Curious about ticking noise

My first Kz1000 had a tick that seemed to be from one of the valves on the #4 cylinder. My mechanic tried different shims but nothing seemed to work. Bike worked fine for the, almost twenty years, that I had it, so I just didn't worry about it.

If not already done, a proper carb sync often significantly reduces cam chain noise.

Good Fortune!

I don't intend to scare the crap out of you, but my "tick" (along with some blue smoking out the exhaust) after my GPz1100 sat for 16 years dormant, ended up costing me $1200 to fix. Long story short, my #1 exhaust valve siezed to the valve guide and caused all sorts of problems. Luckily I got hooked up with an awesome motorcycle performance machine shop called Carolina Cycle. The owner was well aware of this issue, knew exactly how and how much to fix and remachined my head with all new oversized exhaust valve guides for very reasonable money ($400).

My kz650 has a fairly obnoxious ticking sound too. It didnt go away with adjusting the cam chain tensioner as per factory manual. Oh well... I think its probably valve clearances because I have yet to check them - could be exhaust leak (pretty sure I might have one, some rust on the pipe joint?), definitely need a vacuum sync. Bottom line, if its running fine dont stress too much about it - but dont put off the maintenance for too long either.

I've also read in several threads/ websites that these old Kawasaki bikes are pretty notorious for having obnoxious and strange noise-making (but good) engines...

Mine ticks, too. It's mostly before it's warmed up, then it mostly goes away. Sometimes at very low idle it's noticeable. Runs great otherwise, so I haven't taken the time to troubleshoot it yet.

If ticks when cold then quiets down when hot... Hmmm, let me think about that for a moment... EXHAUST LEAK!

When it get's hot, metal expands so sealing up the leak better...

What are the conditions of the exhaust gaskets?

Bottom line, if its running fine dont stress too much about it - but dont put off the maintenance for too long either.

I've also read in several threads/ websites that these old Kawasaki bikes are pretty notorious for having obnoxious and strange noise-making (but good) engines...[/quote]

Yeah, I am not going to stress too much about. It seems to run just fine. Its just that, after reading all the stuff in the forums here, I just got a little paranoid with every
little thing.

When it get's hot, metal expands so sealing up the leak better...

What are the conditions of the exhaust gaskets?[/quote]

I do not know the condition of the gaskets. Sooner or later, I will check up on it, but for now, I hope it will not do any bad. Thanks for advice though.

Might eventually notice some black goo oozing out around one of the exhaust clamps --- probably getting past a slightly leaking exhaust gasket.

And not hurting anything except maybe owner's pride.:lol:

Good Fortune!

Mine used to tick/knock when first started on a cold day and at low idle. Once it got warm it stopped completly. Yesterday the tickking go worse and dindt go away and it started pissing oil all around the seem of the head gasket..

i have to tear her down soon and see whats going on

oh man,hope that wont happen to me...

I had the "cold exhaust tick" on my suzuki GS1100 too. The only fix, was to double up on the gaskets. Problem solved. Seems as though exhaust flange leaks are a bit more common on bikes with aftermarket exhausts. My GPz (OEM exhaust) seals up nicely with a single gasket.