50 miles and broke already

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Harald

"Superior Gen 4" Rider
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I fired up the brand new 07 for it's first commute to work this morning. With only about 50 miles on it, I noticed a ticking sound as the bike was warming up. I had heard mention of a tick issue and got concerned immediately. But further reading seems to indicate that the tick problem usually developes with more miles on the bike? It's still got a whole year of factory warranty, so no hurry.

But then after about 15 miles on the ride in, my ABS light starts flashing. A red light flashing usually means trouble, so I'm guessing it's off to the dealer sooner than later. Once it's light out later this morning I'll go take a look to see if there's any obvious problems because I hate to waste time waiting on a dealer to fix a problem I can easily fix myself. Anyone have any insight on this problem?

 
Ticking is prob just a cold start before the valves seat. - no worries

ABS

The dealer may not have aligned the abs sensor properly when the wheels were installed.

go to FJRtech.com look at front and rear tire removal. It has pics of what it should look like

or the sensor may not be plugged in fully

 
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Ticking is prob just a cold start before the valves seat. - no worries
ABS

The dealer may not have aligned the abs sensor properly when the wheel were installed.

go to FJRtech.com look at front and rear tire removal. It has pics of what it should look like

or the sensor may not be plugged in fully
Hate to disagree with you, and if a board expert like Jestal or Radman tells me I'm wrong I'd accept that, but to my knowledge valves don't need "to seat" when cold. With all the cylinder heads I've worked with, I always performed a bench test of solvent in the combustion chamber to test for leakage into the ports with an occasional valve lapping required to get it to seal properly. This is of course when all these parts are cold, and valves should seal hot or cold. I believe you are thinking of the tick sometimes associated with hydraulic valve lifter engines, where a weak hydraulic lifter may bleed down overnight causing an increase in clearance on that valve resulting in a tick until that lifter "pumps up" and can close the clearance. As we all know, our FJR's don't have hydraulic lifters.

I'm not saying to worry at this point, but it may warrant further investigation if it keeps happening or gets louder. Just my 2 cents.

 
there's also the probability that the noise is the well-known nature of the yamaha motor (clickity clack is where it's at). even when perfect, it's got some clatter. still, it ain't half as odd sounding as a triumph triple.

 
there's also the probability that the noise is the well-known nature of the yamaha motor (clickity clack is where it's at). even when perfect, it's got some clatter. still, it ain't half as odd sounding as a triumph triple.
+1 - The fuel injectors make a lot if ticking noises no matter how warm the bike is or how many miles are on it.

The 'tick' is caused by excessive valve guide wear and is very unlikely to show up on a new engine.

Of course none of this means you don't have some sort of problem. I would try to meet up with other FJRs and see if your bike sounds much different.

 
I hate to differ with anyone, but if the bike is that new, still under warranty, I'd take that "puppy" straight back to the dealer. WHile the present problems may not be serious, the may be indicative of other problems that may occur. Course, this is hoping that your dealer has good mechanics that know FJRs. :rolleyes:

 
The ticking you have read about is associated with the Gen I bikes. There have not been any reported cases of Gen II tickers, and there are plenty of bikes out there with plenty of miles. That does not mean you don't have a problem, it just means that you shouldn't worry about having the dreaded tick.

 
I may be off base here, (happened once before), but these bikes do have a tendency to "flood" if you start them and then shut them off before the fast idle goes away. Mine has done that and when they do start you will hear a ticking (actually more like a knocking noise) for several minutes.

My question would be, did the noise go away after it warmed up? If so you probably will not have that happen again under normal circumstances. Just remember, if you start the bike, let it run until warm enough for the fast idle to go away before you shut it down. Start it again and it will probably be fine.

As far a the ABS goes. That sounds like it is broken. The dealer probably didn't secure a speed sensor on the wheel hub during assy. as previously mentioned.

 
On the 'ticking', motors with mechanical valve actuation will never be silent, hot or cold. It's hard to diagnose something from the net, but it'd be extremely unlikely anything is wrong with your motor. Best thing to do is check the oil level, and if fine, go to your dealer and fire up another FJR, and you'll have your answer right there.

On the ABS issue, only the front wheel is off the bike in the crate. The ABS 'hub' has an indentation that has to be aligned with a tab in the inner middle of the left fork (pointing to the other fork, if that makes sense). Take a look at the hub and it'll be obvious if it's installed correctly. The wire for the sensor should come out close to the fork, but not pinched against it, like if the hub was rotated forward. Or too far away, like if rotated rearward. But better yet, when you go to the dealer to listen to another FJR, compare both bikes side to side so you can spot any difference. Good luck.

JC

 
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Thanks for all the tips. I didn't see anything obviously wrong with the abs wiring. I had to stop by the dealer anyway, so I had them look at it. They were nice enough to squeeze me in right away. They had it fixed in about 30 minutes. Cause of the problem? The rear brake light was sticking on - or so they say. Whatever they did, I put another 70 miles on the bike after that and no more problem.

It's good to hear that the dreaded tick is not associated with gen II bikes. I've ridden my whole life, but never a bike with fuel injection so I think the injector sounds may be what I'm hearing. The engine oil is full and I haven't done any quick starts/shutdowns, so maybe it's normal or maybe my engine will grenade next week. I just know that my other bike (CBR1100XX) I've had for the last 34,000 miles doesn't make this sound, but it has carburators. I'm sure I'll be part of this FJR family for many years to come, so I'll let you know how the engine does.

 
At some point in the next 12 months, if you still have concerns, spring about $390 for a 4 year warranty extension.

In the meantime enjoy the ride.

 
Thanks for all the tips. I didn't see anything obviously wrong with the abs wiring. I had to stop by the dealer anyway, so I had them look at it. They were nice enough to squeeze me in right away. They had it fixed in about 30 minutes. Cause of the problem? The rear brake light was sticking on - or so they say. Whatever they did, I put another 70 miles on the bike after that and no more problem.
It's good to hear that the dreaded tick is not associated with gen II bikes. I've ridden my whole life, but never a bike with fuel injection so I think the injector sounds may be what I'm hearing. The engine oil is full and I haven't done any quick starts/shutdowns, so maybe it's normal or maybe my engine will grenade next week. I just know that my other bike (CBR1100XX) I've had for the last 34,000 miles doesn't make this sound, but it has carburators. I'm sure I'll be part of this FJR family for many years to come, so I'll let you know how the engine does.

Just don't ride it up a high mountain :glare: and you should be fine

 
Harald,

I have a 2007 and noticed a lot of things when I first started riding it. Your bike is fine. The "ticking" you hear could be a myraid of things from fuel injection to valves to cumquats when you first start the bike up. The tolerances on most engines are calculated at "running" temperature and so engines can create a cacaphony (that's a lot of different noises for those of you in Milpitas, CA) sounds when they first start up.

You will also notice some tranny whine soon when the weather gets cooler. If you look around you'll probably have put the windscreen up which eliminates a lot of wind noise and so now you will notice those sounds. I have 7000 wonderful miles on my FJR and outside of the dreaded altitude surge I've had ZERO problems with the bike.

Just take it out and ride it and enjoy a great piece of engineering.

AZ

 
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