Valve intermittent ticking noise

[roydrummer]

Hi, new guy here, new owner of a 2015 with 14k kms. Haven't found any threads regarding my issue , which is; When i'm riding at a steady throttle pace, at around 20-40mph, i have a loud tapping sound coming from the top end, or so it seems. Only when i am keeping a steady speed, no noise upon starting, and it doesn't happen on every ride either..Doesn't sound like the cam chain tensioner noises i've heard so far......Any clue, i'm a bit(a lot) nervous about this. Oil change is recent and used 15w50 full synth, Thanks for any advices!!!

 

[BaldKnob]

Not. Normal. You're not in 6th gear at those speeds? are you?

 

[roydrummer]

No no, i'm in 4th at 50-60km/h

 

[2daMax]

What changed prior to hearing those noises? Fuel type? Was the bike OK when you got it?

Could it be knocking/piston slap?

If it is a valve noise, it should be consistently noisy, not comes and go, IMO.

 

[Checkswrecks]

How loud is loud? How gray is gray? How happy is happy?


This is one of those that needs an actual ear and maybe another bike to compare with. After all, these engines do rattle and skid plates make them worse. Who else is in the Canada Trois-River area and could meet up with roy drummer?

 

[roydrummer]

Exactly, the "come and go" parts is worrying me, i found a guy who own's a 2014, i'll go have a listen and chase any loose brackets and give feedback, sure doesn't seem to be common. Thanks!

 

[roydrummer]

So! Here's the update; i took a deep look into the engine bay with the tank up, removed the skidplate and re-torqued everything iaw the shop manual. I suspected the exhaust headers but the torque was just fine. Some brackets were undertorqued, so i had hope. but when i restarted the bike the sound was still there.

So i went to plan B, i drained a bit of oil to make absolutely sure that the level was good and added my last resort secret weapon before freakin' out; a 1/4 can of seafoam into the oil tank. Went riding for 5 min and the intermittent valve noise disappeared! The valve train noise is there but much quieter and constant.

It seems it was some sludge in a valve lifter oil passage or something similar, so yeah, weird problem... but so far so good!

 

[Don in Lodi]

So! Here's the update; i took a deep look into the engine bay with the tank up, removed the skidplate and re-torqued everything iaw the shop manual. I suspected the exhaust headers but the torque was just fine. Some brackets were undertorqued, so i had hope. but when i restarted the bike the sound was still there.

So i went to plan B, i drained a bit of oil to make absolutely sure that the level was good and added my last resort secret weapon before freakin' out; a 1/4 can of seafoam into the oil tank. Went riding for 5 min and the intermittent valve noise disappeared! The valve train noise is there but much quieter and constant.

It seems it was some sludge in a valve lifter oil passage or something similar, so yeah, weird problem... but so far so good!

Now that you've run a cleaner in the engine you need to do another oil and filter change.

 

[roydrummer]

Yes, i rode it for a couple days commuting than changed the oil, the noise never came back, so seafoam did it again for me!

 

[Checkswrecks]

::008::
Thanks for sharing what you found.