Ticker suspect

I own a Gen1 FJR '03 with 40K miles on clock. I purchased it second hand with 20K miles on clock and since then its engine had a distinct top-end ticking noise. The character of the noise has not changed much for the last 20K miles. So here it is:



I studied the Ticker subject (ticker summary), changed the CCT but have done neither the valves nor exhaust headers yet.

I used a stethoscope to locate the source of the tick but still can't say for sure it's coming primarily from the front of cylinder 1.

So do you guys think its a ticker?

-grommit

One of mine sounds just like that and has done so for the last 63,000 miles with no change. I'm not worrying about it and just ride it.

It doesn't have that metallic "knives dropping on tables" sound quality to me of true tickers. It sounds more like a CCT, but that it seems to still be there at higher RPM and not necessarily favoring the right side is a bit confusing.

Oil consumption? Maybe drop the headers and look for sure on the exhaust ports for oil.

Ignacio said:

It doesn't have that metallic "knives dropping on tables" sound quality to me of true tickers. It sounds more like a CCT, but that it seems to still be there at higher RPM and not necessarily favoring the right side is a bit confusing.

Oil consumption? Maybe drop the headers and look for sure on the exhaust ports for oil.

Click to expand...

It should not be a CCT issue as I just changed the unit for a newest version available from Yamaha. And the tick is not only coming from the right side for sure.

No oil consumption between annual change.

I'm planning dropping headers, no spare parts for that yet.

-grommit

My 04 was a ticker, I'm very familiar with it.

That sounds just like a ticker, but I don't believe it is one. I think you have some other sort of valve-train problem. Your's is quite loud at idle and seems to be localized. Mine was loudest between 3000-3500 rpm. Your's does get louder in that range, but seems to be VERY loud all the time.

Mine also burnt no oil between changes and had very little oil in the pipes.

I'd wager you have some sort of other problem that is manifesting itself as the same sound (bent valve? broken spring?)

Theirs one way to tell for sure. Pull the cams out and have a good look with a dial indicator on the valve stems (runout).

Audio quality is not all that good but it doesn't sound like a ticker to me. Some FJRs are just noisy.

My first one was noisy. Several thought it was a ticker. Went 226,000 miles. Go figure. The Oregon 04 FJR I bought was also noisy at 65k miles. Interesting thing is that both of the noisy one's were more powerful (faster) than my current 04 which is fairly quiet.

Bungie said:

That sounds just like a ticker, but I don't believe it is one. I think you have some other sort of valve-train problem. Your's is quite loud at idle and seems to be localized. Mine was loudest between 3000-3500 rpm. Your's does get louder in that range, but seems to be VERY loud all the time.

Click to expand...

It might not be evident from the recording but there are two spikes of the ticking noise - one at 2K and another at 3.5K. So the tick does get louder or much better noticable at these RPMs. And it is almost gone after 5K.

There is ABSOLUTELY no tick when the engine is cold, that's for the first 40-60 seconds it runs in the morning.

-grommit

grommit said:

It might not be evident from the recording but there are two spikes of the ticking noise - one at 2K and another at 3.5K. So the tick does get louder or much better noticable at these RPMs. And it is almost gone after 5K.

There is ABSOLUTELY no tick when the engine is cold, that's for the first 40-60 seconds it runs in the morning.

Click to expand...

Mine didn't tick cold either and it disappeared over 5K as well. It's definitely not CCT noise.

Hey, maybe it is, blame it on the audio quality. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck.. maybe it's a duck!

If it is, I wouldn't worry about it. I know of a few guys that are still active on the board that have tickers and are approaching 100K on their bikes. It's just annoying.

I wouldn't go by SkootyG says though. That guy can no doubt here a bird fart in Portugal.

I had an '05 ticker and the noise was loudest at around 3500 rpm after it was fully warmed up and under a light load, like going down hill or easy riding in 3rd or 4th gear. Mine never burned any oil that I could notice and the ticking started at about 14k miles.

Fixed at 19k and now at 89k it runs like a champ.

Mine is noisy. This is AFTER the tick was fixed by Yamaha and AFTER a new CCT was installed. It has been like that for 20K miles. No issues.

Sounds perfectly normal. The problem "tick" sounds much different then yours. It's much more of a metallic "tap" sound, yours sounds like normal top end noise.

Do a valve adjustment check, it's due.

Sounds perfectly normal. The problem "tick" sounds much different then yours. It's much more of a metallic "tap" sound, yours sounds like normal top end noise.

Do a valve adjustment check, it's due.

My 2005 make a similar noise. I am glad I am not the only one noticing it. Yamaha did say my bike was not eligible for the recall, so I am inclined to listen to the other forum member who say it is normal.

JFYI: I've replaced the cam chain, sprockets, CCT, slippers and spark plugs. Then adjusted the valves (two exhaust ones were 0.05mm tight). The ticker is still there. However overall engine became more quiet than it used to be (see youtube link up in this thread).

So here it is after the maintenance:

I bought an '01 a few weeks ago, at that time it did not make any (bad) noise at all. Now I have put about 1500 miles on it, and it sounds exactly like this. Surprisingly it was a lot more quiet when I took it to work this morning, it should be interesting to see what it's like when it's time to go home. It hasn't had any valve adjustment yet, as the odo only reads ~20k miles (~20k miles in 11 years!), but I will do that service later this summer.

iceaway said:

Now I have put about 1500 miles on it, and it sounds exactly like this. Surprisingly it was a lot more quiet when I took it to work this morning, it should be interesting to see what it's like when it's time to go home. It hasn't had any valve adjustment yet, as the odo only reads ~20k miles (~20k miles in 11 years!), but I will do that service later this summer.

Click to expand...

In my case these ticking sounds have some correlation with engine temperature (the higher the noisier), it also became more quiet once I replaced the CCT.

BTW, if I was in your shoes, I'd change the CCT right away (see relevant threads for more horror info).

Not sure how it goes in Sweden, but in my country second-hand bikes are usually sold with odometers screwed backwards to proudly indicate a total of 20-30K miles regardless of its age. %-\

-grommit

grommit said:

iceaway said:

Now I have put about 1500 miles on it, and it sounds exactly like this. Surprisingly it was a lot more quiet when I took it to work this morning, it should be interesting to see what it's like when it's time to go home. It hasn't had any valve adjustment yet, as the odo only reads ~20k miles (~20k miles in 11 years!), but I will do that service later this summer.

Click to expand...

In my case these ticking sounds have some correlation with engine temperature (the higher the noisier), it also became more quiet once I replaced the CCT.

BTW, if I was in your shoes, I'd change the CCT right away (see relevant threads for more horror info).

Not sure how it goes in Sweden, but in my country second-hand bikes are usually sold with odometers screwed backwards to proudly indicate a total of 20-30K miles regardless of its age. %-\

-grommit

Click to expand...

I'll look into the CCT thing, thanks for the heads up!

Manipulated odometers are fortunately not a big problem here in Sweden. I bought the bike from an elderly gentleman who gave a very serious impression (2nd owner of the bike, had it since '03). He had all documents in order, even saved all receipts for anything he had ever bought for the bike. Not a guarantee of course, but I don't think anything is fishy