What is normal cam chain noise?

[Guest]

1980 GS750E 16 valve. Engine has 25k miles on it. When valve cover off, no sludge, completely clean. Oil pan off and same, no sludge, etc. Clutch cover off and looks like brand new inside. Good compression. No history on bike. Made cafe racer type out of it with only mods of Dynojet Stage 3 kit, air pods and MAC 4 into 1 exhaust. Engine runs great with a little noise coming from cam chain area on top of motor. Bike has self adjusting cam tension with owners manual instructions of do not try and adjust. Do not know of PO did any adjustments on cam chain. Do these motors have some cam chain noise as made? Or am I over thinking it? Thanks.

[tkent02]

Some owners lock the setscrew which disables the tensioner. This would make some noise. It should be set 1/2 turn or so out from locked.

It's in the service manual.

[dennisht]

My GS750E Suzuki Service Manual says "The camshaft drive chain is kept in proper adjustment by an AUTOMATIC camshaft drive chain tensioner. This automatic tensioner never reeds servicing by the customer and the camshaft drive chain itself need not be checked for stretch or wear. CAUTION: Never attempt to turn this tensioner wheel in either direction. Turning the wheel even slightly can jam the mechanism which will prevent it from adjusting the chain properly. An improperly adjusted chain can cause server engine damage." This is what I was going by or am I reading it correctly??? Thanks.

[tkent02]

Yes, but that does not mean some bone headed previous owner or mechanic hasn't messed with the set screw. If it's locked tight the automatic adjustment doesn't function at all. When the chain gets loose without this adjustment working you get some noise.

The tensioners also mostly all leak by now, take it apart, replace the seals and see how it works while you're there. Very easy stuff..

[tkent02]

You can also test if it's functioning by turning the big knob SLIGHTLY counterclockwise as the engine idles, if you hear a bit of noise with the first 8th of a turn or so it's working. Let go of the knob and the noise will go away, again this means it's working. If you hear no change the gizmo inside is stuck, check that setscrew. Whatever you do don't go very far with the big knob, it will cause damage as the manual says. Don't turn it clockwise at all.

I have seen quite a few of these engines with stuck tensioners, they have all had the setscrew locked by someone.

[Steve]

Even though the setscrew is not locked, you might still have problems.

I was replacing the seals on my wife's tensioner and found this:



Even though the knob mooved freely, the ball that rests on this ramp was not able to move to do its job.

Careful filing restored the plunger to this:



so I put it all back together. It has been working well since then.

.

[jsandidge]

Mine looked like that too. Fixed it the same way.