Intermittent Valve Train Tick 82 1100 EZ

[Turtleface]

What sort of noises is a cam chain with a bad tensioner capable of making? Anything similar? It's getting rebuild in the next month regardless, since I'm sure it's the source of the grime on the back of my engine. I can turn the knob on the tensioner to the rear of the engine, but not at all towards the front of the engine. Just want to consider all routes while I have tools out tomorrow morning.

[Turtleface]

I've got a decent quality .WAV file of my engine running this morning. The tick is quite present, as the motor was stone cold. I decided to wait until I get my breather gasket and seals for my tach cable in so I can just do all that in one go. Thankfully, I live in a large city with a not super terrible bus system. Anyone know where I can find a free web hosting service that will allow me to embed the file into a post here?

[TheCafeKid]

I've got a decent quality .WAV file of my engine running this morning. The tick is quite present, as the motor was stone cold. I decided to wait until I get my breather gasket and seals for my tach cable in so I can just do all that in one go. Thankfully, I live in a large city with a not super terrible bus system. Anyone know where I can find a free web hosting service that will allow me to embed the file into a post here?

Doesnt Photobucket do something similar??

[Turtleface]

Doesnt Photobucket do something similar??

Apparently, they just do images and videos. To the internets!

[Turtleface]

Let's see if I got this right.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yzmkayzzwmr

That'll have to do. It's a link to the .WAV file, anyone who wants to check it out will have to download it and play it on their media player of choice. It's a little under 3 MB, and about 19 seconds. I was moving the mic into different areas on the bike during the recording. The last bit of the clip is around the engine area, the front bit is from around the rear right side, and the bit that runs from about 0:06 to 0:11 is what I hear while riding. Once the engine is around 120-160 degrees, it abrubtly stops tapping.

[Turtleface]

Got the cover off, and it turns out the outboard number one intake valve's adjuster nut had completely spun itself off. Luckily, it didn't make it's way anywhere. Doesn't look like any physical damage has occured in the top of the head, and I'm hoping it didn't get too out of whack on the adjustment. I haven't bothered to check clearances as the bike's only been cooling for four and a half hours. I think this might explain the tapping noise.

[chef1366]

Got the cover off, and it turns out the outboard number one intake valve's adjuster nut had completely spun itself off. Luckily, it didn't make it's way anywhere. Doesn't look like any physical damage has occured in the top of the head, and I'm hoping it didn't get too out of whack on the adjustment. I haven't bothered to check clearances as the bike's only been cooling for four and a half hours. I think this might explain the tapping noise.

Yup................

[rapidray]

Ticking noises are NOTHING! Ask Bill what melting aluminum sounds like!!! Ray.

[Turtleface]

Ticking noises are NOTHING! Ask Bill what melting aluminum sounds like!!! Ray.

I'm beginning to think I'm just going to have to live with it. I went back in AGAIN, and re-adjusted the valves, as I backed them way off after find that loose nut. Ticking doesn't seem to have anything to do with that, it's still here, and it started before the nut was an issue. Bike runs better and cooler now that my valves are back in spec, and I pulled the idle back down from 1300-15. Maybe a stuck ring or some such? I'll snag a can of this SeaFoam I keep hearing about on here. What's the recommendation on using the stuff, anyways? Just dump the whole 16 ounce bottle in and that's the lot of it? Should I change oil afterwards? Etc, etc. Now, off to order cam tensioner rebuild parts. It's barely oozing oil, but it's the very last of the oil leaks, and it might not be helping this ticking problem, anyways.

[hikermikem]

DO NOT dump the entire bottle of Seafoam into the crankcase!! That's WAY TOO much to use.

Mixed reaction here on the benefits of using it in the oil, but many (including myself) use it occasionally in the oil as a cleaner. Use one or two capfulls in the oil, ride the bike maybe 50-100 miles, drain & replace oil & filter.

The used oil will come out coal black, as the Seafoam has dissolved the sludge & such in your crankcase.

More common to be used in your fuel (see bottle for dilutions), it will clean your carbs & it also is a fuel stabilizer... I use it in my tank like every other two fill-ups...

[ddaniels]

Just be absolutely sure not to run it very long with that stuff in the oil. It breaks down the viscosity of the oil. You surely don't want to spin a rod bearing. Ask me how I know this....

