I just bought an 03 that ticks, what now?

[Nsane1]

Well I guess we live and learn. I just bought a 03 FJR and it has the ticking you guys describe. I'm new to motorcycles and FJR's for sure so I need you guys help here. First question is what happens if I decide to ride without fixing it? Second question if I must fix this how much will this set me back? Just looking for a ballpark # here. I bought it from a dealer that sells used bike and he give me a 30 day warranty, but with the bike running they may do nothing about it. Any help would be great. By the way the mileage is 15K and from what I seee on here there should be many more left for me to see the country.

 

[SPORT]

Welcome to the board!

The ticking is a known issue with Yamaha. Therefore, I'd take it back to the dealer (preferrably within the 30 day time limit) and tell them to call Yamaha and have it repaired. If I understand correctly, Yamaha has been good about covering it, though it may take a little arm twisting to get them to do it.

 

[FJR_pig]

An '03 with 15K? Holy cow, that's a find. Too bad about the ticking. This place should be a fantastic resource to solve that issue. I did not have to deal with it, but many have. Good luck and congrats on the purchase.

 

[madmike2]

You need to have a Yamaha dealer diagnose the "tick". He should then contact Yamaha corporate.

 

[Nsane1]

You need to have a Yamaha dealer diagnose the "tick". He should then contact Yamaha corporate.

I'm going tomorrow to a Yamaha dealer for a tune up and valve adjustment. What should I tell them so I can get them to fix it?

 

[Patriot]

I did a google search and a lot of info popped up...I don't have personal experience with it

google search ?????? site:fjrforum.com

google search ticking site:fjrforum.com

Gen I Bin O Facts

about halfway down is a bunch of info about Gen I ticking to check out

sure hope this helps and keep us in the loop, please

let's ride safe and be careful out there,

Mike in Nawlins'

 

[03HiYoSilver]

Nsane,

Don't freak out... there is a good possibilty it is the Cam Chain Tensioner. With your specified mileage, this would make the most sense.

It could be only an adjustment or replacement.... but they do make a racket on the Right Side of the engine and many have thought the same and were wrong.

Good Luck with your fix... if you told us were you reside, a forum member in your area could perhaps listen to it.

 

[Patriot]

Nsane,
Don't freak out... there is a good possibilty it is the Cam Chain Tensioner. With your specified mileage, this would make the most sense.

It could be only an adjustment or replacement.... but they do make a racket on the Right Side of the engine and many have thought the same and were wrong.

Good Luck with your fix... if you told us were you reside, a forum member in your area could perhaps listen to it.

cam chain tensioner and/or chain too is marbles in a can sound - can be quite subtle

 

[jeremyr62]

You don't have to get it repaired either. I have an 04 ABS which has ticked since 10,000 km. I'm in Ireland and getting it fixed was not straightforward so I left it to see what happens, accepting I might have to do it at some stage. I am now at 70,000 km and while it is a very little bit worse, with earplugs you don' t hear it. I also took off the exhaust headers to check for oil/wetness around the exhaust valve stems/ports (at about 55,000 km) and there wasn't any. So it's not necessarily a death sentence for your engine and leaving it is an option.

 

[mattster31]

You need to have a Yamaha dealer diagnose the "tick". He should then contact Yamaha corporate.

I would suggest you record the sound of your engine running, from both sides (L&R - both during idle and revving slowly up to 3-4K). Then post it up here on the forum and politely ask Warchild to have a listen. If it is a "ticker" he will know (read the thread on the Bin-o-facts Patriot linked you to), IMO your dealer won't be able to tell, and will just say it's normal "engine noise". If it is (a "ticker").............then go to your dealer and have them contact Yamaha. You will most likely need to be VERY persistant, but from what I understand, this is a design flaw that should be covered out of warranty.

 

[mattster31]

You don't have to get it repaired either. I have an 04 ABS which has ticked since 10,000 km. I'm in Ireland and getting it fixed was not straightforward so I left it to see what happens, accepting I might have to do it at some stage. I am now at 70,000 km and while it is a very little bit worse, with earplugs you don' t hear it. I also took off the exhaust headers to check for oil/wetness around the exhaust valve stems/ports (at about 55,000 km) and there wasn't any. So it's not necessarily a death sentence for your engine and leaving it is an option.

I would be wondering if it is a ticker at all. Have you looked into this possibility

Ionbeam and Radiohowie have had rather intimate and rather unfortunate experience with the CCT.

 

[Geezer]

There are three possibilities that I can think of.

1) The FJR fuel injectors make a lot of noise that sound like a ticking noise. That is normal. You can hear this sound from either side of the engine. This is normal and OK to ride all you want.

2) Cam chain can be noisy if the tensioner is not doing it's job. This is louder than the injectors and somewhat irregular in the timing of the noise. This would be heard primarily on the right side of the engine, where the cam chain lives. This is not normal and should be repaired ASAP. A failed cam chain tensioner could cause your engine to eat valves and pistons. A new CCT is less than $100 and takes less than an hour to replace.

