Somewhat of a resolution to a "ticking noise" saga

[norcalwelder]

I have a ticking noise thread on here, and I just wanted to offer some possible closure. I had some major cam chain noises and discovered that while my tensioner wasn't in the best of shape, it haven't failed and was in fact at the end of its travel. A long night of working and a new cam chain and guides were installed by yours truly. The noise was better, but not completely gone as I expected. The old cam chain had stretched 3/16" and the guides were worn after 50,000 miles, FYI. I checked my oil again this last weekend, and I noticed that it was just a tiny bit over the full mark, so I drained 6 oz, and wow, the ticking noise was almost gone! I can still hear it a bit, especially if I have my visor up, but nothing like it was, and the engine in general sounds smoother. I am still thinking that after a few paychecks I will buy a new tensioner, just so the whole cam drive train is up to snuff. I haven't seen to many resolutions to ticking noise threads, so hopefully somebody will find this helpful. One other thing, I am running Kawi 10-40w regular oil, and it seems to be a little noisier than the Mobil 4t I ran before.

My hope is that I didn't mess anything up by having it slightly overfilled...

 

[PhotoAl]

I have extended the life of a tensioner by pulling it and lubing it with good synthetic oil. For a long time ran Rotella T synthetic but think it breaks down after about 2,000 miles so have switched to Red Line oil. Dont think a small over fill should have hurt but not an expert on that. As for the timing chain tensioner, don't think enough oil get to the spring par of it.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I have a ticking noise thread on here, and I just wanted to offer some possible closure. I had some major cam chain noises and discovered that while my tensioner wasn't in the best of shape, it haven't failed and was in fact at the end of its travel. A long night of working and a new cam chain and guides were installed by yours truly. The noise was better, but not completely gone as I expected. The old cam chain had stretched 3/16" and the guides were worn after 50,000 miles, FYI. I checked my oil again this last weekend, and I noticed that it was just a tiny bit over the full mark, so I drained 6 oz, and wow, the ticking noise was almost gone! I can still hear it a bit, especially if I have my visor up, but nothing like it was, and the engine in general sounds smoother. I am still thinking that after a few paychecks I will buy a new tensioner, just so the whole cam drive train is up to snuff. I haven't seen to many resolutions to ticking noise threads, so hopefully somebody will find this helpful. One other thing, I am running Kawi 10-40w regular oil, and it seems to be a little noisier than the Mobil 4t I ran before.

My hope is that I didn't mess anything up by having it slightly overfilled...

I doubt 6 ounces did any damage, when overfilled, the oil will get foamed up, you should be fine..

Just as an FYI, I had a little bit of a ticking noise (not the cam chain). With a going over, I found maybe half the header nuts slightly loose. Torqued back down to spec, nice and quiet...

If your oil is still too high, a syringe with a piece of hose will allow you to suck some oil out. If not, cracking the oil filter loose will allow you to drain a small amount of oil without too big a mess...

Good job BTW! Get another 50,000 miles outta her!

 

[norcalwelder]

I just recently put in a new cam tensioner and it helped as well. Slight ticking noises can be heard, but nothing like it was. Bikes seems to have less vibration as well which is odd. Overall I consider the problem fixed, unless something changes of course. Thanks for the tip about the torque!