Hey now, we all know the third time's the charm. So stupid is doing it wrong the THIRD time ;D

 

Wow, what a response to my little issue!!

I checked my gasket and that seems to be sealing fine, so I think it may be something with the o-ring. I'm going on a few longer rides this weekend, so I'll check it out and see if it's bothering me enough to change it out. I guess I can say that it's comforting, knowing that other people are seeing a little oil too... If it's turns out to be more oil seeping out than I'm comfortable with, I'll use your advice, klx678, and go with the thicker viton ring, if I can find them.

Thanks again for all of the advice!!

 

just installed mine
very easy to do
I had the tick around 3000 miles bought brand new 2 years ago
got over 6000 and finally decided enough was enough
Tired of the tick around 4000-5000 rpms going slow on streets

For those that havent installed I used a super long 4mm allen on a socket wrench, with one of those joints and extension to screw both screws in
that made it easy to get them started
the inside one I did my best to get it tight, where the cheap allen tool stripped out a little but that let me know it was tight
since I couldnt get the best pressure on it using the joint and the angles

the easy to reach allen I used a 90 degree hand tool and got that tight

put a drop of blue loctite on the screws


I also used a suggestion here about matching the length to your old tensioner you take off the bike
I made it a touch shorter
I did spin the engine over by hand a few times to make sure nothing was binding
then at idle (not a cold engine) I fine tuned it within a minute

now no more ticks


well worth the money

 

Originally adjusted mine with the cold-set method, thought it sounds ok. Today noticed a bit of noise at idle, so tightened the adjuster screw more 1/6 of a turn. However, I'm never really sure if my bike sounds right, it's quite noisy. I can distinctively hear the injector tsk tsk tsk and the clutch noise that goes away when I pull the clutch lever, but not sure how a correctly adjuster cam chain sounds vs a loose one.

Here's a recording of my fully warmed up bike after the last adjustment. Does it sound ok to you guys?
KLX250 Cam Chain Uploaded by gene.pavlovsky at Your Listen

It would be lovely if somebody made two audio clips of the same bike - one with properly adjusted cam chain tensioner, and one with the tensioner a bit too loose. I watched some youtube videos where some guy adjusts a CCT on some sport bike, but I couldn't clearly hear any difference before and after adjustment.

 

Yeah. I set it up properly last spring (cold setup) so that it had the 'slight tick' at initial startup. Once warmed, it's quiet. No more rattle at ~5.5k rpm. No discernable ticking.

Now that it's winter, it seems to have a more pronounced ticking upon startup. I can clearly hear the cam chain. That is, until the engine's warmed, which takes ~5mins of riding. Then, it seems to sound normal again.

FWIW, my bike does not like to be left in the cold for more than a few days. It does NOT want to start up. I've found that if it's hard to start, turning the fuel tap to 'ON' or 'RES,' whichever it wasn't on previously, helps to start the bike. But even that didn't work well the other day. After some popcorn farts out the tailpipe and nearly draining the battery, it came alive. "Whoo!"

Anyway. I'm relatively new to motos, and have never heard another KLX250S(F) in proper operating order. So I only assume mine is healthy (when it's warmed). It's not a quiet bike, but it's not "noisy," either. Nothing concerning. A video/sound comparison would help put things in perspective for me, as well.

 

It would take longer for the tick to go away as the engine is colder at start up. The tick is a few thousandths of play in the cam drive that allow for thermal expansion without the cam drive becoming overly tight.

The way to be certain the ticking isn't from the cam drive is to get a mechanic's stethoscope or long handle screwdriver (put the handle against your ear), put the tip against the tensioner mount on the head and listen, move the tip to another possible area for the noise like the cam cover or clutch cover. If the ticking is coming from a loose cam drive the noise will be loudest at the tensioner since it is a tapping noise from the slider tapping on the adjuster bolt tip as the chain goes slightly slack then tight as the cam/valve action varies the pull on the chain.

I hope this helps. Feel free to call me in early evening 330-340-2655. Don't call during the day before 3:30 pm eastern, I'm in classes teaching up to that time.

 

Yea, I noticed that as well. Just installed my Kreiger tensioner a couple of months ago and when cold, the valve train makes a terrible racket, then quiets down nicely when warmed up. It never made any noise at all with the OEM tensioner regardless of the air or engine temp, so I have to conclude the ratcheting OEM tensioner was badly over-tensioning the chain when hot.

 

i made the adjustments, but it still sounds like a fork in a disposal at 5k and up.

i even started turning and turning the adjuster further in and the noise is still there. I ran the engine with the bolt from the tensioner out and let the engine back the tensioner screw out, it got really loud..so i once again hand tightened it and set it like the instructions say.

i dont have a skid plate, i checked all the items all around the engine with my magic screwdriver tap method of finding loose nuts and bolts..not magical after all.

the sound is much more pronounced with under power then if the clutch is in at 5k and above.

I have only 5k miles on my bike.

Check my valves? I hate driving it with this racket at the often at 5k rpm range.

thoughts.

 

Do you have metal skid plate? Engine IS a noisy one, the skid plate will reflect the sound up. The bike will ALWAYS sound like a fork in the garbage disposal at idle, once at operating temperature the sound should go away. I have a video I'm trying to upload to photobucket that I'll post up to show you the noises that my motor experiences

 

I had a similar problem with street bike. It was a Kawasaki Vulcan. Same deal as you. Lots of noise at high RPMs on a bike that was just fine otherwise. I spent weeks looking for it. I finally brought it in for a "pro" to look at. They put a new timing chain tensioner on it and bingo... that didn't fix it. I had a long talk with the shop manager about how I wasn't going to pay for parts I didn't need. I lived with it for a few months after that. One day I ran the bike down to empty and when filling it up I noticed a steel tube in the gas tank and the light bulb went off. I pulled it out with a string and a magnet. The sound was gone! Not sure if it was a broken breather tube or if it was dropped in by the previous owner trying to siphon gas.

I'm sure that anything loose in a steel gas tank will make a similar sound. Anything that's not strapped down or bolted down right will also make a ton of noise when the motor is rev'd up. Exhaust tight? Airbox on tight?