[Raucous karma]

Good afternoon all. first time here. So I recently got a sv1000s 03 model as a present from my wife after they stole my z. the bike came with some problems that we are sorting out but one problem that I cant find the fault is a ticking noise on the bike, it sounds like it comes from the front of the engine.

The sound is not there when I idle the bike, it comes from 2k rpm upwards. we drained the oil to check for shavings for bearings and its not that. we checked if the exhaust or gasket is leaking, not that either. I checked water and bolts as I thought its something loose.

Some people say it might be valves that need to be set. a video I saw on youtube says its a cam tensioning and now another guy said its small end bushings.

I don't have a lot of money to through at mechanics to open the engine up and check everything so I'm hoping to get some advise to what it might be before I spend to much money and never finding the fault

 

[Missing Link]

Welcome on your first post....

Is it a "light" or tinny sound? Most likely valve train related if so.... Drop your oil cooler down, not off....and remove the front tensioner unit, wash it out with parts clean
and then set it ready for re-install....new gasket or liquid gasket....then put it in and release the lock ..... see the attached service manual and page 3-101 onwards for the set-up.

Basically, you undo the end cap bolt, release the cam lock and push the plunger all the way in, then, the cap bolt screws back in and holds the plunger in....install the tensioner and then undo the cap bolt, and you will hear the plunger pop out....
Do this in case the plunger is stuck and hasn't auto adjusted, this "may" help DONT TURN THE ENGINE AT ALL WHILE THE TENSIONER IS OUT.

SV1000 Service Manual

Also, from vague memory, i think that the auto decomp units on the cams can get noisy too......

You will get some more sage advice from schmidt314 and realshelby as they see this post...

 

[Missing Link]

....oh...and an old trick an old timer showed me years ago.....if the noise isn' t cured...take the bike out of the garage so that sounds dont reverberate and use a large old towell doubled over and smother areas of the engine, this MAY help you ID where there noise is coming from.
But, be aware any deep seated noises, like crank stuff will find their way out somewhere....

 

[Raucous karma]

....oh...and an old trick an old timer showed me years ago.....if the noise isn' t cured...take the bike out of the garage so that sounds dont reverberate and use a large old towell doubled over and smother areas of the engine, this MAY help you ID where there noise is coming from.
But, be aware any deep seated noises, like crank stuff will find their way out somewhere....

thank you very much for the help. i will keep you posted on the issue as soon as we find the problem, might help someone in the future

 

[schmidt314]

If you think it is isolated to front cylinder, the most common thing will be the cam chain tensioner in my experience and some good advice was given in removing, cleaning and resetting.

Other things I have seen cause tapping in these bikes is cracked buckets, damaged/broken shims, broken cam chain guide (snapped mount tab off), decompressor issue, scissor gear failure, and probably a few more…

If a wrist pin bushing or big end bearing goes bad, it definitely has a distinct sound. Let’s hope it isn’t this.

-ms

 

[mimixtz]

Hi to everyone,

I have random ticking noise too coming from front cylinder. Valves has been checked and they are OK.
It's not very annoying, but I'm thinking, why I would let something to slap against something if I can solve that. I don't mind getting hands dirty, I did A LOT of wrenching on my dirt bikes where doing that pretty m,uch all the time is inevitable.
So I would like to check / clean / adjust cam chain tensioners.
Is there any video tutorial available how to clean and adjust cam chain tensioners for SV 1000?
Reading Service manual there is description how to tear down / assemble entire cam shaft drive.
I don't want to do that or valve clearance checking by myself despite this might be simple compared to many other bikes. It doens't seem worth for me to buy shims and I only did that once or twice in my life so I rather pay reasonable money to experienced mechanic who has shims on stock.
Or maybe step by step tutorial, if possible with pictures, like turn the engine, put it in position with those marks aligned, block this with that, unscrew that, clean, install back, adjust 3 turns clockwise,...
Thank you very much in advice for any tip / advice / link...

