2001 kz1000p clicking

i know this has been covered but here is my issue!i bought a police kz1000 at auction and am now having to work on maintenance and one thing i have noticed is a clicking from top right of motor after idling for 5 minutes it does not when it is cold!i had one plug with some black carbon buildup! i have not been able to ride the bike since i need a new chain.the bike runs great and idles fine(but clicking)a coworker suggested that i put a additive in the fuel to cleanup carbon buildup but i am not sure.any thoughts on that and maybe after buttoning up the drive it will go away. i just dont want to damage my engine so i am being overly cautious.i will adjust valve clearances if needed however i never have.i did by the clymers repair manual but would like to hear from you guys,thanks.:huh:

Clicking is usually a loose valve clearance. If it is quiet cold, that means the thick oil is quieting it down. same reason used car salesmen dump thick oil in noisy engines to sell them. A valve clearance that is a shade loose won't hurt anything, it's the tight ones that destroy heads.

If it is a "crack" kind of sound that gets louder as you open the throttle it's probably an exhaust leak.

I second running some Seafoam through the fuel system (at least) on a bike that's not been run for a while.

thanks i feel better about going ahead and riding it for a while!i currently have 32,000 showing and will probably attemp valve adjustment early spring.thanks for the info on both of my forum questions bountyhunter

ditto...also spring for a factory shop model for your bike...they can be found on e-bay way cheap sometimes......a little better than a clymer...a lot really.....it could also be a loose bore or a worn set of rings.....i have a tired piston on the outer left of my bike that clicks sometimes...some days i can't seem to hearit, others , i can't seem to "not" hear it......post some pics when you get time

I have an '82 police bike and it's been clicking occasionally for many years; I had the valve clearances done and it still clicks.

thanks for the tip!i was worried in the begining,but it is apparently pretty common with this motor.

well its a few months later and i have gone through the whole bike except the engine and i am not sure if the clicking is coming from the cam chain or not?i have installed and torqed the exhaust to spec and am sure its not exhaust.its not very noticable cold but after riding for 5 minutes its very noticeable and sounds as it may also be coming from the inner valve or sounds kinda like a rocker arm would sound on a out of adjustmentold chevy motor in need of valve adjustment.the clicking gets faster as i throttle and it sounds like it may only be one doing it?the bike has 32,000 on it should i do a valve adjustment and what do you guys think about the manual cam chain tensioner made by ape?will that quite down things a bit?

Seafoam is a good additive for the fuel system.

Is your plug still sooty?

I would suggest you get some Yamaha "Ring Free" and do a shock treatment on the bike before you measure your clearances.

A very knowledgable member told me about ring free. The stuff works.

Sold at any Yamaha dealer. Roy

what is a shock treatment?do you put somrthing in the oil?

The shock treatment with "Ringfree" is the amount of the product added to the gas the first time you use it.

The directions are on the bottle for this.

It will really clean your built up carbon out of the bike.


Make sure you change the oil after this. Then you can tell how good this product works. Roy