[Cydalr]

So I went to pick up my bike at a local shop after having some toys added on. The guy tells me that engine doesn't sound good, so I went to pick it up & I hear the normal ticking sound. As he revs it up, it gets louder to a tacking sound. So I had to take it down to the dealership and dropped it off so they can check it out and have it repaired under warranty. When I got to the dealership and showed the guy the bike, it didn't make the sound anymore. So I told the guy it made it when it was cold, by the time he heard my bike was nice and warmed up after from riding it to the shop. So hopefully they find the problem and fix it under warranty. Perhaps they give me a new motor, which is what the guy told me at the shop that I picked my bike up from. Do the 08's have this common problem?

 

[soc_monki]

umm...if the bike is cold and you just started it up it is NOT a good idea to rev up the engine! reason being, there isnt enough oil in the top end which means the valves dont have enough oil so when you rev it up right after you fire it up it can hurt things!!!

if the bike didnt make that sound after it has been warmed up and ridden a bit i doubt its a problem. if you rev the bike high and it hasnt had time to let the oil circulate throughout the motor then you could blow up the motor i suppose.

a word of advice...let the bike warm up for a couple minutes BEFORE riding and revving it up. your engine will thank you for it!

 

[Cydalr]

umm...if the bike is cold and you just started it up it is NOT a good idea to rev up the engine! reason being, there isnt enough oil in the top end which means the valves dont have enough oil so when you rev it up right after you fire it up it can hurt things!!!

if the bike didnt make that sound after it has been warmed up and ridden a bit i doubt its a problem. if you rev the bike high and it hasnt had time to let the oil circulate throughout the motor then you could blow up the motor i suppose.

a word of advice...let the bike warm up for a couple minutes BEFORE riding and revving it up. your engine will thank you for it!

Yea when I normally ride i'll let the bike warm up to about 140 150 and then I take off. I don't rev it at all, just the guy at the shop did it. It was just louder then normal so it got me worried.

 

[soc_monki]

well that could have been the problem, and he must be a bit slow if he thinks you can rev an engine up right after you start it. thats a recipe for trouble!

btw...you wait till 140? i just wait for the gauge to read 104 and then im off! thats usually around a minute and a half from fully cold, and i take it easy until the temp gets a bit higher, which usually doesnt take long!

its not good to rev a bike up right after you start it up, and its not good to let it idle too long either. same with cars...you gotta let the oil work its way around, but after a minute or so you need to get moving simply because using the engine will get the oil moving better!

id say if you ride the bike a bit and have no weird sounds then its probably fine.

 

[Red_DevilZx6r]

so u had some things put on by a shop and not a dealership? i'd be alittle suspicious if someone told me "your engine doesn't sound to good" after they just installed some stuff on there. also IMO i think that letting the bike idle to 140-150 for warm up is a bit excessive but i guess what ever works for you. I just start my bike up and let it sit until the - - becomes 104-107 and ride off but take it easy on the bike until fully warmed up.

 

[KyZX6R]

i just start the bike, put on my helmet, zip up the jacket, put on my gloves and go. putting on the gear takes enough time to warm the bike up.

 

[3sr_B-Rad]

Yeah Id be a little weary if a shop put some stuff on the says....it doesnt sound too good. Just me though, they might have taken it out and hurt somethin.

 

[Red_DevilZx6r]

i just start the bike, put on my helmet, zip up the jacket, put on my gloves and go. putting on the gear takes enough time to warm the bike up.

same here, that is usually enough time for the bike to show 104-107

 

[Sev]

The noises you're hearing is likely piston slap - you've got forged pistons in there which means they expand a lot. Which means there is a lot of clearance between the pistons and cylinder walls while they're cold. The advantage of a forged piston is that it is much lighter and as a result can be moved much faster (16000rpm anyone???). However it's going to be noisy. But on a bike bred for the track who cares if it's noisy??

umm...if the bike is cold and you just started it up it is NOT a good idea to rev up the engine! reason being, there isnt enough oil in the top end which means the valves dont have enough oil so when you rev it up right after you fire it up it can hurt things!!!

If you have oil pressure you have oil pressure everywhere. The oil is injected through holes in the bearing surfaces... it doesn't have to "make it's way to the top."

Obviously revving the piss out of a cold bike is a bad idea, but that's because the oil hasn't reached the correct viscosity to protect the engine, not because there is no oil up there. We've got a gear-type oil pump which means it can build a lot of pressure and fast.

