Valve noise

[Tat2demon]

And George wins an internet cookie!!

Seems my new exhaust gaskets are a bit thinner than the old ones and my header nuts were bottoming out before it got tightened. I just cut a little off the ends of the studs and no more noise!

Also after charging the battery all night and rechecking the compression the 145 came up to 155ish. After that I took the tester back for a different one in case I ever need one that's actually accurate.

Thanks for the help guys.

[GLoweVA]

Now you know what an exhaust leak sounds like and you'll be able to distinguish between that and some other noise that these quirky machines like to throw at us.

Glad you figured it out and it was a fairly easy fix.

I agree with the others here, those compression numbers look real good to me, but what's really important is that they are all about the same.

One thing I have noticed about these machines is that if one cylinder's compression is a little low then that one tends not to suck as hard as the others and thus all 4 carbs need to balanced/sync'd so that each cylinder sucks in the same amount of fuel/air mix.

[Tat2demon]

Sorry to bring this back up but I finally got out for a good hard ride today. I cant believe how noisy the top end in this thing is after the new valves. I know people say that they are loud but this seems a bit ridiculous. It reminds me of a scene from an old submarine movie in the engine room with all the rockers out in the open going clackety clackey clackey.

It didnt sound like this until I got out about a mile and everything got warmed up. Now its loud even at a cold start. Its an even loudness all the way across the top, not just one valve.

I have a video of it that makes it sound worse than it seems in person. I think the mic picks up all of the higher pitch sounds and not much of the low.

When I put the valve cover back on after shimming, all the clearances were good and brand new oil.

Again, sorry for bringing this up once more. Just not use to a machine being this noisy unless something is going very bad. It was a prety quiet bike with the old shims and being way out of spec.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elp_viqFTDA

[BA80]

You better check them again.

[Tat2demon]

Damn, was afraid you would say that lol.

[bikerphil]

Does sound kinda loud, are you 100% sure that the headers are not leaking at the head? That would cause a loud ticking noise like in your video.

[Tat2demon]

Yep, went through all of them and trimmed down the studs a couple days ago when I realized the nuts were bottoming out before they were getting tightened. Ill check again to make sure they didn't loosen up during the ride but I cant imagine all four would. I replaced the exhaust gaskets the other day too.

[BA80]

Are you checking those clearances 180º from the high spot of the lobe?

[GLoweVA]

wow, I had to watch it twice. I can't believe how loud those sounded.
Again. check for some kinda exhuast leak, if none then off with the vavle cover again.
Check the timing and valve clearances while there.

If you really want to see/hear what's going on under there, something you could do, but it might be a little messy, is... with valve cover off, start bike and run it for just a few seconds. There shouldn't be any pressurized oil 'spraying' anywhere, just cast off coming off the cams, but it'll definitely show you where the noise is coming from. Again, this is just an idea and you need to be aware that this may not be the safest way to go, but if it were my bike, I'd think about it as a possible troubleshooting method.

Another thought is maybe the valves are tapping into the piston heads... Just another thought. I hope it isn't that, but that sure sounded like a lot of tapping.

[Tat2demon]

Are you checking those clearances 180º from the high spot of the lobe?

Yep, the point on the lobe is facing directly away from the valve.

Another thought is maybe the valves are tapping into the piston heads... Just another thought. I hope it isn't that, but that sure sounded like a lot of tapping.

Lets pray its not that. Heading out in a few to start looking into it.

[bikerphil]

Could also be excessive slack in the cam chain, when the valve cover is off, verify the timing dots on the cams line up properly and that there is no more than 1/4" of slack while pulling up on the chain at the center bridge.

[Tat2demon]

Ok the dots on both cams and the T all lined up. Grabbed a hold of each pipe on the manifold and all were tight. Chain isnt loose and have an ACCT in. Cant check my timing right now. Cant check my timing until tomorrow.

[Tat2demon]

Pulled the header and could see where two of them were still leaking. Not sure how it could have gone from sounding fine that racket from the manifold in a bit less than 2 miles of riding but will find out for sure tomorrow. I taped the seals onto the manifold ends so I know they are lined up perfectly. The tape should burn off right away.

If this turns out to be another exhaust problem Im going to feel like an idiot for wasting everyones time again.

Will post the results tomorrow.

[WMarshy]

Sounds to me like the gaskets are still too thin. I would recommend you put the old ones back in and see if that solves it. If not, put both the new and old ones in together. There's no way your valves are making that much noise. If they are then you have WAY too much clearance and I would expect it to be running worse than it is. If you have the valve cover off, check all your clearances and post them for us to see...

Another idea, maybe add a washer or two under your exhaust stud nuts too make sure they are still not bottoming out... what ever you do, dont shorten them anymore. (Who did you get the exhaust gaskets from, did you get the right ones?)

[BA80]

I know some have doubled the gaskets to keep them from leaking. If that's what it is. It sounds pretty metallic to me on the vid.