 

[Raucous karma]

Hi to everyone,

I have random ticking noise too coming from front cylinder. Valves has been checked and they are OK.
It's not very annoying, but I'm thinking, why I would let something to slap against something if I can solve that. I don't mind getting hands dirty, I did A LOT of wrenching on my dirt bikes where doing that pretty m,uch all the time is inevitable.
So I would like to check / clean / adjust cam chain tensioners.
Is there any video tutorial available how to clean and adjust cam chain tensioners for SV 1000?
Reading Service manual there is description how to tear down / assemble entire cam shaft drive.
I don't want to do that or valve clearance checking by myself despite this might be simple compared to many other bikes. It doens't seem worth for me to buy shims and I only did that once or twice in my life so I rather pay reasonable money to experienced mechanic who has shims on stock.
Or maybe step by step tutorial, if possible with pictures, like turn the engine, put it in position with those marks aligned, block this with that, unscrew that, clean, install back, adjust 3 turns clockwise,...
Thank you very much in advice for any tip / advice / link...

I found the cam chain tensioner to be a problem but if you fix it and the noise comes back, you will have to open the engine and check bearings. this was the case with mine

 

[mimixtz]

I found the cam chain tensioner to be a problem but if you fix it and the noise comes back, you will have to open the engine and check bearings. this was the case with mine

Oh, thank you for this information.
Which bearings you had to check / replace?
I'd rather leave it as it is and hope for the best than dismantling and opening an engine.
Only gaskets are few hudreds of €.

 

[Raucous karma]

Oh, thank you for this information.
Which bearings you had to check / replace?
I'd rather leave it as it is and hope for the best than dismantling and opening an engine.
Only gaskets are few hudreds of €.

so here's the thing, if you leave it and ignore the sound the problem will get worse, a lot worse, it was big end bearings and it was because the conrod bolts weren't torqued correctly so the damage was minimal as I acted as soon as I heard the sound.. if you leave it then your heads will eventually damage, piston rings will damage, the crank will bend, the conrods will bend and your engine will seize which will double if not triple the cost to fix it. when there is a ticking sound in the engine its something to pay attention to because that means something is wrong. even if it is just the cam chain tensioner or exhaust gaskets, might even be valves, better to check it out than to leave it and your motor blows up

 

[mimixtz]

OK, thank you Raucous karma.
I hope this is not the case at mine.
It would help if I could hear how your ticking sounded like.
Mine is very similar to this one, maybe 10% louder and it can be heared at idle here and there if you liten carefully and little more when you ride and release the throttle (engine braking) between 3000-5000 rpm. Never when you open the throttle. It is ticking, not banging, I hope you know what I'm traing to say. Author of the video didn't list the reason of the ticking, after a long time and explaining how decompressor mechanism works in the other video and that this could be the reason why it is easy to make a mistake and valve clearance adjusting he wrote that the reason for ticking was too big valve clearance which is very unusual in normal circumstances since the gap is getting smaller, not bigger:

Unfortunatelly I know how bad conrod or main shaft bearing sounds in case of dirt bikes and some cars.
To me it is more like banging than ticking. And yes, it is banging more and more.
Engine has never been opened yet (known history of the bike) so mistake at tightening the bolts is not the case.
But 20 years and 70.000 km is still something so it is not impossible...

 

[Raucous karma]

OK, thank you Raucous karma.
I hope this is not the case at mine.
It would help if I could hear how your ticking sounded like.
Mine is very similar to this one, maybe 10% louder and it can be heared at idle here and there if you liten carefully and little more when you ride and release the throttle (engine braking) between 3000-5000 rpm. Never when you open the throttle. It is ticking, not banging, I hope you know what I'm traing to say. Author of the video didn't list the reason of the ticking, after a long time and explaining how decompressor mechanism works in the other video and that this could be the reason why it is easy to make a mistake and valve clearance adjusting he wrote that the reason for ticking was too big valve clearance which is very unusual in normal circumstances since the gap is getting smaller, not bigger:

Unfortunatelly I know how bad conrod or main shaft bearing sounds in case of dirt bikes and some cars.
To me it is more like banging than ticking. And yes, it is banging more and more.
Engine has never been opened yet (known history of the bike) so mistake at tightening the bolts is not the case.
But 20 years and 70.000 km is still something so it is not impossible...

