Ticking - Cam Chain Issue?

[RodneyBR]

Anyone know which APE part fits an 09 FZ6? APE

 

[RodneyBR]

I think a lot of people are worrying about noises that are not worth worrying about.
If you google "FZ6 ticking noise" you will find hundreds of threads and videos of bikes that to me sound completely normal but to some people sound like a bike about to self destroy!

Now, regarding your noise, i find it to hard to judge an engine noise via a camera, sometimes the mic amplifies certain frequencies and make the sound worst than it really is.
But to me your bike sounds perfectly fine. Only ticking i hear i would attribute to the injectors.

Keep in mind that an engine is a metal box with hundreds of controled explosions per minutes and a lot of metal parts moving very very very fast!
It is bound to make some noise and some clicking.


IMO your bike sounds a lot like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dshImH6wYQI

Which is the exact same noise my bike and my friends FZ6 make, it worries a lot of people online, but i think it is the normal "Yamaha tick" and is fine, it's probably just the injectors, or the valves, or a combination of the two.


The CCT noise is pretty different, you can hear it in this video after the 2:20 mark when he releases the tension on the chain by turning the screw driver clockwise, it is clearly a different noise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDVmZVne13U

I don't think this sounds anything like your bike, meaning i doubt your CCT is bad, if you want to make sure there is an easy procedure to check it, it's in the manual.


Unless your bike sounds like this i would not worry about it to much!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA7Z61d-5Vg

Now, go ride this thing...

Yea, sounds like the first one and many of my buds are saying don't worry about it, it's Yamatick. My phone mic really amplified the sounds, so it seems worse on camera than it really is. When engine warms up and I'm riding it for a while it almost goes away completely and can hardly be heard. Interestingly enough a bud has an FZ1 and he has a similar ticking noise.

I think I'm gonna ride it, but monitor it carefully until the next oil change.

Some have said try using thicker oil. Motual 7100 10W40 has always been used in the bike, which I believe is outstanding stuff, so I'm not sure switching to a non-synthetic 15W40 diesel oil would be a start thing to do at this point.

Some said try switching to 87 octane, but I've now used non-ethanol 91 octane. 87 would probably cause more ticking/knocking, so...

 

[Cortez]

Some have said try using thicker oil. Motual 7100 10W40 has always been used in the bike, which I believe is outstanding stuff, so I'm not sure switching to a non-synthetic

I've been using 5100 15W50, since that's what the first owner used too.
I've been using the same oil in my Kawasaki 650R too, no issues.

My mechanic avoids 7100, I have no idea why, I believe 7100 is the most
popular choice on this forum, but he said either go with 5100 or 300V, but
considering I don't molest the bike or use it on the track, I think I don't need
the 300V.

On the other hand, my friend who spent 80% of the time on his bike between
10.000 and 14.000 revs, cruising on the open road above 110mph all the time,
and doing track days, wheelies and everything all the time used 300V and
sold his bike with 25k miles and never had an issue with it.

Motul makes good crap.

 

[RodneyBR]

I've been using 5100 15W50, since that's what the first owner used too.
I've been using the same oil in my Kawasaki 650R too, no issues.

My mechanic avoids 7100, I have no idea why, I believe 7100 is the most
popular choice on this forum, but he said either go with 5100 or 300V, but
considering I don't molest the bike or use it on the track, I think I don't need
the 300V.

On the other hand, my friend who spent 80% of the time on his bike between
10.000 and 14.000 revs, cruising on the open road above 110mph all the time,
and doing track days, wheelies and everything all the time used 300V and
sold his bike with 25k miles and never had an issue with it.

Motul makes good crap.

I'm similar, like to live at high revs or going to high revs when flying through the gears.

I'd be interested to know why your mechanic stays away from Motul 7100, because the previous owner of my bike, his mechanics using nothing but 7100 and they actually build engines for semi-pro racers.

 

[Cortez]

I'm similar, like to live at high revs or going to high revs when flying through the gears.

I'd be interested to know why your mechanic stays away from Motul 7100, because the previous owner of my bike, his mechanics using nothing but 7100 and they actually build engines for semi-pro racers.

He says he had some bad experiences with it, probably a coincidence with
some engine problems that he believes to be 7100 related but I'm not
convinced - that kind of stuff is impossible to prove. Otherwise he's been
a great mechanic and I trust him, but he refused to put 7100 in my bike,
and while that's really funny and he knows that I could have done it myself
or gone to someone else.. I guess he doesn't want another case of someone
with a bad engine that happens to be running the 7100 when it happens.

I really don't mind and I'm sure the 7100 is just fine, but I'd use 300V for
track use.

 

[Carlos840]

I'm similar, like to live at high revs or going to high revs when flying through the gears.

I'd be interested to know why your mechanic stays away from Motul 7100, because the previous owner of my bike, his mechanics using nothing but 7100 and they actually build engines for semi-pro racers.

I have done my last 3000 miles on Motul 7100 10w40, my bikes spends most of it time between 8000 and 14000 rpm and i cannot say anything bad about this oil.

If anything it has made the gear box feel a lot better than the Mobil 1 that was in it when i bought it.

I really don't think there is anything wrong with your bike. I think you are just worrying to much.

 

[Cortez]

I don't really wanna start an OIL thread here, I just brought it up as a funny
story from my mechanic, I WOULD however try 15W50, whichever oil it is, as
long as it a reputable brand.

I went from Total 10W40 fully synth to Motul 5100 15W50 which isn't on
my Kawasaki and the engine vibes went down considerably and the gearbox
lost some of the clunk.

 

[Slopeflyer]

I tried to watch the first video it said it was private. Thanks Carlos for your video. My 06 with 800 miles on it now sounds just like yours. I was beginning to worry me.

