Engine Ticks While Idling

[fg1234567892000]

Just today I noticed a new sound coming from my GZ; a ticking. This only seemed to occur while I was waiting at a stoplight. Either that, or it continued while I was riding but I just couldn't hear it over the engine noise.

Obviously, I can't describe it in any more detail, since it was just a clicking sound, and I'm not looking for a full diagnosis of the problem. I can be realistic. What I am wondering is if anyone thinks this could be serious enough to stop by the mechanic sometime in the near future. Is this normal? I would think not, since I just noticed it; but perhaps I just never paid that close attention to my engine nuances.

Sorry, but it seems like I post new topics here more than I contribute. I appreciate the help from the "experts" though; at least, have more expertise than me! It can be very fun/scary/frustrating being a new rider and not having that solid knowledge base that more seasoned riders have.

[blaine]

It sounds like you might need a valve adjustment if its been more than 5000 kms.A little ticking is better than total silence.If you only hear the ticking when the bike is hot you may need a oil change.
http://www.postimage.org/templates/images/smiley/happy/14.gif (http://www.postimage.org/)
:2tup:

[fg1234567892000]

Hmm. my bike is at about 7200 miles, but the oil was just recently changed (less than 1000 miles ago). Could you explain exactly what a "valve adjustment" is? Is it simple to do, or something I should leave to the professionals?

[blaine]

It can be complicated to do If you never done It before, or you don't know your way around a engine.By the sound of your question I would leave It to a professional.It's about a hour labour.Good Luck. :) :cool:

[Easy Rider]

Could you explain exactly what a "valve adjustment" is? Is it simple to do, or something I should leave to the professionals?

It is something that probably should be done by the shop......unless you are real adventurous BUT......at this point, you probably should not panic.

Try searching through the threads in this section for old posts regarding engine ticking. There should be several of them. Summary: it's probably normal and will probably vary some as time goes along; maybe a little louder some days and maybe almost gone others.

If you can't find out whether or not the valves were ever checked, you probably should do it soon......but that doesn't mean tomorrow, or even next week. It might cost you up to 2 hours of shop labor. In my area, that is about $150.

[5th_bike]

You could check the valve clearance first, please refer to the user manual pp. 2-4 and 2-5, and if it is out of spec, adjust the valve clearance.

Before this bike I had never checked or adjusted valves, but I got a set of feeler gauges (around $10) to check the clearance. Checked them at 1100 and 4200 miles, they were good. Then at about 6800 miles three of them seemed to need adjustment, so I got the Yamaha valve adjustment kit that Badbob recommended (around $20), and did it. A little scary, but if the subsequent check comes out good - it's one more thing learned. If you don't feel up to doing either checking or adjusting - just have a shop do it.

PS didn't you have a "high idling" problem first, and you fixed it? Maybe, because it idles at less rpm now, ticking is more pronounced - for my bike, that's the case, it ticks loudest at lower rpm.

[fg1234567892000]

PS didn't you have a "high idling" problem first, and you fixed it? Maybe, because it idles at less rpm now, ticking is more pronounced - for my bike, that's the case, it ticks loudest at lower rpm.

You are on the ball there...I did lower the idling and have been adjusting to that sound. However, the ticking did not manifest after I lowered the idling. I also did go back and read a previous thread on the ticking and Easy Rider said his had a tick that sounded worse when hot, but it worked itself out. I noticed the tick comes only when the bike is really warmed up, so I think I will wait this one out a bit, and see what happens. Certainly I don't think I will be too adventurous with a valve adjustment (I had enough fun just messing with the idle and lubing my chain this month) so if it gets worse I will take a trip out to my dealer.

[alantf]

If you can't find out whether or not the valves were ever checked, you probably should do it soon..... It might cost you up to 2 hours of shop labor.

Single cylinder - should only cost 1 hour labour. :2tup:

[Easy Rider]

Single cylinder - should only cost 1 hour labour. :2tup:

You said "should"; I said "might". :cool:

We aren't that far apart and the difference is in how many of them actually need to be adjusted.
It none, an hour should do it.
If 2 or more, it might run over.
My shop charges in 1/4 hour increments but some don't.

[savrip]

I have added a video of my ticking. It doesn't seem like it does it until it gets real warmed up. I had it out around the neighborhood yesterday and all seemed well. I took it on a ~10 mile trip and ticking when I get back home. Oil was changed a couple of weeks ago. I'll let the professionals give the advice, but from what I've read so far I think it's a valve adjustment.

[blaine]

It sounds like you need to do a valve adjustment.It could possible be a a cam chain tensioner,but more likely a valve adjustment.
:) :cool:

[savrip]

Thanks. Though I'd really like to learn something new I think I'd rather have it done by the shop and have my bike the same day. I'll call around some local shops and see who can do it for a fair price. Thanks for the other comments so I know about how much it will cost.

[blaine]

Thanks. Though I'd really like to learn something new I think I'd rather have it done by the shop and have my bike the same day. I'll call around some local shops and see who can do it for a fair price. Thanks for the other comments so I know about how much it will cost.
Who ever adjusts your valves will need to keep it over night.The bike MUST be over night cold,for a valve adjustment.If someone tells you different,RUN!!! :2tup: :)

[alantf]

Thanks for the other comments so I know about how much it will cost.

If you see easy rider's post (above), saying that it may take 2 hours, he was probably being argumentative, due to me saying it should only take 1 hour. One of the reasons he was banned from the site was that he ALWAYS had to disagree with what anyone said. (his mentality was that he was the only person who could EVER be right!) I think you'll find that the other members agree that it should take 1 hour for a single cylinder bike :2tup:

[Rookie Rider]

I always wondered about the real reason Easy Rider got banned, but i also figured it out by reading his posts. He was annoying in alot of them but sounded like he knew his stuff too. OH well.

