its a rattle.. surprize surprize...

[carsounds_dan]

only noticed it today, comes in at about 6000 rpm. its from the right hand side of the engine, the top i recon, but i could be wrong. its a l4, 36060miles and has a micron exhaust system. im pretty savvy with my tools so if theres anything i can do or check please don't hesitate on saying. any good parts places would also be handy.
any advice or questions would be greatly appriciated
cheers
dan

[carsounds_dan]

anyone?
i look the tank off and the airbox today and had a listen to the engine. its definately coming from the top right of the engine as you straddle the bike; not sure if its the front or the rear of the block but its definately from piston 4 side of the block.. any ideas?
cheers
dan

[Northern ANdy]

new cam chain?

[masterofinsanity]

sounds like it, does it go away when you pull the clutch in?

[zimm]

camchain, camchain tensioner, or worn tappett/cam follower, if its the latter its a pain as the engine has to come out, whatever it is it'll be obvious once its apart.

[deviant]

or worn tappett/cam follower, if its the latter its a pain as the engine has to come out,

I believe only if it's on the inlet side. if it's the exhaust side I think you can get the pivot rod out without dropping the engine.

[zimm]

i think you might be right there, ive only had to do it when the engines already out, timing the cams in is still a pain with it still in the frame though

[carsounds_dan]

well i've been offered a full service on the bike, which includes:
oil change (inc. filter)
coolant flush
brake fluid flush
caliper strip and clean
fuel filter
air filter
check engine over (valve clearances, cam chain tensioner and cam chain)
full check of bike (bearings, electrical tests etc.)

all in for £250-£300 by a local bike shop. i know the guys in there quite well and i know their work is top notch. But has anyone got any idea how much stuff like a new camchain with tensioner will cost? im also gunna get a new chain and sprockets (they're not overly warn, just like to know its been done).
is there anything else i should look out for? anything i can do?
cheers
dan

[masterofinsanity]

i would get them to check the valve clearances and cam chain etc but do the rest yourself even the chain and sprockets, if you're not that confident you can always rely on us here to help you along!

[gt185]

Hi guys,
Some of what's being discussed rings a bell, re the 400 h2 I had for a couple of
months now.
The rattling from the top rhs of the engine on mine sounds like a worn cam chain,
and the tensioner doersn't look like it's got much further to go, so I've got a new
one plus gaskets waiting to be done.

However, the bottom end on the lhs is noisy too (when idling in nuetral), but goes away
when the clutch lever's pulled in? Any ideas why?

Sorry, another question. Had a go at balancing the carbs yesterday, and the bike struggled
to tick over with all gubbins removed, exposing the carbs. But when I put the screwdriver
on the adjusting screws, the revs jumped up to about 4 or 5k. Not sure what touching the screws
does (without turning), but I'm sure the neighbours weren't happy.
It was the best I could do, and on the way to work this morning, it felt a lot cleaner when accelerating,
but after an hours ride, coming through the traffic, the revs were getting stuck up around 3k.
They eventually dropped down to idel, but every time I opened the throttle, then closed it, the
revs got stuck at 3k. Again, any ideas?
Cheers
Stephen

[carsounds_dan]

the clutch thing sounds like a worn clutch basket, i dont know what one of those is but aparently its a common fault.
for those that would like to see my plans look at the thread called "SERVICE" in the "Free 4 All" area of the site.
i plan to do most if not all the work myself next weekend and write some walk-throughs for those that actually care
cheers
dan

[carsounds_dan]

the 3K rev thing sounds like your idle adjustment screw, i was playing with mine (as you do) today and mine did that.. although only up to 2.5K
cheers
dan

[gt185]

Cheers Dan,
I replaced the clutch plates and springs at the weekend, so I know what the clutch
basket looks like. Replacing it looks straighforward (following the service docs on
this site), though you need a special tool to hold the clutch, to allow you to undo the
hub nut.

Re the high revs, it's definitely not the tickover speed itself, as the engine ticks over
normally when not hot. When it is hot, it's not dropping back to tickover immediately,
it gets stuck at 2.5k or 3k, then drops down after a short while. I'll check the throttle
return cable, and adjust if necessary. It wasn't as bad today as it was yesterday, but
is still annoying when moving through slow traffic.

cheers
stephen

[tomzxr400]

i had same rattle on mine tick over was fine and then when the bike warmed up at 3k revs there was a sound like a loose bolt rattleing around and it went away at higher revs.
sure enough i checked the timing and the chain was loose and the tensioner was also knackered as i could push it down without and real presure 18k it is recomended to change both so yours would match
i always find it easy to take the engine out when i do its easy enough to do and timming is so much easyer with it out to (ive got it down to 40 mins from riding it into the shed to aving the engine on the work bench)
cam chain is about £25 and tentioner is about £70 i was quoted £325 for a garage to do it so thats why i did it myself.
as for the tick over surging i would turn your mixture screws in a quarter turn and check the cable routing
To be honest i had pritty much the same probs with mine when i bought it (plus a few more) so i stripped it down and cecked every thing and it runs sweet now all i can say is winter is coming so why not?

[carsounds_dan]

well got myself an oil filter, oil, feeler guages (check valve clearances), got the air filter soaking in petrol and got all my tools all layed out...
so went down the parts shop who quoted me £19.66+VAT for the tensioner with all the money, and they take it all.. order the part, when i return to collect the part it turns out that its actually £76.12 including VAT.. to say the liest i hit the roof, got my money back and im going elsewhere.
they all quoted similar money apart from a local breakers who have one with 6000 miles on it for £15-20+VAT, they have about three and said i could choose which one so looks like thats my option for now. im not sure if i should do the chain next, guys in the bike shop a few doors down from work said that they havent ever changed one as they rarely need changing in one of these... ill check the measurements and compair to the manual.
i'll get the servicing over and done with next weekend hopefully including tensioner change, so i'll do a couple of write ups for it for the site.
cheers
dan