Engine noise

[austintucker]

Hello everyone. First off let me say that this is a great forum. I bought a 1994 magna for my brother-in-law for $1000 and am really enjoying it. I had to clean the carbs because the left front pilot was stopped up. So while I had it tore apart I put some 42 pilots and 108 mains and ordered some of the precision shims from mcmaster carr. It made a huge difference. I read on here where most like to use the Rotella synthetic 5w40 and the purelator pure one filter so that is what I tried. So I serviced the bike this weekend and took it for a spin and the small tick that I used to have at idle after running it for a while has gotten a little louder and anytime that it is idling after a few seconds of cranking it. What could be the cause of it getting louder? The oil or the filter? Bike runs great but the constant ticking at idle is annoying. Thanks for the help.

[Len Averyt]

I run castrol syntec but my 3rd gen ticks at idle as well. always has.
I think from what Ive read on the forums, its fairly normal.
Something to do with the timing chain tensioner or something.

[Budman1962]

This is what happened to my 86 magna. I switched to synthetic and immediately noticed a loud rattle coming from the engine. I used valvoline synthetic and a wix filter. I drove it for a couple of days and it would make the noise until fully warmed up. I only road about 50 miles and decided to switch back to conventional oil. I bought the honda brand oil at the dealers recommendation. It is regular oil and it cost me more than the synthetic. It helped a little but the sound is still there. It does shift better with the honda oil. The oil is 10w-40. Should I try a heavier oil?

Budman

[hootmon]

Austin -
First - If I haven't said it before, Welcome from Safety Harbor, Floriduh..
Second - Great job at finding he search feature and utilizing it!!!

You have a '94 (as do I).

You need to check something out.. Look at the serial numbers on the neck of the bike.. at the end, is there a "Punch" mark???

The '94's had a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) issued. It was felt that not quite enough oil got up to the cam bearings (Imagine that, a Magna with a top end oiling issue! ), so the TSB describes drilling some small holes in the Bearing caps to allow oil to flow through the area. It also describes when the work is completed to put a punch mark on the neck..

Now.. IF you have no punch mark (like mine) I wouldn't worry to much.. I have over 70K miles on mine and it is still running strong.. My bike does not make a tick at idle it makes a notable knocking sound that kinda comes and goes. It always has, and I assume it always will..
Last year I re-adjusted my idle so that it is up at 1K, it was set at 750 RPM when I got it and ran fine at that level, but bumped it to 1K when I read that is where it was supposed to be set and to insure a little more oil got to the top end..

I run Amsoil 20/50 Motorcycle oil in mine. I have for the past 4 years or so.

I hope it helps calm your nerves about the tick.. Get a Stereo and turn it up, it is the surest fix! 

[austintucker]

Would it be a good idea to perform the TSB? I looked at the bulletin and it don't look that hard to do. Would the louder tick have anything to do with the changing from dino to syn? I can switch back if that be the case. Thanks for the replys.

[hootmon]

I'd stick with the Syn regardless.. You may want to try a different brand next time.. Just a thought..