Cause of worn rocker arm?

[Rasta-ninja]

So im riding along and i begin to hear a ticking sound. A problem i had before, about 1k miles ago if that. Eventually the noise got so loud i had it checked out and it turned out to be a worn rocker arm. The nice local garage man said he had a 2nd hand spare which would save me a lot of money and so on it went. The noise has returned and got louder. I thought it could be cam chain tensioner issue but i took the pick up coil cover off and got it out and its fine, cam chain not worn or anything. The noise is definitely coming from top end. What would, or could be the cause of my rocker arms being worn down? toad oil? do i need to get my valve clearances done? or could it be that the replaced rocker arm was just crap?
cheers!

[richr]

maybe be an oil issue or lack of

when you say worn do you mean the shiney surface has gone and was the clearance done when the rocker was replaced

h t h rich

[RedexRobB]

Youd need to get it apart to be sure, but could be a blocked oil way. Has it got decent oil in it?

By the way, how is it temperature wise?

[Rasta-ninja]

Worn as in the curved part of it has been flattened out, temp wise its absolutely fine. Oil wise i got a brand new filter and oil about 2-3 months ago maybe, the oil i used was 10w40 semi synth. It is halfords oil though so not the price-est. Some people ive spoken to say that its crap oil, but i know plenty that use it and have no problems. I'm pretty reluctant myself to do any engine work to check clearances(im only 17 and my knowledge only takes me to the carbs), but to check the rocker arms to confirm thats the problem, is that just a case of taking the cyclinder head off? cheers!

[richr]

theres no need to remove the head

its the rocker cover that comes off to do shims etc

have a look at the manuels on line

[RedexRobB]

If you dont know then leave it to someone who does would be my advice. It could well be that another rocker has had it. although they are hardened i guess they would wear eventually?

[bendog66]

Thrashing it before it's warmed up properly would be my first guess - they take a while. Is it the furthest LH rocker by any chance?

[Rasta-ninja]

The one that was replaced last time was yeah, I haven't had a chance to open it up to have a look cause its been bloody windy and cold and i don't have a garage. But my guess is that its the same one as the noise is definitely coming from the left side.

[Tirpitz]

If you don't service your bike in accordance with the schedules or have someone do the work for you, you might as well just take a hammer to the engine and wreck it with that. There's no point throwing spare parts at it if it is fundamentally in a bad state of service. Setting the valve clearances on a 4-stroke engine isn't an optional extra, if they are not done you will lunch your valve gear, simple as. And when you replace it you'll lunch it again.

Either set the valve clearances or if you can't do the work yourself pay someone else to do it. Until everything is in adjustment there's no point going any further.

[Rasta-ninja]

This is my first bike(so im learning the ropes ) and my only means of transport, so i follow the service manual religiously. It says i need to get the clearances checked at 24k miles and im on 22k. I was just double checking with everyone to see what they thought, before i pay someone a helluva lot of money just to get into the engine and find that wasn't the cause. All the help is greatly appreciated though and i will be booking my bike in very soon to have its clearances done!