Engine is Noisy

[Genkenx2]

Hey again,

I got my bike some service and after it was done there was a strange rattle in the engine.

The service that was done to the engine was a Valve adjustment and I replaced the cam chain tensioner spring (all I did was unbolt the big bolt, take out the old spring, and slide a new spring in). There was some carb work, but that shouldn't have anything to do with it. The work was done locally, not at a dealer.

Anywho, the bike has a kind of rattle in it now that becomes especially noticeable at higher RPMs. The nosie is present in neutral as well, but not as loud. Before I had a Valve adjustment I had a different kind of rattle that I think was valve noise.. that noise is gone now and replaced with this noise.. they are markedly different sounding, but it's hard to describe.

The old noise sounded like metal pieces jumping up and down, this new sound is more like a consistent rattle.. kind of like a baseball card on a bicycle spoke, but not quite the same...

Anyways.. it did not make this noise before the service was done on it. When I took my bike to a different guy to get the carbs redone, he said it sounds to him like the cam chain. He said "well the bike has 39,000 miles on it," insisting that it probably needs replacement.. but the noise wasn't present before the service, I don't think the chain just suddenly goes wrong just like *that*. I took it to a dealer and the guy listened for 1/2 a second and then said "sounds like the crankshaft is going out, time to get a new bike kid" .. again.. it didn't make that noise before the service, so again could the crankshaft suddenly have decided to go out after a valve adjustment and a cam chain spring replacement??

Any ideas? I just FINALLY got the bike idling perfectly and starting up and running great, but this noise is distracting. I want to either get it fixed (hoping it is simple) or be told that it is just going to be annoyance that I'm going to have to get used to (but isn't going to break my engine).

Thanks.

[reconstyle]

Did you re-seat the tensioner back correctly?

There have been a couple on threads on this in the past few weeks, it seems like it's something that's easy to screw up...

[arsenic]

yeah, the cam chain tensioner spring is correct, unless it needs to be pushed in, but somehow that don't seem possible. When we put the spring in I turned the engine by hand several times and it didn't click.

[arsenic]

look, if it is a cam chain, that's not an easy thing to put in, and if it the crankshaft bearings thoughts are not an easy job. Either one requires pulling the engine and splitting the cases. It's just not worth it, get used to it, after all it is an 89, it's not gonna be perfect, I mean it can be, but it's not going to be cheap.

[Genkenx2]

Well I just don't think it can possibly be the chain itself or the crankshaft, because neither of those were making noise before we took it apart, and I don't think you did anything to either one of those things to affect it?

I guess the spring is the question here.. we just put the spring directly into the tensioner, was there something we were supposed to do to reset it or is that all?

[arsenic]

no you can't reset it, it's self adjusting. I mean if you'd like to bring your bike back to my house here's one thing we can do. If it is for some reason out to far, we can take the bolt, gasket, and spring out. Take the whole adjuster assembly off, it's just two allen bolts. Then we could push the adjuster all the way in, put it back in the cylinder, then insert the bolt, gasket, and spring. That way it's pushed all the way in, and when we put the spring back in it will self adjust to where it needs to be, make sense?

[md86]

Why would replacing the cam chain require you to split the cases ? Can't you cut the chain , link the new one to the old one , pull it through , then rivet it ? I mean , if the head is off , you should be able to see if it's on the sprocket correctly , and if it's NOT , then play with it until it cathes ..... Just sayin' .