So I went to the dealership today...

[Sledge Hammer]

Sledge:

Get a woman to go in there and tell them how to fix the bike!

Sit back and watch the faces on the guys behind the counter as she tells them what the problem was and here's the part she had to replace!

Yeah!  Sexism and mechanics - my favorite discussion!

A good friend of mine who, very sadly, is no longer with us had a gal pal who just happened to be a professional mechanic (Mercedes, I think) and also happened to be quite a looker. The lady mechanic drove a temperamental British sports car and was forever being "assisted" by hamfisted shadetree mechanics any time she put the hood up in a parking lot. As long as they didn't wander too far off course and actually look like they were going to break something, she would indulge their egos, thank them profusely for getting her out of her predicament, and then send them on their way before driving off to a more secluded spot to make the correct adjustments or repairs. 

[Sledge Hammer]

I personally would not ride mine with a known bad tensioner, however, I know of at least a few guys that had theirs go out hundreds of miles from home and rode them the rest of their trip with no ill effects on the bike.  I would be afraid of metal contamination in the oil, because the noise is from the cam chain hitting things it shouldn't.

The tensioner is a tight squeeze but not a hard repair to do yourself.  There is a small tool you will need to make in order to install the new tensioner; you have to retract the tensioner and this tool will hold it retracted until it's installed.  You then remove the tool and the tensioner is released and doing it's job.  Here is the page out of the manual that explains how to make and use the tool; give me a yell if you have any problems or more questions.

John, thanks for the guidance. I probably put about two hundred miles on the bike before I began to realize what the noise might be. I think I will cry, though, as I pour out the fresh batch of Mobil 1 currently in the crankcase. That stuff ain't cheap.

[lragan]

I think I will cry, though, as I pour out the fresh batch of Mobil 1 currently in the crankcase. That stuff ain't cheap.

Imagine the tears you would have shed over replacing a transmission!  Oil is probably the lowest cost item in the case...

[Gloveberg]

The tensioner is a tight squeeze but not a hard repair to do yourself.  There is a small tool you will need to make in order to install the new tensioner; you have to retract the tensioner and this tool will hold it retracted until it's installed.  You then remove the tool and the tensioner is released and doing it's job.  Here is the page out of the manual that explains how to make and use the tool; give me a yell if you have any problems or more questions.

There is no need to make that little "T" tool because one comes with the new tensioner from Honda.  Also be sure that they order the front one and not the rear one because they are NOT the same. 

Remove the fake air cleaners and the air cleaner mounting bracket on the LEFT side (you'll have to take the single gas tank mounting bolt out to shift the tank up in order to get to the top bolt of the cleaner bracket) and you'll be able to get to it.  A 1/4" torque wrench fits nicely in the gap on the install. 

Sadly I know this repair TOO well

[Sledge Hammer]

The tensioner is a tight squeeze but not a hard repair to do yourself.  There is a small tool you will need to make in order to install the new tensioner; you have to retract the tensioner and this tool will hold it retracted until it's installed.  You then remove the tool and the tensioner is released and doing it's job.  Here is the page out of the manual that explains how to make and use the tool; give me a yell if you have any problems or more questions.

There is no need to make that little "T" tool because one comes with the new tensioner from Honda.  Also be sure that they order the front one and not the rear one because they are NOT the same. 

Remove the fake air cleaners and the air cleaner mounting bracket on the LEFT side (you'll have to take the single gas tank mounting bolt out to shift the tank up in order to get to the top bolt of the cleaner bracket) and you'll be able to get to it.  A 1/4" torque wrench fits nicely in the gap on the install. 

Sadly I know this repair TOO well

Thanks for the tips, Jimmy. I forgot that you had become the de facto expert on this. I just hope I caught this one in time. I am not planning on opening up valvetrain to look around. Just hope the filter caught any metal particles.

[Charles S Otwell]

Sadly I know this repair TOO well

Hey Jimmy, I hope this problem isn't still chasing you, I'm convinced that it was something to do with your bike and not your riding style, we're still running the same part we took off your bike and repaired.

[Sledge Hammer]

Well, folks, thanks to your helpful comments, I now have finished the job of replacing the front camshaft tensioner.

Naturally, this would not have been an especially tedious job for the dainty Japanese hands which designed this machine. I made two purchases which made the job infinitely easier than it started off being. One was NAPA's very nice 1/4" drive breakaway ratcheting torque wrench -- pricey but worth every penny I paid for it, and unlike the Crapsman stuff from Sears, comes with a real calibration printout so you can gauge its accuracy. The second tool worth its $4.96 pre-tax asking price was a telescoping magnetic pick-up tool, which came in very handy for fishing out the cam chain tensioner "cap" bolt before I found out the secret to threading the damn thing in place. It was almost as useful as the skinny flatblade screwdriver with tip wrapped in sunnyside-up masking tape which I used to fish out the accompanying copper sealing washer when it inevitably would drop into the valley between the cylinder banks.

Whining aside, should I ever set foot in the local Honda dealership again, I can confirm to the smartass at the parts counter that indeed the tensioner had gone bad. All I hear now at 3500 rpm is the normal whirring sound of the cam chain, no peas-in-a-coffee-can rattling sound. In other words,

MOOT -- +1

Local Honda Parts Clown -- 0

[Charles S Otwell]

Great to hear your back in business, now don't throw that old part away it's repairable, if your not going to mess with it send it to me I'll put it in my spare parts bin

[guywheatley]

Great to hear your back in business, now don't throw that old part away it's repairable, if your not going to mess with it send it to me I'll put it in my spare parts bin

Now haven't we had discussions about collecting junk? 

[roboto65]

Uhhhhhhhhhh what discussion  I do not even have a Magna anymore and I have a repaired one at the house !!!! If any one needs one..

[Gloveberg]

Sadly I know this repair TOO well

Hey Jimmy, I hope this problem isn't still chasing you, I'm convinced that it was something to do with your bike and not your riding style, we're still running the same part we took off your bike and repaired.

Actually Charles I repaired the one we took from your bike once at some point and then ordered a a new one when the spring broke again.  I'm no expert but if I have to guess I honestly believe that the cam chain on mine has stretched slightly (100K+ miles, 90K with me behind the bars riding like a bat outa hell ) and that maybe that is putting more vibration on the nylon tensioner runner which in turn sends more vibrations in the spring.  Maybe if I didn't take it up to 9K rpm's every chance I got that would help, no?

[Gloveberg]

[
[/quote]

Thanks for the tips, Jimmy. I forgot that you had become the de facto expert on this. I just hope I caught this one in time. I am not planning on opening up valvetrain to look around. Just hope the filter caught any metal particles.
[/quote]


I wouldn't bother opening it up.  Throw on a filter and oil, run it a few hundred miles then change it again and you'll be fine.  The Magna engine is like a tank

[Sledge Hammer]

Great to hear your back in business, now don't throw that old part away it's repairable, if your not going to mess with it send it to me I'll put it in my spare parts bin

Unfortunately, the old one is not repairable. I had planned to reuse the three screws and sealing washers, so I did not order new hardware for the new tensioner. Unfortunately, the cap screw would not budge from the old one, even when I put it in a vise. The casting cracked but that screw never moved. I think it was corroded in place. I would up having to order another one (but used a dealership across town).

[Sledge Hammer]

I wouldn't bother opening it up.  Throw on a filter and oil, run it a few hundred miles then change it again and you'll be fine.  The Magna engine is like a tank

That's my thinking. I poured out $50 worth of Mobil 1 with less than 200 miles on it and replaced it with the Honda GN4 swill and a new filter to be on the safe side. It's relatively cheap preventive medicine.