A questions for those with "tickers"

[Bungie]

Hmmmm... I wonder why you couldn't just slap a new (used) head on there yourself over the winter, most likely for considerably less money spent than that? Might even use a 2nd gen head so you would know you would never tick again.

The issue for me is workspace. I have the technical expertise to do it, just not the facilities when its dark 'n snowing out.

 

[jeremyr62]

Jeremy, are you planning to try to have Yamaha pay for your repairs or are you footing the bill yourself? If the answer is Yamaha... might be good to look into it soon.

If this question is for me, I'll answer it now as I'm just back from Mugello/Alps.

If it gets much worse I will be fixing it myself. There is no real Yamaha Moto infrastructure in Ireland so getting them to do it would be difficult.

It would have to get a LOT noisier though before I do this. It's only a tick after all.

 

[FJRMGM]

So I've heard back from the dealer.
Yamaha will cover 8 of the 16 valves (I suspect due to those 8 being out of tolerance) but the mechanic thinks all 16 should be replaced. That means I'll need to pay for the other 8. On top of that, my dealer doesn't apparently have the tools and/or talent to swap out the valve guides so they outsource that to a machine shop. Yamaha won't pay for that, so that's another expense they are saying I'll have to pay for. They are guessing it will be $100-200 that I'll have to front. :angry2:

I'm trying to decide how upset I should be. At some level a couple hundred bucks to have everything working right, etc. isn't terrible. But on the other hand, I don't really feel like I should be paying anything at all...

sounds like they are replacing the exhaust valves, which is where the problem is. You shouldn't have to pay because the dealer can't swap out the valve guides.

On my '05 all my exhaust valves and guides were replaced at 18k miles and now at 65k miles it still runs STRONG.

Mine never used any oil that I could tell either.

 

[Nels Erickson]

Well, the bike is finally done. Picking it up from the dealer today.

Yamaha is covering the exhaust portion, and half of the cost for the machine shop work, so basically I'm paying for the extra valve guides and half the labor of putting them in. All in all I can't bitch too much I guess.

I'll post my observations on the differences in the bike after I've had a chance to ride it.

 

[SkooterG]

Well, as far as I am concerned, you shouldn't being paying for anything. Not one single dime!

Still, sumptin is better than nuthin.

Congrats on getting your FJR back.

 

[RadioHowie]

Well, as far as I am concerned, you shouldn't being paying for anything. Not one single dime!
Still, sumptin is better than nuthin.

Congrats on getting your FJR back.

Hush! I can hear the pennies in your pocket screaming from here.

 

[Fred W]

Sorry, but I gotta go along with The Skootish-One on this. Besides, everyone here already knows that I'm a tight-wad, frugal Yankee SOB. I take great pride in squeezing a dollar 'till the eagle cries!.

The problem with tickers is clearly limited to the exhaust valve guide wear, and Yamaha paid for them and the labor to install them. The dealer was being a jerk-off and scammed our friend Nels for the cost and machine shop labor to replace the intake valves unnecessarily (IMO). Since we have never heard of a single occurrence of an FJR engine suffering from intake valve wear, the likelihood that his engine will now last longer as a result of preemptively replacing those intake guides is pretty slim.

I suppose it beats having to foot the entire bill for the repair (I forget, was this one still in warranty?), but my misgivings are not with Mamma Yammaha. They dun good, as far as I can see. It was the sleaze ball dealership that was running deep into the gray area of ethics.

 

[luvtoride]

Well, as far as I am concerned, you shouldn't being paying for anything. Not one single dime!

Agreed... & congrats on the return of the bike.

 

[Nels Erickson]

Well, I ended up paying $250. Not as bad as it could have been I suppose. I'm sure I could be all upset about it, but in the end I basically got a brand new head and valve job for that price. It's all in your perspective.

Couple things I've noticed on the 3 short rides I've taken so far. Engine is running quite well. Seems smoother than before as well. There used to be a buzz around 4100 RPM that is gone now, which rocks. I'll be taking it on a 300ish mile ride this weekend to really get a feel for it.

