Noisey Tappets

[ebmurray]

Hı there,

Im on the road at the moment wıth a friend. Were ın Turkey presently.

The tappets on my 02 1150 GS have started makıng quite alot of noıse. They are fine from cold,but as soon as the engıne heats up they tap lıke crazy. They get worse after sıttıng ın traffic for a whıle and the engine heats up further! We have done a lot of miles ın the last 6weeks. Around 8000. The bıke has done around 46K

Does anyone have any quıck fıxes?

Sorry ıf thıs a topıc i should have researched ın the forums, however do not have much time on the ınternet!!

Thanks,
Ed

 

[pablo666]

Quick reply would be change yr oil qickly if youve done 8k on same oil.

 

[Mzokk]

Take off the rocker covers and check the valve clearances with a feeler gauge.

0.15 mm inlet and 0.30 mm exhaust metric or 0.006in Inlet and 0.012in imperial.

You will need a gauge, 10mm Spanner and screwdriver. 10 mins a side max if you don't have to remove engine bars and change the oil while your at it! Oil change intervals are 6000miles.........you did change it before you left?

 

[MattW]

Hı there,

Im on the road at the moment wıth a friend. Were ın Turkey presently.

The tappets on my 02 1150 GS have started makıng quite alot of noıse. They are fine from cold,but as soon as the engıne heats up they tap lıke crazy. They get worse after sıttıng ın traffic for a whıle and the engine heats up further! We have done a lot of miles ın the last 6weeks. Around 8000. The bıke has done around 46K

Does anyone have any quıck fıxes?

Sorry ıf thıs a topıc i should have researched ın the forums, however do not have much time on the ınternet!!

Thanks,
Ed

First, are you sure its tappets (not camchains etc)?
When did you last change the oil - if you've done 8000 hard miles on the same oil, you're certainly due a change! Fresh oil might help things like camchain tensioners.
If it is tappets, I'd pull the rocker covers and check sooner rather than later - could be that a tappet locknut has worked loose.
Did it happen suddenly or did it slowly build up?

 

[dunnie]

Oil

Mate,

If its hot over there at the moment it is possible that the oil that you have in the bike at the moment is not thick enough. When travelling to hotter climates it can be an idea to put a thicker grade oil in the bike so when she warms up its not like water running around your engine, if that makes sense.

Change the oil and filter, if you poss, with a thicker grade.

Hope this is of some use.

Good luck,

Dunnie.

 

[Steptoe]

As Mzokk has said. Noisy tappets usually mean noisey tappets.

Quick fix is to check and adjust them.

 

[celcius]

Mate,

If its hot over there at the moment it is possible that the oil that you have in the bike at the moment is not thick enough. When travelling to hotter climates it can be an idea to put a thicker grade oil in the bike so when she warms up its not like water running around your engine, if that makes sense.

Change the oil and filter, if you poss, with a thicker grade.

Hope this is of some use.

Good luck,

Dunnie.

Whatever it is i'm sure it's got nothing to do with warm weather.
It barely went over 5 degrees for the last couple of days over here, and has been pissing down with rain for nearly a week now.

 

[Welshman]

Whatever it is i'm sure it's got nothing to do with warm weather.
It barely went over 5 degrees for the last couple of days over here, and has been pissing down with rain for nearly a week now.

I had that issue, the tappets were fine but the one rocker end float was 0.04mm so too tight the other was 0.25mm all in tolerance but kak for the motor.

 

[ebmurray]

Will do some checks

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies. My oıl was changed on 6000 or so, but it had started before that. I was hoping the oil change would sort the issue, but no joy.

It felt like the noise started fairly quickly, but then it could be just the number of miles covered over sort time!

I will remove rocker covers and check, but don't have much tıme. We are due to be ın Odessa for a days break in a few days. Am I stupid to leave it til then?

Weather is pretty cold here at the moment as celcius mentions!

Thanks again.
Ed

 

[MattW]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies. My oıl was changed on 6000 or so, but it had started before that. I was hoping the oil change would sort the issue, but no joy.

It felt like the noise started fairly quickly, but then it could be just the number of miles covered over sort time!

I will remove rocker covers and check, but don't have much tıme. We are due to be ın Odessa for a days break in a few days. Am I stupid to leave it til then?

Weather is pretty cold here at the moment as celcius mentions!

Thanks again.
Ed

Pulling the rocker covers takes 5 minutes - even if you don't actually adjust the tappets, at least you can see if its something you need to take care of.

