Basic maintenance question

I decided to change the oil and adjust my cams chain adjuster. I drained all the oil out of my engine let it sit for a while but the filter and everything back in. Then I loosened the cam chain adjuster luck night and unscrewed several turns as the book states however I can't tell if it's loose enough or if I should keep backing it out. The book also says that I should tighten the screw to 40 inch pounds but my torque wrench doesn't go that low The camp chain adjuster screw right now his finger tight meaning I can't unscrew it or screw it with my fingers do you think I need to keep backing it out?
Also I put oil back in my engine the book says it takes 3.9 quarts when I replace the filter however the window said it was full after about 3.1 quarts. I started the engine up and it sounded pretty good after a few minutes however he got really loud so I shut it down I let it sit for about five minutes and checked the window again but there was no oil in the window where did all the oil go? Something was no oil in the window I put more oil into the engine getting closer to the 3.9 quarts the book says it should have.
Anybody have any ideas on why my oil seemed so low and what I should do with the cam chain adjuster ?

The oil was pooling in the engine cover where the sight glass is and starting the engine distributed the oil throughout the engine. Be sure to check with the bike on the center stand.

Sorry, but I'm not familiar with the 900's cam chain tensioner.

Hi Conspiracy,
The manual indicates to put either cylinders 1/4 or 2/3 at TDC. That will be where the "T" mark for either 1/4 or 2/3 on the advancer lines up with the indicator in the window of the points plate. Loosen the lock nut on the camchain tensioner and back the bolt out; a turn or two is plenty. Re-tighten the bolt. It doesn't have to be King Kong tight, just very snug. Re-tighten the lock nut. Done.

Nessim is correct about the "disappearing oil. If you changed the filter, the empty filter chamber by itself will hold almost 1/2 qt. of oil. Don't get too wrapped up in precise oil capacities. We pour in three and a half quarts, start & run for a minute or so then shut down. Let sit for at least 5 min. on the centerstand and top off as needed.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

slmjim+Z1BEBE wrote: Hi Conspiracy,
The manual indicates to put either cylinders 1/4 or 2/3 at TDC. That will be where the "T" mark for either 1/4 or 2/3 on the advancer lines up with the indicator in the window of the points plate. Loosen the lock nut on the camchain tensioner and back the bolt out; a turn or two is plenty. Re-tighten the bolt. It doesn't have to be King Kong tight, just very snug. Re-tighten the lock nut. Done.

Nessim is correct about the "disappearing oil. If you changed the filter, the empty filter chamber by itself will hold almost 1/2 qt. of oil. Don't get too wrapped up in precise oil capacities. We pour in three and a half quarts, start & run for a minute or so then shut down. Let sit for at least 5 min. on the centerstand and top off as needed.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

I followed the book, put it at TDC and loosened the locknut. Turned the adjuster bolt out maybe 4 turns and tightened the locknut. Should I turn it in a couple turns?

The reason I did anything with the cam chain adjuster is because there was some ticking noises coming from the engine. I also took off the clutch cover to get a new gasket in there to fix a slight leak.

Seems like whatever I did made the noise worse however and when I decided to turn the engine off it sounded like there was a clunk noise. How much damage could occur just from doing an oil change and adjusting the cam tensioner? I am sort of worried to start it back up

Conspiracy wrote: ............................I followed the book, put it at TDC and loosened the locknut. Turned the adjuster bolt out maybe 4 turns and tightened the locknut. Should I turn it in a couple turns? ...................

That statement is extremely confusing to me! You say you "turned the adjuster bolt out maybe 4 turns and tightend the locknut." What, without first turning the adjuster bolt back in to secure the pushrod in place?? Egads! What would prevent the pushrod from moving when the engine was started if the adjuster bolt is not tight against it? Maybe it would help if you posted a picture of the tensioner because something sounds very wrong about your procedure, meanwhile I would not start that engine until I made sure things were adjusted properly. Ed

650ed wrote:

Conspiracy wrote: ............................I followed the book, put it at TDC and loosened the locknut. Turned the adjuster bolt out maybe 4 turns and tightened the locknut. Should I turn it in a couple turns? ...................

That statement is extremely confusing to me! You say you "turned the adjuster bolt out maybe 4 turns and tightend the locknut." What, without first turning the adjuster bolt back in to secure the pushrod in place?? Egads! What would prevent the pushrod from moving when the engine was started if the adjuster bolt is not tight against it? Maybe it would help if you posted a picture of the tensioner because something sounds very wrong about your procedure, meanwhile I would not start that engine until I made sure things were adjusted properly. Ed

Wonderful, kinda concerned now.
I did not turn the adjuster bolt back in after turning it out.
The book says to loosen locknut, back out adjuster, then tighten adjuster to 40? Inch pounds torque. Then tighten locknut.
I don't have a way to test that low torque so I just made sure there was some resistance and locked the locknut

If you tightened the adjuster bolt tight enough to prevent the pushrod from moving you should be ok, if not that needs to be done after re-adjusting the chain tensioner. If the adjuster bolt was not snugged up pretty good against the pushrod the pushrod may have moved which could result in too much slack in the cam chain. If you decide to loosen things up again be sure to properly position the crankshaft first. Ed

How can I tell if the pushrods is snug? I cannot see it from outside the bike. I obviously don't really understand how this works together. How does turning out the adjuster bolt put more tension on the chain? Seems like it would loosen it.

Hi Conspiracy,
There's a spring inside the chain tensioner assy. that, when the tensioner bolt is backed out even as slightly as a half turn or so, will push the tensioner pushrod against the camchain tensioner roller, which then takes up the slack in the camchain. When the tensioner bolt is re-tightened, it keeps the pushrod from backing out, away from the tensioner roller, which would allow excess slack in the camchain.

DO NOT RESTART THE MOTOR! No matter where the crank is now, loosen the tensioner bolt one turn or so and re-tighten the tensioner bolt. If there was any slack in the camchain that occurred when the motor was started with the tensioner bolt backed out, that should take it up. Then, slowly hand crank the motor through at least two complete revs using a 17mm. wrench on the crank. If you feel the motor suddenly come to a hard stop don't try force it. The camchain may have skipped a tooth. If it hand cranks through two revs normally, give thanks to the Gods of Internal Combustion, then follow the instructions in the manual again. From the beginning.

In most manuals there is a maintenance section, separate from the dis-/re-assembly sections. In the maintenance section the construction and simple theory of operation of most components is discussed. The camchain section would answer most of your questions re: operation of the tensioner.

EDIT: agree with Steve's recommendation below to use a wrench to turn the crank instead of doing so by hand with the kickstarter. Modified our response accordingly.

Good Ridin'
slmjim &Z1BEBE

Turn the crank by hand using a 17mm wrench. DON'T USE THE KICK STARTER. Bent valves can be the result. It don't take much.
Steve

I've got good news and bad news.
The bad news, hopefully, is that I didn't see your replies before starting the motor again.

The good news,hopefully, is that I got a torque wrench that measures inch pounds and tightened up the tensioner (after setting TDC again). It was WAY off from the first attempt. The loud clanking noise is gone. I have probably 90% less noise coming from the engine and I seem to be back in business. I took it for a short ride around the block and it seemed ok.

Would it be super apparent if the cam chain jumped a tooth?

Yes.
Steve