getting engine noise

[Charles S Otwell]

My 87 has 20,000 miles, I started noticing alittle rattling in the engine right before the oil change. I used oem Honda filter and 10-w-40 Mobile ,no (energy conserving additives). The rattling didn't seem to get any worse but when I put it in 1st it clanks pretty loud. I also notice what seems to be slack in the driveline. My question? Is there any valve lash adj. or timing chain adj. Or would a different viscosity like 20-w-50 help. Is there enough difference in the Mobil motorcycle oil to stop the shifter clanking. I sorry I'm sure this has been discussed before but I have a bad habit of not paying attention    Help one more time!!

[Greg Cothern]

Charles there will be some lash in the drivetrain, however to describe how much is normal would be difficult.
Oil, I have noticed when in the past I ran none Motorcycle specific oils I had clunkier shifting.  I changed to Motorcycle specific synthetic and cured the noisey shifting.
Have also noticed that with the new formulated fuel (ethanol addition) that the bikes are running a bit lean and a ever so lite knock or pinging.  I am going to run mid-grade and should cure this.
Hope there is some useful information in my ramblings.

[Charles S Otwell]

Greg thanks for replying. With the motorcycle specific synthetic does the viscosity matter?

[MagnaMan]

I second what Greg says both about the ethanol fuel mixtures and the moto specific oil. I have been experiencing a pinging lately and after harassing Greg a great bit, we richened the mixture and switched to a higher octane fuel. It appears to have helped and I haven't even finished a tank of the higher octane fuel yet.

I also have personally experienced better shifting when switching from a synthetic car oil to a synthetic moto oil of the same brand. I know there's a lot of people that say you can use car oil, but my bike says otherwise. Also I'm sure that going to a heavier weight moto oil will give you results similar to a heavier weight auto oil. In Texas you are probably within the operating temperature of 20-50 all year round. Keep in mind that if you go with synthetic, you'll have longer change intervals. I was going to go with 20-50 for the summer and then realized that I would still have it in the winter, when I ride a lot, so I opted to stay with 10-40.

I think you can't go wrong with either the Royal Purple moto oil or the Mobil 1 moto oil. I got RP because I was able to get it near my house for $8/quart.

[Charles S Otwell]

Jesse thanks, I'm going to change oil again and see what happens. I'm also going to pull the oil pan and check for wear. thanks again guys..