im in need of advice

[plazma]

hey folks

an issue has come up and i need some help.

lets first start by saying that i have been riding and wrenching bikes and cars for most of my life. i am not a uneducated novice and do actually have some knowledge of what im talking about. hopefully i wont be treated like one.

quick review-- 06 'a' picked up last sat, on long ride home, noticed unusually loud valve noise, ticking if you will. was a concern for me, thought i would wait till 600 service and bring up the problem. well now im at 600, went to local dealer to start making friends with them, talked to sevice mgr about prob, he kinda shrugged it off stating no need of valve adj till 26k, word spread pretty quickly bout my fjr being there, out pops the tech that does all work on them. turns out he is waiting for his 06, they havent gotten there delivery yet. did some reviewing with him, went outside, fired it up and sure enough there it was. tech definately heard it, even acknowledged it, also very flat off idle, he noticed that too. stated tb's needed sync and that valve noise could be from chain tensioner???

dont know how the tensioner can cause the valves to tick?? at any rate bike will be dropped off tues for service, tech said he would go over whole bike, would check tensioner, see if he could deduce problem. i asked if he could call yamaha to get their response and possible resolution, he said they would not authorize valve adjustment under warranty. gave me estimate of $500+ for adjust. if yamaha wouldnt pay. he did mention that if it was found that there was some out of 'spec' that they should take care of it.

i just dont feel that being a brand new bike it should have this problem to start with, but more importantly i shouldnt get stuck with the bill for their lack of proper adjustment during assembly!!!!

this is my third yamaha, and on the good side i have only had a couple of issues that needed their attention, and they took care of it with little resistance, i can only hope that that will be the case here.

all that said, for you folks that have dealt with yamaha concerning valve issues

how are they in dealing with this issue?? should i call cypress myself to get the 'paper trail' started???? should i wait till tech assesses problem and hopefully goes to bat for me??? i would like to be armed with some knowledge and foresight before going into this affair... any help, comments would be greatly apprieciated

thanks for the help in advance

tony

 

[radman]

There is no way any Radbucks would be crossing palms on this. He's fulla ****, and tell him I said so. You didn't say which side the noise was-right side tensioner, left side?????

 

[plazma]

i hear noise from both sides more on left. he said he heard it more on right, hence the tensioner theory.

it only sounds like a couple are out of adjustment, definately not all

 

[twowheelnut]

Find another local with an FJR. Doesn't matter what year. Fire 'em both up, then compare notes. I ride with as many as 6 FJR's at our club rides and they all make valve train noises of varying levels. None of them are tickers and only one has had it's 26K valve adjust - it's an '03 and the quietest one of the bunch. Never personally ran across any owner that had the tensioner problem...

 

[chickey191]

sounds like you have mechanic that might work with you - since he is a potential owner. My guess is that he will want to know the result.

Of course - Yamaha (and no one else I know of) will authorize a valve job - under warranty - just because you ask them to look. However- they SHOULD authorize finding and curing a noisy engine - which might well include adjusting the valves.

So - if valves NEED adjusting, I would assume that they will pay for it. Exploring, just to see if the valves are out of adjustment - I doubt they would. if they found them horribly out, then you would have a case for having them fix it.

the only other recourse would be to ride the snot out of the bike and see if you can break it. THEN they can fix the whole engine under warranty.

I WOULD get it on record that you complained about it - that it was checked and they either found something or blessed it as "good".

The suggestion about lining up next to another '06 is a good one. Probably doesn't mean much - but at least you'll feel better (or worse) afterward.

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

Yep been there done that. There have been a few cam chain tensioners replaced that were defective. Mine was replaced whether it need it or not. They have to start somewhere and usually the cam chain is the place all dealers start and think the problem exists there. When that doesn't work then they want to look at the valves and usually want to charge the owner. Don't buy in to that. Make them diagnose the problem. If it has a lot of uncommom noise make them find it. Once it is diagnosed for noise they have to find it. There is a process to the madness. Sh** happens but why to me. My ticker got fixed and runs great for now. Good luck. Call Cypress and file a notice about the problem. Then let the dealer and Yamaha deal with it.