Bad sounds...

[42kDraven]

1982 GL1100 standard. I was riding home from an appointment, my engine started to get louder than normal. As I was going up the hill towards home, the engine got real loud, then made this loud KTANG!!! sound, and locked up my back tire briefly. I limped her home, running low 2nd gear, with this consistent *rrringatingtingtingrrrrrrrrringatingtingting* the rest of the way. Started taking things apart, trying to find something obviously wrong/loose/broken. One thing I did notice was when I pulled the bolts to take the right side of the engine off, they smelled absolutely charred. Like not good at all. I'm just a backyard mechanic, so I'm seeking the collective knowledge of y'all. Any ideas on what that might be? Pictures below of what the insides of everything look like after being taken apart. Not sure if the charred look is normal, like just carbon build-up, or if it's cooked. Any feedback is appreciated!

Pointing at the bolt hole that the bolt came out of that smells awful.

These bolts...

Charred blackness on the back side of the valves?

Inside of the cylinders/pistons.

Also, this cable/wire snapped when I pulled that piece of the engine off. Not sure what it's for?

[slickster]

I assume there was oil in it, no coolant in the crankcase, loss of power?, Smoke from tailpipe? best to try to isolate the area that the noise is coming from before tearing into it, too late now...transmission?, Shift ok?...rotate engine over easily?...good luck, keep us posted

[42kDraven]

Slickster, everything felt fine before that. Had just changed the oil in September. There was some coolant in the crankcase a while back, but that was fixed over a year ago. No noticeable power loss other than being a 40 year old wing. Shifting was normal, no issues turning the engine over manually with a wrench once I got it back home, no smoke from the tailpipe.

[slickster]

Makes it hard to pinpoint issue, either put the heads back on, reuse head gaskets is ok for this, and run it, locating source, or remove and teardown engine/trans hopefully seeing the source...

[slickster]

And your valves and piston tops look fine, the smell is pretty typical too....

[WingAdmin]

I'm thinking it must be in the belly of the engine then. Maybe an endoscope up the oil drain to see what you can see?

Drain the oil and remove the filter, check for metal as well.

That wire looks like the wire that connects to the neutral switch inside the front engine cover.

[42kDraven]

Thank you for the feedback. I'll scope into the belly and see if I can see anything. I already drained the oil and it was clean. If I can't see anything, then I'll put her back together and start her up, see if I can pinpoint the sound that way. I didn't start it again after getting it home for fear of causing more damage.

[biguns]

I would spin the rear tire and make sure it isn't something binding in the final drive or broken inside the rear wheel.To me the engine and valves look normal with some carb balance or float adjustment issues, if it is broken enough to lock the wheel there is debris somewhere so as suggested dump the oil and filter.