Dreaded cam chain tensioners...

[cable]

Hi all...new to the forum and new to the Firestorm. Just bought my first one and have been skulking around this forum reading all the mechanical pros and cons of the machine. (Very helpful, thanks). It's a 1997 with 36000 on the clock and looks like the tensioners are the originals, so first thing I thought was to do the stopper mod asap, I haven't really been riding it as I've been so paranoid about them going. So..yesterday I followed the instructions for the stopper mod, all seemed well and good, turned it over by hand several times then fired it up and it was absolutely fine. Sounded just the same as before, so far so good. let it run for 10 minutes or so and listened to it at different rev ranges, sounded fine so I jumped on and took it out for 20 mins. 10 minutes into the ride, all having been fine suddenly there's this funny rattle. I immediately pull over and have a listen...its an odd one, it comes and goes, under slight acceleration it seemed to go and when engine speed was slowing or dropping back to idle I could hear it increase. Rode it gently home and actually it ran fine aside from the noise. I'm wondering if a tensioner has gone and the noise is the slack of the chain? Would be quite a coincidence though. Either that or I've mucked up the engine timing whilst doing the mod? Any ideas anyone? What would be the signs of a bent valve or anything horrendous like that? Any advice much appreciated!

Cheers, Caleb.

[Steve97]

Welcome, where are you based maybe someone could come and ave a listen ?
if not double check everything you've done , dont get paranoid

[macdee]

Hi cable
I did my mcct,s a few weeks back and had a noise that sounded like a slack cam chain
But when the clutch lever was pulled the noise was gone
Give it a go
Is there any power loss
Are mcct all tight

[sirch345]

Caleb, if you followed this link correctly for the stopper mod ( http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 31&t=19416 ) you shouldn't have messed up the timing. Plus if the timing had been messed up, the chances are, you would be hearing the sound you're hearing from the first time you started the bike after carrying out the mod, which you didn't. My thoughts are, especially if the CCT's in your bike are the original ones, that the spring was getting weak and was on it's way out anyway. Either that or the CCT plunger has stuck a little ( I have that happen before) and with use it will free itself up. Either way, providing you did the stopper mod as described in the link above you should be fine if a CCT does end up failing. With the stopper mod carried out you will definitely know if that happens as the noise will be there all the time and very noticeable.
More times than not, it the front CCT that fails.

Chris.

[cable]

Wow, thanks for the quick replies! I've got a day off wednesday so i think i'm going to get both cam covers off, not sure how much faff the front one is but it looks like a pain, just to be sure the timing is still ok. Is there a way to see if any valves are damaged without delving any deeper into the engine? I ordered some new CCTs from david silver so I guess i'll start from scratch. New ones are probably a good idea anyway. I tried holding in the clutch and made no difference. the noise is still there coming and going as the engine idles. Am in Wiltshire, near to Bath. Only had the bike a couple of weeks and desperate to get out on it in this weather!

[VTRDark]

If the spring was weak to begin with then doing the stop mod may have pushed it over the edge into as failure. But like you say it's bit of a coincidence but it's not unheard of. Good job you got the stopper in I'd say. Caught just in time.

Check you valve clearances as massively excessive valve clearance would be a give away to a bent valve or two. But I doubt you have bent valves unless you have totally removed the cams and/or got the timing way off.

Removing the front cam cover is not too bad a job. It looks worse than what it is. See the MCCT guide in the workshop knowledgebase as I have documented the removal process with pics.

Welcome to the forum.

(:-})

[AMCQ46]

with the stopper mod done you should be fine to keep riding without worrying about the

if you had the timing wrong you would hear a constant noise from when you fired it up

if the CCT had now failed you would hear a constant noise after it failed.

so your intermittent noise is not fitting that pattern...hence it will be someting else.

I did have a similar noise from one of my stoppered CCT and it turned out to be the stopper rattling about inside the front CCT. I had used hollow aly bar, and the continued vibration had lead to wear and the clearance was 3 times the instructions leading to a clear rattle noise [but intermittent]. put a new steel stopper in and all fine