Really loud valves?

[AlexL]

I am new so forgive me if this is a noob question. My valvetrain seems to be really loud, is this normal for bikes? This is my first bike, but I've worked on cars all my life. Yes I know it's going to be loud because I'm riding on top of it and it's 3 ft. from my face with nothing in between it but my valves sound really loud. Even with the hood open on a car if the engine ever sounded this loud it meant that it needed work. I am aware that to stand up to the high revs the valvesprings on bikes are way tighter than cars, and I expected them to be a little noisy but... Is there a normal adjustment interval for these? The bike has 9500 miles on it and I'm the second owner so it's possible they have never been adjusted. Is this normal? TIA.

 

[Kilbane83]

If you're talking about the clicking/ticking noise it's just something the FZ6 does. Not sure why, but I know it's normal for this engine.

 

[AlexL]

Yes, I'm talking about the really loud ticking.

 

[CanadianFZ6]

The valve check interval is every 26,000 miles or 42,000 KM.... By the way, the fuel pump makes a lot of noise too...

 

[2-stroke]

Yes I think you are hearing the fuel injectors not the valve train. You probably notice it the most around 5k-8k rpm.

 

[AlexL]

I hear it right off idle, but if the valve adjustment interval isn't until 26K miles I won't worry about it. In my experience fuel injectors make more of a click, and this is more of a tick, I know that's an awful explanation. On cars that I have had you could put your head next to the injectors and hear them clicking and put your head next to the valve cover (or even remove the oil cap) and hear the valves. It is very likely a combination of all these things but I just wanted some input.

 

[sportrider]

if you had bought your bike in Redlands I'd say be worried, but I'm not sure. I got rid of mine for the ridiculously loud valve train. but it wasn't like that when new. I could hear my valves over the Scorpion exhaust. are yours that loud?

 

[AlexL]

Stock exhaust, but yeah, pretty darn loud. I have a warranty on the engine so if something breaks it breaks. I'm just looking to avoid that as an inconvenience.

 

[sportrider]

I think mine was caused from a lean condition up top after I installed the exhaust system. at the time the bike momentarily lost power then the noise started. after that the bike made the same power as before but the ticking was unbelievably loud. I'm not sure what got damaged but I know something failed. but on the positive side, it couldn't of been anything too major because they've already sold my old bike.

 

[AlexL]

I did miss second (went into neutral) and bounced off the limiter a good bit the other night That may have had something to do with it I guess. The question now is should I pay for service or just wait until something actually goes wrong and get it warrantied?

 

[sportrider]

I'd take it back to the dealer and have them look at it so they have it on record just incase it goes south on you later


bounceing it off the limiter shouldn't of hurt it

 

[AlexL]

I'd take it back to the dealer and have them look at it so they have it on record just incase it goes south on you later

Probably a good idea.

 

[MarinaFazer]

if it's still got a warranty, take it in for the check. They can't say no just because there's no visible or for sure damage. A warranty is a warranty. and there are lemon laws

 

[poorwboy]

Put some 80/90 gear oil in it, some race gas and go to the track.

j/k Dont listen to me.

 

[Kilbane83]

Bouncing it off the rev limiter isn't going to hurt anything. Keeping it there isn't a good idea but a quick bounce now and then is expected. This noise is normal and there are several threads about it.

http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-technical/1530-cam-chain-tensioning.html

http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-general-discussion/3495-rattle.html

http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-technical/527-tapping-noise.html

http://www.600riders.com/forum/garage-mechanical-help/4088-buzzing-noise.html

Pick whatever noise description you're comfortable with and ride her until the wheels fall off.

 

[Lt_Red]

Yep they all do it, aint it annoying? Just drown it out with REVS!

 

[D-Mac]

I've got the same noise from what I can tell (nearly 3K miles on my bike now). I seem to notice it more when the bike is hot (first time I heard it was 700 miles into my Iron Butt ride and since then it's been more-or-less consistent). I was about to post yet another message about this issue and I've now decided I'll just ignore it. Bike is running fine performance-wise.

There are a LOT of posts about these issues (both ticking/clicking noise from idle to 3K and the buzz at 7-8K rpm, which is almost certainly unrelated). No one seems to have an FZ6 failure related to these noises. With a 24K valve check interval and modern engineering it's gonna take more than a loud tick to kill our bikes.

Wear earplugs and ride on!!:rockon: