuming they were there on the other cylinder

 

But both checked out at the same time? I'm struggling to connect those dots.....

 

With the little rain we had, it was a few days of very dusty riding. On the last day, my buddys 2020 Outlander Max XT 850 stalled

So it ran fine until the last day. Now both end caps for the intake adjustment screws are gone. For both caps to exit the scene I suspect something like the screws having been backed out enough to pry the caps ALMOST off at some point. Then it was just a matter of time before they fell off one after the other. One falling off would not be as dramatic as when the second one fell off.

It is hard to imagine what went on during the previous valve adjustment. A couple of new adjustment screws and spark plugs might be all that is needed to fix it. But where are the missing caps?

 

This is the first valve adjustment. Machine was purchased new from dealer in January 2020.

 

Not one but 2 missing feet and being out of time may explain it. Those adjustment paws are not the correct ones. BB said the factory ones are .75. If the OP states the clearance is .25 the adjustment screws in that picture are about equal to the amount of clearance he has........


Is your buddy the original owner of this bike or did he buy it second hand?
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My buddy is the original owner. He purchased it new from his local dealer. This is the first time the valves have been adjusted.

 

Well with any luck they paws are comfortably resting in a safe place in the bottom end. Count your blessings they didn't get lodged in the timing chain or crank someplace. Not sure if they would fit through the oil drain hole with a little help from a magnet? Doubtful

I'd be interested to hear with your readings are after you install new adjustment screws.

Makes me want to pull my valve covers and check mine.......WOWSERS

 

He's taking it to the dealer on Monday. I will update once I hear something. I have the same identical machine as my buddy with about the same hours. Like you, I also want to pull my valve covers and check them out.

 

UPDATE

My buddy just received a call from the dealer and they said the screws for the valve adjustment turned and snapped off the ends. They are going to order new ones. Total charge $361. I'm at a loss as to how this could happen unless they failed to tightened the nuts in the factory. And, where's the pieces that snapped off?

 

I had a defender a while back that did this at approximately 12k miles. I found the pieces sitting behind the cam chain guides.

That sure is a weird failure and like you said basically the only way it could have happened is if it wasn't correct from factory.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

 

That is totally weird. Thanks for keeping us posted. Sure hope that he finds where the pieces are.

 

It is weird. Makes me wonder if this is a couple adjustment screws that were not heat treated correctly. If they were not properlly heat treated, it does make sense they would fail where they did.