Need Help New Owner To ZXRs Really Worried.

[japmannslim]

Hi all got a bit of a problem!!
Bought a 2002 ZXR 400 L9 in march. Decided to take the bike out for a quick spin on Tuesday night, hit a nice long stretch of road and thought I would see what the bike is capable of. (Its only the 4th run since I bought the bike).

Took the bike up to just under the red line 14000 which was fine, came off the power and cruised for about half a mile to a mile and noticed this clattering/scraping rattling sound I thought a bracket or the radiator grill had come loose.
Anyway decided to get home keeping the bike to around the 50 mile per hour mark, got back but the noise seems louder now.

Left it over night and decided to take off the fairings,tank, etc so I can try and see where the sound is coming from.
Before I Started her up I removed the plugs to check their condition and to see if there was any possible hints as to what the problem could be.
The plugs were fine, replaced these and fired her up and the bike sounded absolutely awfull!!

Turned off the ignition, and decided to look on youtube for any answers. Came accross a bloke that said it could be the camchain tensioner, which may be broken. He said that if you can push the plunger up and down easily then this indicates the tensioner has broke.

I took the tensioner off and sure enough you can push the plunger in and out easily. I have noticed though that the tensioner on my bike is different to his. Mine has no locking bolt on the side, but I was wondering if the same principles apply to this tensioner as they did with his ie: pushing the plunger in and out easily.

I dont want to replace this to find out that there was nothing wrong with it. Any help or advice on this would be really appreciated as i'm really worried about the bike!!

[Randle]

The cam chain tensioner has a one way ratchet mechanism on it. You should not be able to push the tensioner rod back in, unless you press and hold the ratchet open with your thumb.
Sounds like the ratchet mechanism is not working on yours.
When the tensioner is in the bike it should only move out and nothing should make it move back.

[japmannslim]

Hi thanks for the reply!! I am going to order a new tensioner and chain (for peace of mind) so will update on here after I have changed them.

Once again thanks for the reply

[Randle]

There is a guy on Ebay selling a new tensioner.

Ebay number..... 200785398666

I bought a new camchain from him.
Maybe cheaper than buying from a dealer.

[Randle]

It appears the tensioner new is around £80, so the Ebay one seems like a good buy, at just under £40, if you are looking to buy a new item.

You can use Cornwall Kawasaki website to get a UK price( -VAT), if you know the part number.
No microfiche on there, but you can use the microfiche on this site to get the part number of an item you want to check.

[japmannslim]

Hi Thanks for the reply and the advise its much appreciated! At first I didnt think the problem would be the tensioner/cam chain as the bikes only done 12000 miles and looks mint. was thinking these items wouldnt need attention til 16000-20000 miles. To be fair i've only owned the bike approx 4months so ive not really got any idea as to the bikes past history. The person I bought it off said that it had been serviced recently, but I suppose it depends on what they mean by serviced as I dont have any documentation to prove it.

Once again thanks for the reply!!

[Randle]

Well I just double checked my L model tensioner to make sure the non return ratchet mechanism still works even after the tensioner has been removed from the bike and the main springs have been removed.
It does. I have to manually pull the tensioner rod out of the body of the tensioner. The ratchet makes a clicking noise as the rod is pulled out. The rod cannot be pushed back in unless I use thumb or finger to release the ratchet mechanism.
Maybe the ratchet mechanism on yours is jammed open by some grit? Can you move the ratchet machanism with your thumb? It should pivot quite easily.
Maybe you can see that the ratchets tooth is broken, or the teeth on the rod are gone.

As for the cam chain you can measure a section of links and compare it to the spec in the manual, or, after fitting the new tensioner, see if the tensioner has much travel left before it would hit the inner casing that stops it travel.
I am changing my cam chain at the moment because I could see the tensioner rod was touching the inner casing and the chain was about to begin running slack.
I can supply pics if that makes it easier to understand.

[Randle]

Another way you could check the cam chain for wear would be to look for play in the links when you pull and push the chain with 2 hands.
ie. grab a few links and then pull them away from each other and look for play in the chain. Actual sliding movement between the links.
I say this because my chain has very noticeable play in this manner. I am assuming a new chain will have no noticeable play.......like comparing a new and worn drive chain.

[japmannslim]

Hi Thanks for the reply. The tensioner I have allows me to push the rod in and out with ease, even with the springs attached. The little spring loaded pawl which works on the teeth does nothing to stop the rod from being pushed in. If I insert a pin/screw driver at the back of the pawl and lever it slightly (basically doing the job of the little spring) and apply a bit of pressure it does stop the toothed rod from being pushed down. after inspecting the teeth on the rod I have noticed that there is aslight discolouration of the teeth where the pawl has been meshing with the teeth. I measured this from the very top tooth to the discolouration and it measures 6mm. Thanks for the advise on the chain I will have a look at that once Ive got my new tensioner. many thanks for your reply to my post it is much appreciated!!

[Randle]

I got my new cam chain today and checked that for the play I mentioned earlier and even the new chain had some end to end sliding play in the links, so that is not a good way to judge.
When I put the new and old chains on top of one another the difference in wear must be so small that I could not tell the difference.
However having installed the new chain, and fitted the tensioner, the position of the tensioner rod is so much better, it is clear the new chain will make a difference.
So I would say to use the position of the cam chain tensioner rod as a guide for how worn the chain is.
I have taken some pictures of my tensioner position as it was with the old chain, at the end of its life, and now with the new chain, as a guide for wear.
I will post these as a separate post for future reference for people.

[japmannslim]

Hi all got me new tensioner and fitted it. Turned the bike over by hand a couple of times first and could hear the tensioner taking up the slack. replace cover and strted her up to see if all was well. Bike fired up ok and all the horrible noise has gone, so it obviously was the tensioner. Am leaving the bike for now because I want to change the oil and filter to be on the safe side.

Many thanks to those who replied to my request for help. your advise was invaluable and much appreciated!!