 

[The_Paragon]

Back on track with the ticking.. My bike started making the same noise around thw 15,000 mile mark. It sits with 20,000 at the moment. I messed with the CCT releasing pressure on it as well as pushing a little more pressure. The tick didnt change while i was playing with it, so I'm ruling that out.

I started digging into a valve lash check and I'm finding that 6 of 8 exhaust vavles clearances are too wide. One is up to .018" (spec being .009-.012)
I have a feeling thats where my "Yama-tick" is coming from.

I'll adjust and see if that cures my problem.

The bike will probably run without problem "yama-ticking" its whole life.. But its so Annoying!! LOL.
^I guess that just means my akrapovic's are too quiet!!

 

[Nelly]

My 2009 Yamaha FZ6 has 11k KMs and I'm hearing this ticking noise at idle. It seems like a cam chain tensioner issue to me. When bike starts up at first there's no ticking noise, but it starts when engine is hot. Also, those noise doesn't go away when the clutch is engaged.

YouTube

This "Video is private"
I can't see the bugger...

 

[PhotoAl]

I went thru two tensioners. Seemed like about 12,000 miles was the life for me. Pull it out and lube it up well with motor oil. IMO it does not get adequate oil supply and tends to operate at about the same point so will tend to stick a little. Not a hard job particularly if you have one of the tab things that comes with the replacements (hold it in the retracted position). As for oil I would up using Red Line but try and stay away from the really thick stuff. Again IMO thick oil does not flow as well (it's thicker) and a good flow of lube is critical for lube and cooling. What protects is the film strength and changing the oil before it starts to break down and loose it's properties.

 

[The_Paragon]

Back on track with the ticking.. My bike started making the same noise around thw 15,000 mile mark. It sits with 20,000 at the moment. I messed with the CCT releasing pressure on it as well as pushing a little more pressure. The tick didnt change while i was playing with it, so I'm ruling that out.

I started digging into a valve lash check and I'm finding that 6 of 8 exhaust vavles clearances are too wide. One is up to .018" (spec being .009-.012)
I have a feeling thats where my "Yama-tick" is coming from.

I'll adjust and see if that cures my problem.

The bike will probably run without problem "yama-ticking" its whole life.. But its so Annoying!! LOL.
^I guess that just means my akrapovic's are too quiet!!

Reporting back on my previous post. I (finally) finished up my shim job. It got set on the back burner as I'm in the middle of building a garage. But anyway Adjusting lash seemed to quiet down my tick. It seemed like it was worst at about 4000 rpm. After the shim job, its unnoticeable besides for at 4000 rpm where it can be very very faintly heard.

I guess she's good to go for another 20,000mi!

 

[FinalImpact]

FWIW: excessive valve lash (too much clearance), can have very detramental effects in that excessive lash allows the valve spring keepers to come out. When you hear the term "dropped a valve" often times its the result of the keepers coming off and that is the product of too much clearance coupled with a high rpm (could include a missed shift and going beyond redline).

Others include but are not limited too:
Over rev, broken springs, stem and head failure, and keeper failure.

The tick is the pre-warning that lash is excessive and should be addressed.
--> Imo chains seldom tick and injectors ran at these low pressures are seldom heard over all the thrashing inside the engine, trans, and "ring" of the header pipes....

Mine ticks and needs adjusted, hence the WTB ad for a shim kit.

 

[The_Paragon]

Mine ticks and needs adjusted, hence the WTB ad for a shim kit.

On the regards of aftermarket shim kits.. Heres the last K&L shim product I installed on an engine. It costed me $800 for a new engine after a shim was digested.

(Notice the shim over bucket design. once this right shim broke it made its way between the cam chain and gear on the crank.. broke the chain, ruined the crank gear. Would have required a new crank to fix plus many many other parts.) It was a 2009 Suzuki GS500F

Now, I suppose an event like this is less likely on our shim under bucket design. Infact a couple Hot Cams shims were used during my adjustment.

 

[FinalImpact]

On the regards of aftermarket shim kits.. Heres the last K&L shim product I installed on an engine. It costed me $800 for a new engine after a shim was digested.

(Notice the shim over bucket design. once this right shim broke it made its way between the cam chain and gear on the crank.. broke the chain, ruined the crank gear. Would have required a new crank to fix plus many many other parts.) It was a 2009 Suzuki GS500F

Now, I suppose an event like this is less likely on our shim under bucket design. Infact a couple Hot Cams shims were used during my adjustment.

In that case ^^ the shim material rides on the cam and should the two not be compatible (think hardness) its like breaking in a new cam and lifters. In some cases the shim (or cam) destroy the other and the shim gains clearance which allows it to come out of the buckets ridge. Because its so hard, it breaks as that one did.

That's very unfortunate and sad to see. Metalurgy is a science and we are in fact taking a chance using aftermarket materials.... These flat tappet designs spin the lifter bucket and they do induce some wear on that tiny shim pad used in the Yamaha design.

PS - Toyota has been running that design for years. Its much easier to re-shim but has draw backs.

 

[Motogiro]

In that case ^^ the shim material rides on the cam and should the two not be compatible (think hardness) its like breaking in a new cam and lifters. In some cases the shim (or cam) destroy the other and the shim gains clearance which allows it to come out of the buckets ridge. Because its so hard, it breaks as that one did.

That's very unfortunate and sad to see. Metalurgy is a science and we are in fact taking a chance using aftermarket materials.... These flat tappet designs spin the lifter bucket and they do induce some wear on that tiny shim pad used in the Yamaha design.

PS - Toyota has been running that design for years. Its much easier to re-shim but has draw backs.

IIRC my 78 Kawasaki KZ1000 had shim over bucket. You could push the bucket down (specific tool) and swap shims.

Sent from Moto's Motorola