Rattling noise from front cylinder

[Steve226]

I've begun to notice a rattling noise coming from the front cylinder of my bike (99 curvy sv650s). When sat on the bike its loudest on the left hand side of the cylinder. It's most noticeable when the bike is idling, as the noise of the bike drowns it out when i give it some rev's.

I was wondering if you had any idea's on what this might be and how it could be fixed? BTW. my exhaust can is cracked open however I believe the noise was there before this happened.

Steve

[Spanner Man]

Morning Steve.
Sounds like the camchain tensioner, quite a common problem on SV's! I think they're around the £50 mark.
Best to get it sorted, for if it gives up completely major damage can occur.

Cheers.

[Steve226]

How difficult/dangerous would it be for me to do it myself? I'm reasonably technically minded, but I've never opened up an engine before.

Steve

[mysteryjimbo]

How difficult/dangerous would it be for me to do it myself? I'm reasonably technically minded, but I've never opened up an engine before.

Steve

if you're not overly mechanically minded, get done by a professional. If you can only just change brake pads, this includes you! :lol:

[Spanner Man]

Hello Steve.
The tensioner can be changed without removing the cam cover, but I wouldn't recommend it. For there is always the possibility of the valve timing jumping, so it's radiator removal time.
The tensioner itself is a touch fiddly to get to, as the frame tends to get in the way.
The job is not beyond the experienced DIYer but the consequences if not done correctly are expensive to say the least.

Cheers.

[TSM]

Mine are also a little rattly but only at realy high revs, like say 8k+, you hear a slight shrill.

[Steve226]

As much as i want to do most work on the bike myself I recon this might be a bit out of my league at the moment, so I'll get a professional to do it (it needs someone with some knowledge to give it the once over anyway).

Any idea how long it will be until this is a major problem? Currently I'm only starting the bike up once a week to stop it getting all gunked up, running it for 4-5Min's and then turning it off. I've still got stuff that I wanna do myself before handing it to a professional but i need to know how long i can really leave this?

Steve

[Spanner Man]

Afternoon Steve.
To be on the safe side I wouldn't run the engine until you have the problem sorted.
I remember a Firestorm I went to see that blew up when the customer insisted that he ran the engine to show me the rattle. BIG OUCH!!

Cheers.

[Steve226]

Should I get it picked up to be on the safe side?

Steve

[Spanner Man]

Evening Steve.
To be on the safe side I would indeed get your bike collected, small price to pay innit! :)

Cheers.

[transparent_opacity]

This sounds exactly like the problem I was going to describe!

I shall purchase a Haynes and order a new tensioner this week. I'm not scared of the spanners (done engine rebuilds before) so hopefully this will be an easy fix...fingers crossed!

I picked my 2000 SV650S up on Boxing Day. 25k on the clock on makes all the noises described. I thought it might have been chain tensioner - but newbie V-twin question here - are there 2 chains & 2 tensioners on a twin, or one chain/tensioner between the 2 cylinders?

I've only owned 4cyl bikes before (2xCBR600F's & a 250 Bandit) and have no twin experience, but how much vibration should I be experiencing? I'm not expecting super-smooth, but mine feels like a washing machine on full spin! :)

[Stig]

There are two tensioners/camchains, one for each cylinder. They really are that difficult to change yourself, just fiddly. So long as you do not crank the engine whilst they are out, you should not have a problem. In some cases, it could be that the tensioner has just got stuck. I have taken mine out, gave them a bit of an oil and put them back in and they have worked just fine again.

I'm sure if you used the search facility on the site that you would find as much information that you need to complete the task.

I agree with Spanner Man. I would not ignore it but get it fixed as soon as you can.

[RandyO]

SV cam chains are what is noisey, not the tensioners

by design (for what reason I don't know) the automatic tensioners allow the cam chain to get rather loose before they have enuf play to take the slack up

THIS IS NORMAL on the SV, the tensioner is not broken, putting a new tenioer in and taking up the slack prematurely will only stretch the cam chain faster, it will get noisey again and again

[RingDing]

With my K3 (8500 miles), it got a bit noisy. It lasted about 500 miles and then the tensioner took up the slack (as it is supposed to do) and everything was fine again. I would agree with RandyO, it's just a bit slow about doing its job that's all.

IMO, unless your bike is very high mileage then I wouldn't think there is cause to replace the tensioner.

I know SV's have a rep for noisy cam chains but I don't believe they have a rep for tensioners failing.

[socommk23]

mine were noisey for some time....put plenty of miles on it and never had a problem.