All in all I'm just glad to be able to ride again. :yahoo:

 

[luvtoride]

I guess that you are accurate. It is perspective. I just thought that it was odd that you'd pay anything. My dealer changed oil (of course), changed coolant & did a TB sync w/o charging me anything... that is why I was thinking as I am. But you are correct.

The really important thing is that you got the bike back, right?

 

[Fred W]

$250 isn't bad. So long as they did good work, what the hell...

 

[falcon]

I love happy endings. Glad you're back on the road, even if they got a little extra coin out of you.

 

[RadioHowie]

I'd LOVE to get my Feejer's head fixed for $250. (sigh)

 

[Nels Erickson]

The really important thing is that you got the bike back, right?

Indeed.

Did about 250 miles yesterday on a beautiful day. Engine is nice and strong and much smoother than before. Overall I'm quite pleased with how it's running, etc.

Life is good.

 

[03HiYoSilver]

Nels,

Thanks for sharing the good news.

Many Happy Miles & Smiles to ya!

 

[Harvey]

For those who had Gen 1 bikes that were tickers, were the repairs covered under warranty?
I think that mine has started to tick. It's not bad at idle, but when you get the RPMs up to about 2.5-3k it gets pretty loud, and then quiets down again above that. Just sounds like it really needs a valve job. Mine is a 2005 with 18.5k miles. I'm planning a 2.7k ride this summer and I'm thinking I should probably have it looked at prior to that run.

A few weeks ago I bought a 2005 from a dealer with 64,000 miles on it.

I notice that it now ticks all the time, cold and hot, low and high RPM.

The tick is not loud, but it's there.

I think I may be just too sensitive and constantly listening for it.

I left it at the dealer who tells me first that it sounds like valve noise and, of course, it's normal for any bike with 64K miles on it.

I told him to call Yamaha who says they need maintenance records, which of course I do not have.

The dealer says he will do a valve check but if it's not "the tick" I will have to pay for whatever he does.

I don't know what to do at this point. I will talk to the sales manager tomorrow and see if I can get him to give me a free valve check, or whatever he will do for me. The 60-day warranty as written does not cover this.

I'd like to get this whole thing settled and get some sleep.

~Harvey

 

[browndog]

5jw-12210-01-00 Tensioner assy, cam 1

Interesting list...especially this ^^^ entry.

Makes me wonder why Yamaha would replace the CCT? Standard operating procedure on MAJOR head/motor work?

Doesn't really have anything to do with valve/valveguide replacement.

Maybe Yamaha doesn't like the idea of winding up the CCT for cam removal and reusing it when the labor is on their dime.

On the surface, this seemingly unnecessary replacment screams "we don't trust that damn part!"

Not that I'm paranoid or anything. <_<

Interesting thought! My 04 was repaired in march 09. They didn't replace the tensioner at that time. But they did two weeks later!! I was a pain in their arse. They didn't even whine though! Now is like butta...

 

[luvtoride]

For those who had Gen 1 bikes that were tickers, were the repairs covered under warranty?
I think that mine has started to tick. It's not bad at idle, but when you get the RPMs up to about 2.5-3k it gets pretty loud, and then quiets down again above that. Just sounds like it really needs a valve job. Mine is a 2005 with 18.5k miles. I'm planning a 2.7k ride this summer and I'm thinking I should probably have it looked at prior to that run.

A few weeks ago I bought a 2005 from a dealer with 64,000 miles on it.

I notice that it now ticks all the time, cold and hot, low and high RPM.

The tick is not loud, but it's there.

I think I may be just too sensitive and constantly listening for it.

I left it at the dealer who tells me first that it sounds like valve noise and, of course, it's normal for any bike with 64K miles on it.

I told him to call Yamaha who says they need maintenance records, which of course I do not have.

The dealer says he will do a valve check but if it's not "the tick" I will have to pay for whatever he does.

I don't know what to do at this point. I will talk to the sales manager tomorrow and see if I can get him to give me a free valve check, or whatever he will do for me. The 60-day warranty as written does not cover this.