[Rookie Rider]

Savrip, that sounds bad to me.

[savrip]

Great input. I stopped by two cycle shops around me and one only changed tires. "Thanks I'll be back when i don't need that..." The second asked me what type of bike it was and then said No. I'll probably do my own, but I'll call the dealership for a laugh.

[Gz Rider]

...

[geezer]

sounds like the camara might be playing tricks on us.sure the tick is loud but i wonder if it sounds identical next to the bike. check for an exhaust leak, sure it sounds metal to metal over the computer but sometimes those sounds can just be an exhaust leak.

[GZ250]

Valve adjustment on GZ is done when the engine is cold so either you have to leave your bike with the dealership O/N or go before the app time to let the engine cool down properly. It is one hour job for GZ and if they charge more they cheat. Actually it is the mechanic who gives the estimates on time spent. One dealership told me $75 for one hr so it is possible.

I do hear the tick sound when the engine is real hot and it goes away on its own. I had valves adjusted only once in 31K miles.

[savrip]

I took the bike in last night. It's $85/hr and they said it would take one hour for a valve adjustment. This is a little strange because when I priced the spokes replacement it was $65/hr then... maybe different areas require different labor rates. Just seems curious. That might seem high to me, but I would have spent $30-40 on parts to fix it myself. I would have liked to learn how, but at this point I'd rather get riding again. I asked around with my friends and none has experience with it or were comfortable attempting it.

The oil level is good, since it was my first time changing oil on the bike I made sure to be very careful to the placement of the filter. I was more shocked that I didn't get a new gasket with the oil filter. I'm use to replacing it every time with all the cars I've owned. Mercedes diesels had an oil canister than the filter slipped into, similar to the GZ in a way. I do have an oil leak coming from the top gasket, but it doesn't amount to more than a drop or two and I just clean it off and keep an eye on the oil level since it's important to do so on a regular basis anyway. Thanks for all the help. I'll get a call today to either pick it up or impound it. :)

[Water Warrior 2]

No need for a new gasket. It is actually a reuseable O-ring. Just do not nick it or cause any damage.

[savrip]

I'll let you listen for yourselves. It seems much improved, but after the ride home from the Yamaha dealership the sound appears to still be there. Not nearly as bad, but considering it's $90 later I'm not impressed.

[mrlmd1]

Why did you go to a Yamaha dealership? Is that the only game in town? Do those Yammi mechanics have a Suzuki GZ service manual so they know what to set the valves at? Still sounds like some ticking to me.D id they tell you the valves were out of spec and they reset them?

[GZ250]

same as above, did the mechanic know about Suzuki and in case if they do work on all sorts of bikes after hearing the same noise at the dealership you should have questioned them and should not have paid.

i do not take the bike unnecessarily to the mechanics, not everyone is a real one, if there is a real good one i do not think he would stay with these dealerships, he moves on to a better place. if i have all that space and tools i am a good mechanic myself.

where gz is robust, it is weird too. the engine sound is not smooth. one day you will hear one kind of sound next day its gone, in wind its boring, no wind its a cheetah.

main problem is the carb, keep it clean, i use the carb cleaner and use the expensive gas (93) now and then and it keeps the carb in good health and eliminates the ping or knock.

if its running ok, forget this noise and enjoy the ride.

[alantf]

the engine sound is not smooth. one day you will hear one kind of sound next day its gone

:plus1:

[Gz Rider]

...

[mrlmd1]

That was a better point than mine. You self diagnosed the problem which we all thought was the most likely and if you only told them to reset the valve clearances, then maybe that's all they did. That has to be done on a cold bike, so maybe they never had it running, either before or after whatever they did, so don't blame them for doing just what you told them to do. Like GZ said, if you asked them to look into why the bike was ticking and they heard it to, you may have gotten a different result. Did anyone there actually hear that ticking with the bike running when you brought it in, or did you just drop it off and then they rolled it inside the shop to work on it in the morning?

[savrip]

Sorry I haven't made it back for an update. I've been working a lot of hours lately. I took it to Yamaha Suzuki Polaris dealer. So yes they work on Suzuki too. I talked with the guy on the phone and let him listen to the engine. He told me to bring it in warm last Saturday so he could help me pin point the problem. I did, and he said it sounded much worse over the phone, but that it's typical of the smaller bikes to make some noises like that. He didn't think it was worth worrying about. I didn't ask for his resume, but from chatting with him he seemed like he knew what he was talking about and he was the lead mechanic. The camera audio, for whatever reason, does seem to make the noise louder. I'm sure the carburetor needs cleaning, but I'm hoping Seafoam will do the job well enough.

[Water Warrior 2]

Air cooled bike engines do make a lot of noise just going about their job. The cooling fins radiate noise as well as heat. The head and valve train have nothing around them to dampen the sound so of course it is very loud to the untrained ear. Ride it and enjoy it. Ear plugs are your friend.

[savrip]

Thanks for everyone's input. I'm fairly new to riding still and newer still to bike mechanics, but I'm more comfortable working on a $1500 bike than I am a $14,000 car. When it comes time to sell I want to feel comfortable that I'm giving the right advice and being as truthful as I can. So I want to get the bike in order of what it is suppose to be, not exactly as in what condition I bought it as... I feel like my seller knew things that he glazed over and I don't like treating other people like that so I'd rather stand behind ethics.

[Gz Rider]

...