The favourite topic, cam chain

[steve87]

Heyguys, the ther day at the end of a ride, my bike developed a ticking /clackingsound. I have had it appart and done all the valve clearances, and all was ok. I have checked the cam chain, and that seemed fine, there was still more movement in the tensioner, and the chain is tight..... or so I thougt.
I check the chain on the left hand side, where the tensioner works, and its really nice and tight. I then checked it on the right and its eally slack. im guessing this is causing the sound, as it is whipping around inside the engine.
I have read a previous post, and I think my guide has eiher worn o snapped. when you have the little cover off the bottom part of the chain, the plasic bottom of the guide moves about, should this be the case?
do you agree with this, or is there other things i should be checking.
the noise gets faster with engine speed.
steve

[RedexRobB]

Have you tried taking the guide out? Im pretty certain it is meant to be taught. Cargo is the man in the know on this one.

[steve87]

i havent tried to take it out as yet, as I have just done the shims and re bilt it, then thought .... I wonder. I will try to strip it back down. do I need to take the cams out, or can I slide it out?

[RedexRobB]

i dont know for certain, but to get the guide in and out i think youll need to take out the cams.

[cargo]

You need to lift the cams out to get the front guide out.

The front guide is not bolted in it just locates into the head and casing................I'd not be too worried about a bit of movment in it.

It's very hard to be certain what the problem is without actually hearing the noise.

The last noisy camchain I heard was only noisy at a very specfic revs (6K )above or below this the bike sounded fine.

Given that your noise has appeared after you did the clearances I'd be looking there first for any problems.

A bit more information would help like how many miles are on it ?
Is the oil fresh ?
Has anyone touched or removed the camchain tensioner ?

best I can do without hearing it

[steve87]

ill give all the details i can...
basiclly went for a ride with my mate, having justput the exhaust back together. put the exhaust on and rode off.
filled up after about 15 miles, fired it up and happy days off we went. then about 2 mis from home, bike sat ticking over at traffic lights, then it died.
it wouldnt fire straight away so gave it half our then fired it up.
started fine no problems, ut when it reved up to 2500 had a rattle sound from the engine.
i thought, need clearances checked, i bet its that becauseof the better back pressure of the exhaust side of things. limped it home and did the vlave clearance. some where too loose, so changed them all and thy are all withn clearance.
checked the cam chain and it seemed nice and tighton the left, but if you pull the right hand side, there is about 5 mm movement in it. there is also a black pastic guide, kinda wedged in shape which moves behind it.
i took the tensionr out and compressed it, putting it back in tolet it re tension. as I say the left side is nicely tensioned, but the right has a good bit of movementin it.
the sound sounds asif its coming from the chain bout half way up, at the front sid and is a rattle type of sound.
the bikes done about 20,000 i think but has had clocks changed on it.
oil is good but had got a little low when noise started. the oil is clean and th chain is pretty well oiled. the tensioner has not been toched before the sound, but re seting it hasnt helped, and there is more movement in t tensioner eg its not at full extension.
my thoughts are, as this side starts off quite thick, it may hv just worn away an needs replacing to keep the tnsion on this side. the bike runs perfect ba the rattle.
hope this helps
need any me, let me know
steve

[steve87]

well i have made the dicision that will change both the guide and the chain while i am there. i HAVE JUST ORDERE THEM FROM CRADLEY at 40 for both, so not too bad inc post, so will keep you updated
steve