Hydraulic cam chain tensioner going bad on 2012 Norge?

[MLR]

I have a 2012 Norge with 30,000 miles and I think the cam chain tensioner on the throttle side is going bad. I've had the bike since it was new and early on I would get the occasional ticking at start up that would go away after about 10 seconds or so. Then once in awhile if I was in slow traffic on a hot day it would do it. Now it's at the point it ticks almost every time if I let it idle more than a minute or two. Once I rev it up it goes away. It came from the factory with roller tappets & has never flashed the oil pressure light. Has anyone else experienced this? I am hoping replacement is as simple as putting the cylinder on TDC and swapping it out for a new one.

[pete roper]

Right hand side it's that easy but I'd have to say that they are a very, very simple device. It might be worth just pulling it out and giving it a good bath in kero or petrol while working the ball around with a small pointy thing. It could be something as simple as a bit of crap on the seat preventing the ball from sealing.

It could also be something else. What oil are you using and it might be worth trying a different brand of high quality 10/60 full synth. If your bike is being 'Shop Serviced' by a shop that doesn't understand the requirements of the 8V they may be puting 10/40 in it and that won't help....

[Phang]

Pete, may I add another one?

split sump spacer gasket.

[ITSec]

I'd have to echo Pete and Phang - 30,000 is way too short a distance for a cam chain tensioner to fail. To be honest, I haven't heard of it happening on any bike before other stuff had led to the engine being opened.

[MLR]

I have always run Motul 10/60 in it & done the oil changes myself. If it was the sump gasket wouldn't I get a low oil pressure warning?

[pete roper]

You'd expect so. Have you got recurring dsb 07 & 08 errors. First thing would probably be my first suggestion. Pull the tank and airbox to access the tensioner plug, pull it out and give it a really good bath. If it continues to do it after that? Dig deeper. I dunno what a tensioner plunger costs? If it ain't too 'spensive you could just buy one and slip it in to save yourself having to do it twice. Remember, right and left side plungers are different. Order the right one.

Pete

[MLR]

Thank's Pete. I'll check for the error codes before I tear into it this weekend. Let you know what I find.

[MLR]

Sorry I took so long to update this but the weather has been crappy here and I wanted to get a decent amount of miles in before I declared it fixed. After removing the old tensioner and not seeing any obvious signs of defects I replaced it with a new one. At first this seemed to do the trick, put about 300 miles on it with no ticking. But then it starting doing it again on cold starts about every other time & now after 500 miles it does it every cold start and whenever it idles longer than a minute or two. Above about 2000 rpm it disappears. I did check the errors and had a DSB 05 & 08. Cleared them and they have yet to reappear and I have never seen the triangle flash except for a few seconds after an oil change when I've forgotten to prefill the filter before installing it.
      Help! Not sure what to try next other than an oil sump gasket. Is there any easy way to check the oil pressure? Tell me it's not a bad cam chain or cam chain slider. Afraid to ride it the way it is.

[pete roper]

IMHO it is very unlikely to be a worn chain or tensioner blade. The only thing that will cause stupidly rapid chain wear is lack of lubrication or oil heavily contaminated by fuel. Is this a roller bike? I can't remember! If it's a flat tappet machine and the tappets have died it will be over fueling grossly and this may of damaged the chains but if it's a roller it is unlikely that it will be over fuelling unless it's got a 'Fat Duc'/O2 Optimiser, Power Commander or other such useless munt on it.

If it's a flattie it's probably just the tappets being buggered.

Pete

(Edit.) Sorry, I see it's supposedly a roller bike. Are you sure of this or were you just told it was?

[MLR]

I'm 99% sure it's a roller, was told it was and it looks like the pictures of roller heads I've seen on here. Other than a K&N air filter, motor is completely stock including fuel map.

[pete roper]

Well piss the stupid filter off for starters. It may have nothing to do with the issue but it won't be helping anything.

Is it dusty where you live?

Pete

[MLR]

Not terribly dusty here, and I went with K&N because you can clean & reuse them, not for any performance benefit. Maybe they don't trap as much fine stuff as a stock filter but I've seen lots of people use them on dirt trackers, talk about dust! Anyway the filter has only been on there for year, so I really don't think that's an issue. Whatever the problem is I intend to fix it myself if at all possible. Not trying to blame Guzzi or anyone else for my problems, I love this bike & just am looking for suggestions in what to do next. I'll see if I can post video of it later if that will help.

[MLR]

Sorry, I tried taking video with my camera but the sound quality is poor & I don't have a you tube account.
I did pull the right valve cover and snap a few photos but it is difficult to get a good shot of the tappets with the fairing in the way. Checked the clearance & it looked fine .005" intake & .007" exhaust. Other than the intermittent ticking the bike runs fine & does not use oil or smoke. I change the oil & filter every 10,000K & do valve adj & TB synch. Have always used the stock oil filter but I did put a hiflo filter on at the last change which was 7,000K ago.
       I am thinking of dropping the sump and checking the gasket but I was debating on whether or not I should hook up an oil pressure gage first just to see what it actually is. Has anyone out there ever done this on an 8V motor? I have replaced the original oil sender due to leakage with the newer style. Any chance the oil pressure is just low enough at idle the tensioners bleed down but it isn't low enough to trigger the warning light?
       If it's not the oil pressure would pulling the cam towers and heads tell me anything?

[WitchCityGuzzi]

FWIW, I just replace my tensioners on my 2009 Stelvio. The right side tensioner on it was always lazier than the left side. Even thought the left side never had any issues, I replaced both this winter.

I also dropped the sump and spacer to check the gasket and it was fine. The right side is now as quiet as quickly as the left.

Cost was 57 bucks per tensioner.

[nobleswood]

Out of interest, what's involved in replacing the LH tensioner ?

The RH is easy to get to. The LH is buried isn't it ?

[pete roper]

LH tensioner is in the wall of the barrel casting. You have to lift the barrel to access it.

Pete

[MLR]

Hey Pete, thought you might be interested to see what that rock strainer air filter did to my sump spacer gasket. Ticking has completely disappeared after new gasket installation.

-Matt

[nobleswood]

I have a similar noisy top end problem & am kicking myself for not checking for a torn gasket before taking it in to the dealer.

[MLR]

I have Phang's suggestion & an earlier post by Pete to thank or I might be in the same boat.

[MLR]

Not sure if anyone is interested but I took the spacer casting to work & checked that surface where the gasket failed for flatness on a granite surface plate and it was within a .0005" of the outside surface. The gasket seemed very brittle especially where it failed. I'm hoping the new one holds up better, seems to be made of a different material. I was tempted to put a light coat of yamabond on it but decided not to.