Mine did the same, it started out with a light ticking sound and as time went it got louder. I could only hear it lightly when idling, then I could hear it more when riding at low rpm but it went away at higher rpm, after a while it will be loudest at cold start idle. I heard the sound for about a month then I took it in because I cant find the vault and that's when we found the bearings to be vault. the bike is old and has km on it so wear and tear is to be expected from bearings and other mechanical items. it might just be something small but what you describe is the same problem i had

 

[mimixtz]

Oh boy...
I still hope I won't regret buying this bike.
Conrod and crank bearings only are 150 € per cylinder. 300 for both. And gaskets, and work...
I'll try to search for cam chain tensioner adjustment / replacing and maybe decompressor mechanism removing / spring changing options.
Those 2 things are my main 2 suspects.
I could be wrong of course.
I hope I'm lucky, if not, I'll ride it until it lets me to. I think conrod and crank bearings replacement with everything what goes with that would be just to expensive for 2.000 € bike.

 

[Missing Link]

The 1000 had an issue, on some engines, with the "knock" or "idle hammer"..... pretty much at idle, or just above. Baiscally, it was end float on the crankshaft being too great. So the crankshaft would
bump back side to side under each power stroke. Not terminal, just annoying. Some have made ways of taming it, one of which is a bearing arrangement machined to fit where the rotor plug is and it
aims to keep the float minimised.
I think realshelby ight have info on that...??

 

[schmidt314]

The 1000 had an issue, on some engines, with the "knock" or "idle hammer"..... pretty much at idle, or just above. Baiscally, it was end float on the crankshaft being too great. So the crankshaft would
bump back side to side under each power stroke. Not terminal, just annoying. Some have made ways of taming it, one of which is a bearing arrangement machined to fit where the rotor plug is and it
aims to keep the float minimised.
I think realshelby ight have info on that...??

I have fixed several engines now with this issue. All of the ones I have fixed were early 03 VINs. When Suzuki went to DL/SV1000 from the TL1000, the way the crank and cases are set up they no longer used a thrust shim to set final clearance. TLs had an array of thickness shims for assembly. DL/SV1000 are just built based on the machining of cases and cranks to set crankshaft end thrust. The way I have fixed this is to measure current clearance, think of what value I want, and then machine the big washer that goes onto the crank to counter sink over the crank a bit to take up excess clearance. This is something I have also been doing on performance and race engine builds in the past. Works great.

-ms

 

[mimixtz]

Thank you guys for provided information.
I did noticed tiny bit of longitudional play in crankshaft while doing flywheel repair, but I think that is normal.
I started it up yesterday and payed more attention from where the ticking is coming from.
It does come from front cylinder, upper part of the engine, definitelly not from crank chamber.
So I believe it is either decompressor or cam chain tensioner issue.
Maybe PAIR flap, because they are still there.
Therefore I would be really gratefull for any advice how to remove / clean / adjust cam chain tensioner and if the only consequence of removing decompressor is more stress on starter motor.

Thank you in advance for any further information.

 

[Missing Link]

I removed the decomp a very long time ago as it was noisy....not bad, just me annoyed at any noise.....never noticed any difference in the way it starts....still on the orignal
starter motor.....replaced the battery every few months though (joking)

Check out the pics.... Just barely loosen number 3 ....then release the ratchet and push the rod in all the way, and the undo number 3 (counterclockwise)
It will grab the rod and hold it.....new gasket, then bolt her in and then turn number 3 clockwise, you will here the rod release and then continue to tighten number 3 up.