 

[Cydalr]

Well got the call from the dealership. He heard the loud tacking noise. So the guy is going to take apart the top end and check it out. It should be repairable under warranty.

 

[Go Fast]

Well got the call from the dealership. He heard the loud tacking noise. So the guy is going to take apart the top end and check it out. It should be repairable under warranty.

thank god for warranty, keep us posted on what the actual problem is

 

[Cydalr]

I'll definetly keep up with the updates. It just sucks i'll be out a bike for another week or two. I've already been out of a bike for about 2wks, now another two weeks. Tell you, this month of july was just shitty for me. Well maybe it was a sign telling me I had to take in. Guess someone was telling me "hey bike needs to be looked at", so my rolling off the kick stand and getting it repaired was a sign to let me know about the motor too.

 

[warbuk]

how long has the "tack" been there? did it happen to start after an oil change? i had it happen once after an oil change, well, the motor sounded more loudly, rattly, changed to a different grade and it was gone.

 

[kawiridr4lfe]

The ticking sound on my bike decreased after I changed to full synthetic oil. I think it made a slight increase in performance as well.

 

[Cydalr]

The motor only has 6,600 or so miles on it. I changed the oil at about 5k something with the same oil the previous owner changed it with. Royal purple 20 50. I'm hoping it's the chain tensioner, it was already replaced once with the previous owner. Perhaps it went bad again, as long as warranty covers it and the problem goes away for good.

 

[soc_monki]

The noises you're hearing is likely piston slap - you've got forged pistons in there which means they expand a lot. Which means there is a lot of clearance between the pistons and cylinder walls while they're cold. The advantage of a forged piston is that it is much lighter and as a result can be moved much faster (16000rpm anyone???). However it's going to be noisy. But on a bike bred for the track who cares if it's noisy??




If you have oil pressure you have oil pressure everywhere. The oil is injected through holes in the bearing surfaces... it doesn't have to "make it's way to the top."

Obviously revving the piss out of a cold bike is a bad idea, but that's because the oil hasn't reached the correct viscosity to protect the engine, not because there is no oil up there. We've got a gear-type oil pump which means it can build a lot of pressure and fast.

well, you learn something every day! thanks and yes, i still agree that its bad to rev the piss out of a cold engine (any cold engine!) i think a lot of people have problems with engines, cars or bikes, because they dont allow them to fully warm up before beating on them. once an engine is warm, itll take the abuse, but on a cold engine its deadly. maybe it wont show problems today or tomorrow, but sooner or later it will.

thanks for the lesson though...its good to know that stuff!

 

[downshift_83]

The motor only has 6,600 or so miles on it. I changed the oil at about 5k something with the same oil the previous owner changed it with. Royal purple 20 50. I'm hoping it's the chain tensioner, it was already replaced once with the previous owner. Perhaps it went bad again, as long as warranty covers it and the problem goes away for good.

chain tensioner?-isn't that at the rear end of the swing arm?-what would that have to do with the ticking... NE way-when my bike is cold it makes the same noise-once it warms up everything's good-at 104-107 temp I give it a couple of light revs, to make sure that i've got everything lubed up.

 

[soc_monki]

chain tensioner?-isn't that at the rear end of the swing arm?-what would that have to do with the ticking... NE way-when my bike is cold it makes the same noise-once it warms up everything's good-at 104-107 temp I give it a couple of light revs, to make sure that i've got everything lubed up.

cam chain tensioner...which has been known to make noise. but when you have a timing chain is going to make more noise! but i like timing chains...may be more noisy, but i feel better having a chain rather than a belt!

 

[downshift_83]

aah ha-got it -thanks

 

[6RracerMP]

These bikes have an "automatic" cam chain tensioner in them stock, basically just a spring and a ratchet type assembly. When the bikes are cold tolerances are larger, and the cam chain can make a lot of noise against the tensioner. Often, you will hear a loud tacking when the bike is cold and mostly due to tolerances like Sev said. Sometimes this is exaggerated and the noise is louder than usual right before the cam chain tensioner bumps to the next adjustment on the ratchet. If you hear a loud clicking or tacking, whatever you want to call it, and then it suddenly stops, it just means your cam chain tensioner has clicked to the next adjustment. Totally normal.