You'll drop a little oil when you take the rocker cover off (only a couple of teaspoons) - don't do it somewhere that matters (or put something under the pot to catch it). Put the bike in top gear and with the rocker cover off, spin the engine over using the back wheel while you watch the rockers (easier with the plugs out, but not essential). When both rockers come 'up' and have clearance you're at TDC compression (ish - enough for a quick look - if they seem tight you're at TDC exhaust - keep spinning until they come up again). Then take a look at the rockers and give them a wiggle - big valve clearances and rocker endfloat should be pretty obvious - then its a judgement call as to whether you do something about it, or leave it till your next break. BTW - not wanting to teach my granny about eggs, but you'll need to do the TDC thing separately for each pot. If you decide to adjust them, find TDC properly using a screwdriver down the plug hole.

 

[Taff]

Take off the rocker covers and check the valve clearances with a feeler gauge. 0.15 mm inlet and 0.30 mm exhaust metric or 0.006in Inlet and 0.012in imperial.

I feel a bit uneasy posting about this as I am a mechanical numpty, but my understanding is that the bike has to be stone cold before you adjust the tappetts. Someone who knows better will no doubt be along soon to either confirm this or blow it out of the water and humiliate me in public.

 

[MattW]

I feel a bit of a fraud posting about this as I a mechanical numpty, but my understanding is that the bike has to be stone cold before you adjust the tappetts. Someone who knows better will no doubt be along soon to either confirm this or blow it out of the water and humiliate me in public.

Yep - cold is good, but that means at 'ambient' temperature - you'd be fine adjusting your tappets in a desert at 40 C. However for this exercise, Ed needs to find out if there's something seriously amiss, so still a bit warm from a run would still be ok for a quick check although he should ideally adjust first thing in the morning after its been parked overnight.

 

[Steptoe]

I will remove rocker covers and check, but don't have much tıme. We are due to be ın Odessa for a days break in a few days. Am I stupid to leave it til then?

Think about it.
Option 1 - Take 5 minutes in your busy schedule checking in comfort with everything to hand, and if there is a problem it's a minor nuisance, but no drama to rectify it. If everything is fine, carry on with your trip safe, calm and relaxed in the knowledge that there is no problem, and a bonus is you don't have to look for a computer to ask us how to fix anything.

Option 2 - Carry on riding, have the problem turn serious, be at the side of the road motionless a long way from your safe comfy start point. Hopefully it won't be raining and you won't be chasing a deadline, and repair/recovery won't clean out your bank account .

Option 3 - You get to where your going but it's still noisey. It's got you this far without checking, so the logic kicks in "why should i then bother checking it for the rest of the trip".

Your choice.

 

[ebmurray]

Check done

Arighty,

I've checked both sıdes wıth rocker off now and ıt appears that there ıs a faır amount of play ın the tappets.

Bıke was ın top gear and ı've spun wheel so ın TDC.

I'm slıghtly worrıed about rıdıng on, but need to really! Is there any major damage I could do ıf I do? I can get someone to look at ıt ın next few days or adjust tappets myself?

Cheers
Ed

 

[Carl]

or adjust tappets myself?

have you got or can you get locally a couple of feeler gauges? d.i.y if you can, quick job as others have said.

 

[MattW]

Arighty,

I've checked both sıdes wıth rocker off now and ıt appears that there ıs a faır amount of play ın the tappets.

Bıke was ın top gear and ı've spun wheel so ın TDC.

I'm slıghtly worrıed about rıdıng on, but need to really! Is there any major damage I could do ıf I do? I can get someone to look at ıt ın next few days or adjust tappets myself?

Cheers
Ed

Ed,
Unfortunately it's almost impossible to say. Many bikes can and do soldier on with noisy tappets for ages and you'll more than likely be ok, but its easy for me to say this from behind my desk, with you on the road in Turkey.

If you really can't spare the time now then the decision is made - get to where you're going, but do the tappets and rocker endfloat ASAP.

To do the rocker end-float, you need to release a cylinder head bolt and to re-tighten it you should use a torque wrench to pre-load it to 20Nm before applying 180 degrees of angular torque. I doubt you have a torque wrench with you, so that is probably a workshop job anyway...

good luck!
Matt

 

[Steptoe]

Don't worry if the gap is too large, the world isn't perfect. Carry on and have a safe trip.

You only need to worry and do something about it straightaway if they were too tight.

A tappety engine is less of a worry than an engine that suddenly gets quieter.

 

[ebmurray]

Soldier On!

Thanks for all the quıck responses chaps.

I've decıded to get back on the road and fıngers crossed. I'll let you know ın due course what happens. Wıll try and get tappets/end float done as soon as poss though.

Thanks for the reassurance Steptoe!! Instanbul ıs lovely, but maybe a lıttle trıcky to fınd somewhere to get ıt done!!

Ta
Ed

 

[MattW]

Good stuff Ed - enjoy the rest of your trip and keep us posted
cheers
Matt

 

[celcius]

Good luck on the road.
Should you change your mind and decide to get it done here, i can forward you to a shop where you can get that engine sorted.