The knock... Cam chain tensioner? Valves? My mind?

[Charles S Otwell]

I don't think that there's much that you guys down in the Houston area hasn't done. Good luck, I'll be watching to see how it turns out.

[kdf9511]

I think some Mootster down here in the Houston area has done a valve adjustment.

Marc has done one on his.  I plan on doing one at some point.

[MagnaMan]

Yeah, Kerry. I'm debating what to do.  

The tech I spoke to at Honda of Houston was not their v4 guy but he said he would first suspect the valves because I modified the stock exhaust and changed the backpressure. The valves could have reacted accordingly. He said motorcycles are very sensitive to changes in backpressure.  (Thing is I don't even like the muffler mod and planned on either going to some higher performance pipes or back to stock.)

The service schedule says the valves should be checked at 16,000 miles (I'm at 12,000) although a lot of people said their 3rd gens needed no adjustment. But if the backpressure really is an issue than I may need an adjustment.

So right now I'm suspecting that it's the valves and then possibly the cam chain tensioner.

I looked in the manual and the valve adjustment is pretty extensive. It also requires me buying some tools like a micrometer, metric feeler guages, and allen head sockets for using on a torque wrench.  I'll have to pull off a lot of stuff to check them, and if they actually need adjustment then you have to pull the cams to put in the shims. I thought you could just buy a bag of shims and have several to choose from, but according to the parts fiche they're about $5 a piece for the desired thickness and they have about 45 variations of thickness. This means I have to tear it open, see if/what shims I need and then order them or run down to the dealership and buy them. (Someone correct me if I 'm wrong.)

I'm just not sure if I have time to go through all this trouble. That's probably a full day of wrenching just for me doing it. You know how things always take longer than you expect?  On the other hand it would be cool to see in side my engine and say that I did it.

I'd like to just ignore this knock and say it's a quirk of then engine, but if it's not I'd feel like a dope for not doing something about it.

[John Luttrell]

I hate to sound like a dope, but you really don't need to worry about valve adjustment on this bike. Tons of guys have taken their magnas in for the valve adjustment and found that absolutly no adjustment was necessary.  All you need to do is replace the cam chain tensioner and press on.  Also stay away from the "The Bike Shop Techs" , every time you post what they are telling you it scares me; they are just after your money and for the most part none of them have ever worked on a magna because they don't break very often.

[kdf9511]

It also requires me buying some tools like a micrometer, metric feeler guages, and allen head sockets for using on a torque wrench.

I don't know about the diffrences on the 3rd gen but IIRC you don't need a micrometer for the 1st gen valve adj.  As for the metric feeler guages, I have a set you are more than weclome to borrow.  And the metric allen head socktes are aprox $15.00 at Harbor Freight.  I have been meaning to pick up a set of those myself.

I kind of agree with John though.  Do the tentioner and see if that helps with the noise.  If  not then go for the valves.  From everything I have read on the V4 when the valve noise goes away that is when to do the adj.

[MagnaMan]

Thanks John and Kerry.  

The cam chain tensioner is the easiest and cheapest thing to try that's for sure.  John, should I replace both of the tensioners at the same time or just the one that's knocking?

[John Luttrell]

I would personally just change the bad one.  Can't see fixing what's not broken.

[Shortround]

Mine developed a similar knock. When I put on the center stand a couple months ago I discovered it had too much oil in it. Using my MitiVac I removed a full pint. The knock went away.
If I can get myself into a better garage this winter I think I will check the chain adjuster anyway. It only has 17K miles on it but it is 10 years old. And not to well maintained.

[Greg Cothern]

Jesse dont worry about the valve adjustment, I have only heard of 2 that needed an adjustment, remember they are shim under bucket.  
You have not changed the back pressure much with the muffler mod, removing the end plate baffle does not really open them up much, they still have the internal baffle.
You can run the muffler mod and NEVER hurt a valve especially with the shims installed.

[MagnaMan]

Yeah, Greg. My plan has gotten a little simpler after the information from Jimmy. Right now my plan is to pull the front valve cover to inspect things.

I just want to make sure the chain has not been rubbing on the head, etc. There's also a replaceable chain guide in the valve cover that may have been scraped up, so I'm going to check that to see if I need to order it.  I may check the valves just for the heck of it since I'll have the valve cover off, but I don't think I'll have to do anything. I'll also perform the compression test just to be extra sure.

I figure I can handle the disassembly pretty easily, plus I'll just take pictures of everything before I take it apart.  If it's fairly straightforward once I get in there, then I'll order the parts I need and invite the Moot members over for the re-assembly. That way we can ooh and ahh, before closing it back up.