TOPIC:

I have been trying to diagnose a ticking noise in the motor - some may call it the 'sewing machine noise'. I have all but discounted the cam chain tensioner (it's manual). I read on another site it can be caused by aerated oil??

The noise doesn't start until near operating temperature or there-abouts and gets faster with more speed. I can actually hear the noise with helmet on at all speeds. I thought it might have been a badly seated tacho cable but I have discounted that theory also.

Does anyone have any clues?? Maybe I have got the bike running so good that I'm hearing just the normal sound of the Z1300 But I doubt it!

PS. I re-shimmed it about 5 months ago and I'm hoping the noise is not shims out-of-spec. The process of re-shimming was very calculated and methodical. But I guess I'll have to check that again if all else fails.

Its pretty much a needle in a hay-stack until you can at least find the approximate area the tick is coming from.
Once we have that we can begin to home in.........but other than that all I can say is the noise is coming from the bike somewhere !

Pete F
UK

I observe the same thing in my bike, a light tick after 15 to 20 minutes of driving. This I think is normal, possibly related to the timing chain, though it could be the cam chain but it matters not. If you have driven an air cooled Kawasaki of the same vintage... the 1300 runs quiet as a mouse next to the rattle, ticks, knocks of air cooled 4's.

strate6 wrote: Its pretty much a needle in a hay-stack until you can at least find the approximate area the tick is coming from.
Once we have that we can begin to home in.........but other than that all I can say is the noise is coming from the bike somewhere !

Pete F
UK

Point taken strate6, my bad. I have had my home made stethoscope (a wooden stick and a cup) all over it without being able to narrow the noise down to an exact spot. I used that method to hunt down my starter motor clutch problems and the primary/secondary chain noise with great success. However, I seem to do better with just my ear with this noise, and I can tell you that it is coming from approximately the top right hand side of the engine, somewhere around number 4 spark plug. That's why I thought it may have been the tacho cable at one point.

is the spark plug loose ? maybe when it warms up or slight blow on zorst gasket ?

If it makes the noise at tick-over, try pulling in the clutch to see if it goes away. The clutch on mine is a bit noisy when it's hot.