Honda BF45A Intake valve cottor replacement.

Hi gang,

A friend of mine owns a pair of BF45A. Overall the motors look in great shape. However in the process of checking the motors for him, I notice that #3 intake valve appears to be missing the cottor that holds the valve in place. The valve does not look broken. Can the cottor come off or break off? Is this unusual? Also can the cottor be replaced without removing the head? I know the rocker arm assembly would have to be removed. Do the bearings need to be replaced anytime you remove the rocker arm assembly?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello anybody, can anyone respond???

I think no one has answered, not to ignore you, but perhaps no one has an answer.

I know, I don't.

I have never run across this, but that does not mean it can not happen. The 45Hp was the predecessor to the 40 and 50. It was only made for a few years in the early 90's.

As for pulling the head to put a new one on....here is a thought...I just can not guarantee that it will work.

Generally, if you pull the carburetor bank off, that is all the carburetors still attached to the intake manifold, like the manual says to do, you should have access to the intake valves. Since you will most likely have to hold them in place as you compress the spring, etc, you might be able to put something in there to hold it in place.

If you remove the whole bank, you will only need to replace the intake manifold gasket.
The good news is...if you are going to remove the head, you normally would have to remove the carb assy anyway...so no time lost.

Good luck. Let us know how it comes out.

Mike

An old trick to keep the valve in place is to push rope into the sparkplug hole at the start of a compression stroke then rotate the crank until the rope is pushing on the valve. After the repair just pull the rope out.

Another method for holding valves "up" while replacing keepers and seals is to place cylinder at TDC compression stroke and then mechanically lock the crankshaft or flywheel. You can then apply shop air to the cylinder via the spark plug hole. This will hold the valves but if you do not lock the crank securely, it...WILL... rotate and damage and injury will result.

My question is; if the keeper came off, was it while the engine was running? If so, the valve, most likely, has been dropping and banging the top of the piston. I'm not sure I'd just throw another keeper at it without doing some damage assessment first. If you could borrow a bore scope and look in the cylinder, that would be a wise thing to do before trying a quick fix.

Good luck

Thanks guys for all the advise. I will use it and report back the results.