Cam chain adjuster rattle

So with 78k miles in six years on my '02 I have now experienced all of this bikes common foibles. Stuck thermostat, leaky water pump seal, melted 30 amp fuse holder, melted stator plug, melted stators, replaced R/R, did all the recalls. Other than these the bike has been flawless.

Last week a new noise developed on cold mornings when bike reaches about 150 degrees F a tapping/clacking sound at idle. The sound would cease as I raised the rpm. As the bike continued to warm the rpm range at which the noise would occur would move up until above 170 F it would go away.

My guess is that the front cam chain tensioner is harmlessly resonating in its case. Spud786 has posted that he thought the noise was related to use of heavier weight oil not circulating into the tensioner and his noise ceased when using Exxon 10W40. I have used Castrol GTX 10W40 with good success. Lately I have not ridden much in this cold weather and condensation is building up in the oil. I can see traces of white emulsion in the sight glass which would thicken the oil.

The first thing I tried was an oil change and the noise decreased but did not totally go away. Then I went on 250 mile ride and since there has been no noise.

I am trying to understand this and these are my observations. What thoughts do you all have on this?

That sounds like CMTs alright. There are lots of posts about this subject here, do some searches I changed mine with about 40,000 miles on the odo. It wasn't a bad job at all. Took about three hours and I paid about $60 bucks each for the CMTs. If you can't find the posts get a hold of Hispanic Slammer or any other moderator and they'll dig them up for you. You don't have to take the throttle bodies off!

Here's a start: http://www.vfrdiscus...showtopic=47958

I had the same issue. I continued to ride the bike with the CCT having an intermittent rattle. Once it was bad enough that the rattle was constant, I changed out the CCT.

You can retorqe the cct springs and fix them yourself

http://www.vfrdiscus...ndpost&p=454430

Mine do it on occasion since around 60,000 km. Currently has 77,000 km. It comes and goes. I only notice it when letting off the throttle suddenly after giving it gas...

The mily condensation in the oil is a different kettle of fish. This can happen if the engine isn't running at temp or if one of the return pipes has been pinched under the fuel tank, trapping the condensation instead of eliminating it.

I had to change oil three times to get rid of it. My thermostat is definitely stuck (at least partially) open.

This can have an influence on CCT noise as if the engine isn't up to temp, neither is the oil, and thus the oil is denser and doesn't reach the forward CCT as well as it might.

I have 54k miles and my front tensioner just started to make to noise. I havent had any problems other than a melted 30a fuse. I have always ran 20-50 honda oil and my tensioners seemed to make it much farther than most. Maybe just coincedence. I believe that a thicker oil can drain from the head area more slowly and can possibly allow a little more oil to be in the top end on cold start.

The noise comes and goes but never does it more than a few seconds. The job looks simple, just need some bike money to play with.

Very rarely are the CCTs failing...just making some noise...let me make noise.

I would NEVER change my oil type to try and quiet the problem...replace or tighten the CCT spring, changing/mixing oil types can have ill effects, and often is an exercise in futility. If you really want to quit hearing them, turn your IPOD up, it works regardless of what type of oil you use...

[image: View Post]Tightwad, on 26 December 2009 - 08:58 AM, said:

Very rarely are the CCTs failing...just making some noise...let me make noise.

I would NEVER change my oil type to try and quiet the problem...replace or tighten the CCT spring, changing/mixing oil types can have ill effects, and often is an exercise in futility. If you really want to quit hearing them, turn your IPOD up, it works regardless of what type of oil you use...


mine rattled for awhile and i ignored it. then it became more than just a rattle. it got LOUD. to ignore it would have been ignorant.

i put in 10-40, and there is no more rattle. maybe changing oil allowed things to get cleaned up a little, and changing back to my previous type might not bring back the noise, but running a 10-40 m/c oil in my bike will have no adverse effects. so i will continue using my new oil type and quietly motor along.
:)