3) Excessively worn exhaust valve guides. This is a genuine 'ticker' and normally comes with oil in the header. If you are mechanically inclined you can drop the header pipes from the head and you should see oil in one of more of them. You should also notice the bike using a bit of oil. The noise seems to be prevalent on the left side of the engine and sounds like silverware in a dishwasher. This is not normal and should be repaired. OK to ride but power will decline as the problem gets worse.

Repairing a ticker involves removing the head and replacing valve guides. This is an expensive job but Yamaha has been willing to pick up the tab for people who are persistent enough.

 

[jeremyr62]

I would be wondering if it is a ticker at all. Have you looked into this possibility
Ionbeam and Radiohowie have had rather intimate and rather unfortunate experience with the CCT.

Just so the OP doesn't think I'm hijacking his thread, I'm not the OP.

I'm pretty sure it's not the CCT. It comes and goes as you increase the RPM. It can be particularly noisy around 3000RPM and the noise seems to be coming from the LHS. Tapping spoons is an appropriate description. I've followed the ticking saga pretty much from day 1 so I know what to look for. TBH it really doesn't bother me. If it gets much worse and I see oil out of my exhaust, I'll fix it or sell it then. The effect on performance is minimal and it's not like I use the full potential often. It still pulls 240 km/h and gets there pretty quickly.

 

[luvtoride]

Pretty sure that oil in the headers is what Yamaha uses as diagnosis of premature valve guide wear.

My bike was an early (mileage-wise) ticker. I knew my bike was ticking before it had 10,000 miles... actually, I suspected it aroung 9ish thousand.

The thing that'll give you a good idea if you have a ticker... ride the bike in 1st or 2nd gear. Putter around with the RPM's between 2000 & 2500. There has been some variation in RPM range that folks could tell so I'd vary it around a little but it'll probably be close to this range. Mine was around 2300ish RPM's.

The bike unmistakeably made a lot of ticking noise. Think steak knives tapped on a table kind of noise.

I wouldn't worry so much about the bike leaving you on the side of the road... but at some point it will start burning significant oil. I never really did see a lot of oil consumption. When the headers were dropped, there was oil, though.

I rode the bike until it had over 40,000 miles before I had it fixed.

Good luck... it might take some coaxing but Yamaha is indeed fixing tickers that are out of warranty. I suppose at some point, they'll no longer. Keep in mind, It'll probably take having your dealer behind you, though.

Heidi

 

[luvtoride]

The effect on performance is minimal and it's not like I use the full potential often. It still pulls 240 km/h and gets there pretty quickly.

Jeremy, the decrease in performance is so slight & happens so slow, I'd guess that you would probably never notice it.

Once I had my bike fixed, I noticed a significant increase in performance. It wasn't so much an increase in HP, as some said that I'd have. What I noticed was a significant gain in response time when opening the throttle.

 

[jeremyr62]

The effect on performance is minimal and it's not like I use the full potential often. It still pulls 240 km/h and gets there pretty quickly.

Jeremy, the decrease in performance is so slight & happens so slow, I'd guess that you would probably never notice it.

Once I had my bike fixed, I noticed a significant increase in performance. It wasn't so much an increase in HP, as some said that I'd have. What I noticed was a significant gain in response time when opening the throttle.

Yes, I have noticed that. It doesn't seem as snappy as it did when new. I may fix it yet but there is nowhere in Ireland I would trust to do it right. It isn't a big deal for me. I have a sports bike for perfomance duties. The FJR is my work bike/ winter hack ( a nice one tho).

 

[Nsane1]

Thanks for all the replies. I just dropped my bike off to have it checked. I will let you guys know what happens. Thanks again.

 

[Bungie]

Well I guess we live and learn. I just bought a 03 FJR and it has the ticking you guys describe. I'm new to motorcycles and FJR's for sure so I need you guys help here. First question is what happens if I decide to ride without fixing it? Second question if I must fix this how much will this set me back? Just looking for a ballpark # here. I bought it from a dealer that sells used bike and he give me a 30 day warranty, but with the bike running they may do nothing about it. Any help would be great. By the way the mileage is 15K and from what I seee on here there should be many more left for me to see the country.

I bought an 04 in May of last year with 19Km on it. It would tick occasionally but I just attributed it to engine noise - my Kawasaki is bad for transient noises, all of which are entirely normal.

Well after putting another 20Km on it, it's DEFINITELY ticking between 2700 rpm - 3200 rpm. The rest of the time its quiet. Sometimes quite loudly, others barely noticable. It burns no oil at all. I changed the plugs a couple of weeks ago on it and their all perfect.

Given that the intensity of the noise is inconsistent, I'm not so quick to label it as a ticker. Seems to me if a valve guide is worn it would tick the same all the time. For a while I thought it was a loose valve, but it doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason as to temperature which sort of eliminates a valve adjustment clearance issue.

I know my Kawi has some solenoids on the air induction (equivalent to PAIR on the FJR) whose noise comes and goes with the same kind of randomness that I hear on the FJR. Maybe something else to look into.

I love this bike and have decided to just ride it until it gets worse (if it does) at which point I'll get the head done and then sell it for a new one.

 

[luvtoride]

Steve, for sure it will get louder if it is indeed premature valve guide wear.

Slapnpop on this forum had this so bad that his would blow oil.... or at least puffs of oily smoke.