Engine Ticks While Idling

[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]

Originally Posted by GZ250

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.