Need help diagnosing noise, please

[tunnelrider]

Hi there Crawling, welcome!

Now you maybe don't want to hear what I've got to say, so you may fairly take it with a grain of salt.... From your video I think I can recognise you concern, that really metallic valve chatter?  Especially noticeable on the start up video.  In my small experience of these machines (almost 3 yrs) I've managed to thrash mine to death and repair it to running more smoothly than when I bought it, with awesome help from this asylum!, and at least a Clymer repair manual.

The running chatter of your machine sounds very much like mine after buying her with high km (150,000km on purchase) and riding it 6000+ rpm on tours over more than two years.  I eventually popped an exhaust valve seat out, that was the original and by then had done 173K km. The valve seat was worn thin as a streaker running to be free.
So I got my heads reconditioned, bought new valves and on reinstalling them I fixed another noise problem that you have, the rocker arms have too much play on their shafts, causing another metallic 'hit' noise.  Have you adjusted your valve clearances yet?  You can measure your rocker arm axial movement ('up and down') when you do this and it's the play I mentioned.  It's part of the normal tune up, which should be done at least once a year.  This play can be reduced by various means.
Hopefully I'm not getting off topic from the rest of your guy's replies but I just watched your video Crawling and it's so familiar to me!

[Lucky_Lou]

mmmm well spotted Monte, Motobins part # 88715 shows the ring only chamfered on one side that could well be part of the problem but the noise does sound "metallic".
Lou

[montmil]

mmmm well spotted Monte, Motobins part # 88715 shows the ring only chamfered on one side that could well be part of the problem but the noise does sound "metallic".
Lou

I've become overly cautious with buying used motorcycles. First time I removed the headers on the R100S, which utilizes two rings, they were installed backass backwards which prevented the header pipe into head junction from sealing correctly. A good cleaning and inspection will tell.

As to the noise, quien sabe?  :-/

[tunnelrider]

My post above was done after watching a couple of extra videos that started automatically after watching yours, Crawling. I thought they were all related but didn't take notice of the bike colour etc, I'd had a couple of drinks!  There is a video posted by gsx1400aus or similar, with a black R65 which also runs pretty similarly to yours at idle, and I have to say, much like mine when hot.  I accepted it as the airhead sound but you can lessen the tappet noise by reducing the rocker arm axial play, without getting into the 'can of worms' area of inspecting valves and valve seats.  Nmahf was spot on in his post describing how to set the valve clearances, this is the best starting point and does not involve dismantling the cylinder (which is actually pretty easy to take apart but you need to buy a gasket kit to put it back together properly).

[tunnelrider]

CrawlingFoward, a compression test will give you a good idea about the condition of your valve gear and cylinder rings. A good service station or hire place will have a gauge for hire without the need for buying one.  On the cylinder that eventually had a valve seat fail, my first compression test showed a very poor reading, 67 psi, two years before I eventually busted it.

[montmil]

CrawlingFoward, a compression test will give you a good idea about the condition of your valve gear and cylinder rings. A good service station or hire place will have a gauge for hire without the need for buying one.  On the cylinder that eventually had a valve seat fail, my first compression test showed a very poor reading, 67 psi, two years before I eventually busted it.

If possible, do both the compression test and a leak down test.

For the compression test, the engine needs to crank a few cycles to get a gauge reading.

With a leak down test, you'll be able to pull the carbs and exhaust headers and "listen" at intake and exhaust ports. Any whistling, squeaking, hissing... may indicate there's a bad valve and/or seat within that head.

[tunnelrider]

With a leak down test, you'll be able to pull the carbs and exhaust headers and "listen" at intake and exhaust ports. Any whistling, squeaking, hissing... may indicate there's a bad valve and/or seat within that head.  

Hope I'm not hijacking the post too much but now ahh've been wondering how to do a leak down test, thanks Monte! Is that done by cranking the engine or with an air compressor feeding in air through the spark plug hole? It sounds like an easy job for google, unless any special anomalies.

[montmil]

With a leak down test, you'll be able to pull the carbs and exhaust headers and "listen" at intake and exhaust ports. Any whistling, squeaking, hissing... may indicate there's a bad valve and/or seat within that head.  

Hope I'm not hijacking the post too much but now ahh've been wondering how to do a leak down test, thanks Monte! Is that done by cranking the engine or with an air compressor feeding in air through the spark plug hole? It sounds like an easy job for google, unless any special anomalies.

Leak down testing uses an adapter in place of the spark plug. With engine ar TDC -ie: both valves closed- the cylinder is pressurized and a gauge is monitored. Someone may have info on how much pressure for the Airhead cylinder and either rate or time for X- minutes. Rapid loss of pressure could point to either a valve or even a broken piston ring/s. Either way, it would be time to remove the head/s for inspection and check for a broken piston ring or worn cylinder bore.

[CrawlingForward]

Happy to report she's back together and running happy!

Sorry for the delay. It's often a while before I get a chance to get out to the garage.

I did, in fact, have an exhaust leak, but that wasn't the issue.

Don't worry, I did clean up the exhaust component before screwing it back together with copper anti-seize. It was pretty gunked up, to the point where it couldn't fully seat (hence the leak).



After putting it back together, the noise was unchanged, so I opened up the valve cover and saw this:



Ha ha, yup. That might be the issue.

The exhaust valve lash adjuster locknut had completely backed off and  had self-adjusted to around an 1/8" gap. I had checked them a few months ago and they were in spec, so I didn't touch them. Clearly I should have checked that they were snugged down. Lesson learned!

Luckily, better loose than tight and I only ran it for about 5 minutes, so no damage was done and after a quick adjustment, all is well again.

Thanks for all the help!

[CrawlingForward]

p.s. Is there a way to get email notifications?  I totally missed the second page of replies, sorry.

[montmil]

Email notifications? Just like our Airhead motorcycles, it's pretty basic here on R65dotorg.  8-)
So how did you miss page two?

[Bob_Roller]

Just below the window where you would type text for a posting, there is a selection for being notified of replies to this thread .

[montmil]

Just below the window where you would type text for a posting, there is a selection for being notified of replies to this thread .

Still have to log on. Close but not exactly what tunnel guy wishes for.  :-?