[Turtleface]

Just be absolutely sure not to run it very long with that stuff in the oil. It breaks down the viscosity of the oil. You surely don't want to spin a rod bearing. Ask me how I know this....

Good advice, all around. Good to know that it's useful in the gas tank, at least I won't have another bottle of chemicals laying around that I won't be able to use up. This is why I ask questions before I buy parts!
Ok, so the plan now, is as follows. Buy Seafoam, add to crankcase and gas tank, per recommendations. Ride her for about 50-100 miles, drain oil, change filter. Since I've got the gasket from when I thought the pan was leaking, (turned out to be the old oil cooler lines) I'll go ahead and drop the pan (looks like my 4-into-1 shouldn't get in the way for this!) and clean the pickup screen and make sure everything's looking ok in oil pump land. Fresh oil, fresh filter, and maybe the disappearance of my tick.

[chef1366]

Ticking noises are NOTHING! Ask Bill what melting aluminum sounds like!!! Ray.

Clang clang clang clang clang
Smoke cloud
Fvck! Not again and in the middle of BFE!

[Turtleface]

Clang clang clang clang clang
Smoke cloud
Fvck! Not again and in the middle of BFE!

I bet it was almost as loud as when a buddy of mine back in Texas snapped the output shaft on his Art Carr tranny. Looked like it had been cut with a laser, completely and utterly clean cut. Art Carr hadn't seen anything sliced like that, told him he had to be pushing 900+ ft-lbs of torque, and promptly sent him a new transmission for his trouble.

Update! Looks like someone damaged the tip of my feeler gauge at some point in time before I started looking for this tick. Picked up a new one, re-re-re-re-re-set valve clearances, and now....the tick seems to be gone. I can only assume the damaged gauge wasn't giving me a correct reading, hence the tick. Dented gauge tip=gauge is far larger than what's stamped on it. I needed an excuse to buy some proper motorcycle feelers anyways.

The plus side of all this is that I am now extremely proficient in the art of valve cover removal and gasket cleanup. First semi-major service (other than oil change and chain lube) I've done to the bike, and though I had some issues there, it was fairly successful. The important part is to not get caught in any "gumption traps". The worth of the knowledge gained from being inside that engine is far more valuable than the time lost troubleshooting problems. Going though all the possibilities in my head is a most invigorating mental exercise. Thanks for everyone's help, much appreciated.

Still going to do the Seafoam action, since I've already purchased it, oil, and a filter. Figure I may have run the engine rich or lean, depending on how the valves were set, and could probably use the carbon cleaned up.

Next up, cam tensioner, followed a new set of tires, followed by a carb cleanup, followed by a tank cleanup and reseal, followed by fork seals, followed by brake refresh, followed by a....etc etc etc.

Never have a change to get bored when owning an older bike, do you?

[TheCafeKid]

I bet it was almost as loud as when a buddy of mine back in Texas snapped the output shaft on his Art Carr tranny. Looked like it had been cut with a laser, completely and utterly clean cut. Art Carr hadn't seen anything sliced like that, told him he had to be pushing 900+ ft-lbs of torque, and promptly sent him a new transmission for his trouble.

Update! Looks like someone damaged the tip of my feeler gauge at some point in time before I started looking for this tick. Picked up a new one, re-re-re-re-re-set valve clearances, and now....the tick seems to be gone. I can only assume the damaged gauge wasn't giving me a correct reading, hence the tick. Dented gauge tip=gauge is far larger than what's stamped on it. I needed an excuse to buy some proper motorcycle feelers anyways.

The plus side of all this is that I am now extremely proficient in the art of valve cover removal and gasket cleanup. First semi-major service (other than oil change and chain lube) I've done to the bike, and though I had some issues there, it was fairly successful. The important part is to not get caught in any "gumption traps". The worth of the knowledge gained from being inside that engine is far more valuable than the time lost troubleshooting problems. Going though all the possibilities in my head is a most invigorating mental exercise. Thanks for everyone's help, much appreciated.

Still going to do the Seafoam action, since I've already purchased it, oil, and a filter. Figure I may have run the engine rich or lean, depending on how the valves were set, and could probably use the carbon cleaned up.

Next up, cam tensioner, followed a new set of tires, followed by a carb cleanup, followed by a tank cleanup and reseal, followed by fork seals, followed by brake refresh, followed by a....etc etc etc.

Never have a change to get bored when owning an older bike, do you?

Nawp... And if you like to work on em, makes winter a little bit more bareable...