I'd like to get this whole thing settled and get some sleep.

~Harvey

Harvey, a bike with 64k miles would probably be so far advanced that it would not be quiet & be quite loud. These bikes do make some ticking noise & that may be what you're hearing. The injectors make some noise. Regardless, I am not sure what the shoptime for dropping the headers to look for unburnt oil would be.... but likely, that is what you would be paying for. Pretty sure that is what Yamaha uses as its indicator. Just a guess, but worst damage might be 2 hours labor?

Ddi they tell you what they plan to do? Has it had valve adjustments? If not, that is where I'd expect the larger expense would come in & probably where they would start.... but that is just a guess.

Also, there is an RPM range where the noise is most prevalent. If you putt the bike around in low gears holding steady in the 2400rpm to 3000 rpm range & you are hearing ticking you very well might have a ticker.

Good luck to you, Heidi

 

[Harvey]

A few weeks ago I bought a 2005 from a dealer with 64,000 miles on it.

I notice that it now ticks all the time, cold and hot, low and high RPM.

The tick is not loud, but it's there.

I think I may be just too sensitive and constantly listening for it.

I left it at the dealer who tells me first that it sounds like valve noise and, of course, it's normal for any bike with 64K miles on it.

I told him to call Yamaha who says they need maintenance records, which of course I do not have.

The dealer says he will do a valve check but if it's not "the tick" I will have to pay for whatever he does.

I don't know what to do at this point. I will talk to the sales manager tomorrow and see if I can get him to give me a free valve check, or whatever he will do for me. The 60-day warranty as written does not cover this.

I'd like to get this whole thing settled and get some sleep.

~Harvey

Harvey, a bike with 64k miles would probably be so far advanced that it would not be quiet & be quite loud. These bikes do make some ticking noise & that may be what you're hearing. The injectors make some noise. Regardless, I am not sure what the shoptime for dropping the headers to look for unburnt oil would be.... but likely, that is what you would be paying for. Pretty sure that is what Yamaha uses as its indicator. Just a guess, but worst damage might be 2 hours labor?

Ddi they tell you what they plan to do? Has it had valve adjustments? If not, that is where I'd expect the larger expense would come in & probably where they would start.... but that is just a guess.

Also, there is an RPM range where the noise is most prevalent. If you putt the bike around in low gears holding steady in the 2400rpm to 3000 rpm range & you are hearing ticking you very well might have a ticker.

Good luck to you, Heidi

Thanks for the reply Heidi.

The service person told me that it was injector noise and cam chain noise.

I know it's not cam chain noise.

I do not know what injector noise sounds like.

I do not have faith in this dealer anymore after hearing different stories from everyone I spoke to there.

When asking about what service they did before I took delivery of the FJR;

One guy says the bike only had Amsoil, another guy says they used whatever was in the big barrel.

One says they flushed the coolant, the other says they only changed the oil.

I was told that they put one kind of tire on it and it was something else.

This dealer, Greater Boston Motorsports, is a Honda/Suzuki/BMW dealer and not Yamaha.

I did not read the reviews about how poor this dealer's service department was.

I believed what they told me before the sale.

I did not test drive this bike. It was pouring rain when I saw it and bought it.

I read great reviews about the FJR but I did not read about the "ticking" problem before buying it or I would have listened for it.

I believed that when they gave me a 60-day warranty that I need not worry.

I do not have any history on my FJR whatsoever.

I will never again buy a motorcycle without doing extensive research, and never a used one without service records.

Hopefully, someone will read this and not make the same stupid mistakes I did.

Regards to all,

~Harvey

 

[Fred W]

Bah! Stop beating yourself up about it. I seriously doubt that you have a real ticker. And even if you did, many of them are getting fixed by Yamaha even outside of any factory or extended warranty situation.

I'll bet that your bike is fine. Just ride it and enjoy it. Even if it is a real ticker, it's not a catastrophic thing. The bike will run just fine as it slowly gets worse and worse.