Timing marks

[Ed Miller]

When you check your timing, using a strobe light, does the mark stay very steady as you watch, or does it dance around a bit?  

I ask because after coming home this afternoon from a surging (misfiring?) trip, I checked the timing real quick, and noticed the apparent movement of the timing mark.  I'll check again tomorrow when the bike is cold and see if it does it then, too, as the bike runs well when cold or in very cold weather.

The mark persists in dancing a bit even at higher rmps, like 5,000 or more, but the bike runs pretty smoothly by and past that point.  It's hard to estimate, but I probably see 1/8" or more of apparent movement.  

Recent comments on the Airlist got me thinking about this.  They are talking about the timing chain wearing, and for some reason I always thought they meant the timing marks varied from one cylinder to another, not just flickering when checking one side.  

Thanks,

[airhead]

My first thought was timing chain.


Bill................;-)

[Ed Miller]

Uh huh, funny your post to that effect seems to have disappeared from my previous thread on surging....  
 

This morning I checked the marks again, and the timing mark for the idle still wobbled some, but the one for full advance was rock steady.  I'm guessing that higher oil pressure when cold helps keep the timing chain adjustor doing it's thing better.  Sigh.  Main jets are much easier to change.  I just hope I'm not wasting my time fixing one more thing that isn't the real cause of my problem, like I did with the coil.  Yes, the coil tested bad, but it wasn't the problem.

The funny thing is I've never found anything in my oil filters, they're always clean, though oily.  Something tells me this might be expensive, though riding the Triumph as the weather turns cold will motivate me to get it done.  

[Justin B.]

I agree with Bill.  Not an expensive job, probably $60 for parts and a leisurely day of labor...

[Bob_Roller]

Ed !!!!! Send an email to Oak for god's sake, and get this over with already !!

[Justin B.]

I think he will find pretty much everything he needs to accomplish the chain swap on snowbum's site, I think that was the primary reference when I did my first...

[Ed Miller]

I think Bob's referring to the diagnosis part; I have Snowbum's page printed out.  I know I can do the job, I just don't want to.  That hasn't stopped me yet, though.  

Bob, do you really think it might be something else?

Why does emailing Oak strike me as asking for directions?