The other day I sat down to tighten the cam chain. I followed the Clymer instructions but had a little foul up, I'm sure I tightened it too much. But I backed it off and the bike starts fine with one tick. The oil light comes on when it idles, if I give it some throttle it turns off however as I back off the throttle it comes on again. The cam chain tensioner is the only thing I have touched and I have tried to adjust it here and there but the problem persists. There seems to be a sweet spot where the light comes on less, but never off entirely (like it did before I touched it.)
Your thoughts?
Devin

 

hmm, no real answers here.

So no new oil change and filter change.
I hate clymer manuals
do you have a factory manual available?
Do not back off the adjuster on a whim thought, and expect it to run without consequence.

So far, I have had good luck on placing the bike in 2nd gear. pull in the clutch, roll the ride backwards then pop the clutch. A weak link here with kawi.

Can I say welcome to KF now? lol

 

Thanks for the welcome! I thought about chaining the oil. Why would the second gear thing work? I appreciated the help.
D

 

back to the light issue, I would be curious to see what the oil pressure actually is. Put a gauge on it and make a note.

The valves may need to be adjusted/checked as well. As this will cause starting problems as well.

The CCT is an automatic adjusting style. Teeth and a spring setup. The teeth tend to wear out and the spring loses its tension. Most people generally delete this and go with the manual adjusting tensioner.

edit: moved to Gen Tech

 

Thanks again. I'll let you know how it comes out.
Devin

 

Hi there. I'm late to the party. Humor me with some trivial information, and maybe I can muddy the waters some more :].

You have a 1978 KZ. There were a number of KZ's produced in 1978, of various CC's and engine / cylinder configurations and internal components. Which one are you dealing with?

Miles on the bike?

Let's talk a bit at length about this "foul up" while tightening the cam chain. You know, what lead you to believe something was amiss in the tightening procedure, how long the bike has been run in this state, any idea current cam chain tension is correct?

30+ year old cam chain guides with too much tension on them can become several pieces of cam chain guide and block oil screens, and / or become oil dams, which COULD provide enough oil flow blockage to activate the oil light, especially at idle.

Need to know what engine we're talking about before much speculation can be made with any legitimacy.

 

Thanks for the response. In answer: 1978 1000cc KZ-A, 25,000 miles. I decided to tighten the cam chain because I was noticing a loss of power when pulling away in first gear, particularly after running the bike for a while. Also was making more noise than before. The cam chain isn't the only thing I had intended to do, according to the manual the bike needs regular tune up so I was also going to pull the plugs and change if necessary. I didn't do this once the oil light started coming on so the problem would be easier to trace. When adjusting the cam chain I did set crank to top dead center. I changed the oil yesterday but the problem still persists.

Your thoughts,
Thanks in advance.

 

Oh sorry, I should have added that I have hardly run the bike with the overtightened chain. It didn't start at first so I backed it off. It started but the oil light came on which leads us to today.
D

 

These are a non-return type. The rod does not return to its original position once it moves out to take up camshaft chain slack. So just loosening it up after tightening it will not work. 25k miles is nothing so am not really thinking cam chain stretch or even guide wear. I would redo your CCT adjustment, check the valves and do a service. Ol' Malarkey I am sure should be able to provide more thorough suggestions.

 

Thanks a bunch, this helps.
Devin