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I have a 2005 600 that has almost 15,000 miles on it. I service it myself because I am anal and do not trust shops to work on my bike or cars. I have not torn into the cam tensioner yet, but I am sure that is where my noise is. I know that all the valve adjustments are correct. I am changing the oil and checking into the problem tomorrow night. My question is if the cam tensioner is out, will it do much damage to ride it, or do I repair it as soon as possible. I know with cars they are very succeptible to jumping time, but I am unsure on bikes. I do all of my oil changes on time or early and I have been using suzuki's oil since new...I heard it was crap.
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Horn broken--watch for finger.... -
No damage will occur AS LONG as it's not completely retracted. The chain has to be REALLY REALLY loose to skip a tooth. I don't think it has happened to anybody on here yet... certainly not on a 2005.
Believe me, when you have a COMPLETELY failed tensioner, you WILL know it. The sound is unmistakeable.
If you're worried about it, pull it, replace the spring inside it, and reset it.
Happy trails.America national sport is called baseballs. It very similar to our sport, shurik, where we take dogs, shoot them in a field, and then have a party. -
IMHO:
Running a weak spring is better than running no spring.
The sound would be like that of a singer sewwing machine when the bike is at idle, if the spring is bad... Or you can simply take it out and measure it.
New vs Weak/Used:
Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoetComment
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After digging into my problem I found out it was indeed the cam chain tensioner. Although my spring is 1 and 9/10ths of an inch long. I have a new one on order from Ron Ayers. 8-10 days...
The Plano stealership wanted $74 for the assembly---they told me I couldn't just order the spring... It is about $3 from Ron Ayers....8$ shipping. Thanks fellow Kat Riders for all your help.
Horn broken--watch for finger....Comment
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Wow. Are you sure it's that short already? That sounds... incredibly odd for a 2005.Originally posted by DoyleDeeAfter digging into my problem I found out it was indeed the cam chain tensioner. Although my spring is 1 and 9/10ths of an inch long. I have a new one on order from Ron Ayers. 8-10 days... The Plano stealership wanted $74 for the assembly---they told me I couldn't just order the spring... It is about $3 from Ron Ayers....8$ shipping. Thanks fellow Kat Riders for all your help.America national sport is called baseballs. It very similar to our sport, shurik, where we take dogs, shoot them in a field, and then have a party.Comment
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+1Originally posted by Fingers
The lower one in the picture already saw many years of service at the time it was swapped out.
Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoetComment
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I thought it would have been much longer too. I used a set of calipers to measure it. It was coiled very tightly, almost no spring tension to give. I did notice a great improvement with the Mobil 1 oil . It shifts much easier.
I still have a little sound from the cam chain at idle, but not as much as I did before. I also checked my valves and everything was fine with them.Horn broken--watch for finger....Comment
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Ok... so I received my new spring today....WTF It is the same length as the one that is in my kat now.....Horn broken--watch for finger....Comment
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I got that pic I posted from another member here long ago, and don't recall if it was for a pre-98 or a 98+, so I can't comment -- just that the difference between the springs in a bad state and in a good state were really noticable.
The other problem cam tensioners tend to have is the button sticking (the one the spring pushes forward). Sticking a plastic pen barrel or pencil (eraser end first) through the hole can knock away dried oil sludge that can hold the tensioner button down.
Sounds like the oil made a massive difference though, and Mobil 1 is extremely high in detergents, so it may have reliquified any sludge at the tensioner button that was holding it back.
Good Luck!
=-= The CyberPoetComment
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My mechanic said the cam chain tensioner is the weak link in a Katana, they tend to damage themselves over time.Comment
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