| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
My brother's having issues with his. Anybody have any suggestions? Here's the post copied from a Kawi forum: My brother has an '88 Ninja 500. Ever since he got it it's been making a slight rattle type noise from the crank case around the clutch. It's not a constant noise, more random. Noticable when idleing. Sounds like there's a bolt being kicked around in there, only much quieter. My thoughts were clutch disks, or a loose primary chain. It was not very loud, just barely noticable. We had a motorcycle mechanic listen to it, and he seemed to think it was no big deal. He suggested putting a heavier weight oil in it. We just put some motorcycle 20w50 in there, and now the noise is MUCH more amplified. It's also a bit more constant, although not perfectly constant. Deffinately sounds like metal on metal in the cluch area. When idleing in nuetral, If you pull the clutch in, the noise will go away for a second, and then come back (while still holding the clutch). Oil is full. Clutch is adjusted properly and works fine. Is there a primary chain tensioner on this thing? What else should we look at or do? Any help is appriciated, as we have a 2-3 thousand mile ride planned for next month. Thanks! | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
How many miles on the bike? Is it more noticeable when cold or hot? | ||
| Mikef5000 |
25k miles I believe. We let it idle for 5 minutes, and held the revs around 3k for a bit to make sure the oil was flowing, but it didn't get any quieter. | ||
| Wile_ecoyote |
Maybe the counterbalance chain loose? I have a KLR that sounds like a diesel when its not adjusted properly. Fairly certain its got one too. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Could also be a losse cam chain tensioner. They can get pretty noisy on those older design parallel twins. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
A few people have suggested to reset the cam chain tensioner, which seemed simple enough, so we gave that a try. The noise seems to have dissapeared! This makes no sense to me, as it doesn't seem like the cam chain would go near the clutch (Maybe it does?), but it was very apparent that that was were the sound was coming from. Right off the get go the sound was gone. Once fully warmed up the thing sounds quieter then it ever has before. I don't get it, but as long as it stays nice and quiet, I'm not going to worry about it! Thanks for the help guys! Now, back to talking about REAL motorcycles. | ||
| Wile_ecoyote |
Runs off the crank like the clutch. Shoulda thought of that me self. KLR is the same way. Good call Lunchbox! | ||
| Rocketsprink |
I know it's not a Buell!  | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Wiley...just familiar with that sound. My Concours gets it, my wife's EX500 gets it, and her old KZ440 gets it. It's a Kawi thing. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
that's what did in my poor old klr250. it was my first streetbike and I used the crap out of it. after 28k miles, it clunked like something important was breaking in there. I took it to the shop and they found both the timin chain and also the balancer chain were worn out so they were slapping the inside of the case. It would have cost me 400 bucks to fix but the junkyard gave me 450 for the remains ;) everything on the bike was worn out at that point anyways. | ||
| Blasterd |
Cam chain tensioner design was a problem in most Kawasaki's of that era, I ought to know I had a few. Just check it when you get the rattle, it will still run forever like that. Ken | ||
| Mikef5000 |
How do I know if the tensioner is bad? It seems odd that I just reset it and go on my way. If it needed reset, wasn't something wrong with it? | ||
| Wile_ecoyote |
They arent an automatic design, so when the chain loosens up it needs to be reset. Basically when you loosen the holder bolt a spring pulls on a pawl that tightens the tensioner. Dont overtighten the holder bolt, they can snap. Anybody see something I missed? (Message edited by wile_ecoyote on July 15, 2007) | ||
| Mbsween |
Mike, You can can a manual one over at Z1 enterprises. They're made by a company called APE. Of course you have to adjust it every now and then. The automatic one in my kz750 (83 with 100,000 on the clock) held out for around 90k or so, the manual one is pretty easy to use. Adjust till noise is gone, lock it, then wait till you hear noise again. Should be lots of miles between |
