Noises in my head!?

Not voices! I have adjusted my valves all to within spec and the cam chain is adjusted as well. When the engine is cold or if the weather is cool there is no noises, however when the bike gets hot the ticking noise starts. The noise sounds almost like a sparkplug cap has come off, but that isn't the case. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Crank her up at night and look around up under the tank and see if you see any arcing! My bike makes a little more noise at temp. To me the 650's have a little more mechanical noise than the others.

Check for arcing at night:)

I believe that I had read here somewhere that a broken ring may make a similar noise. When I started it the other morning there was a bit of smoke and then it cleared up. Over the winter I hand lapped the valves and replaced the valve seals and did not notice any movement of the valves in the guides. I have 40 over pistons and rings that I could put in if necessary, but I was saving them for a real emergency.

I would check for arcing, and also the compression. If that is good, I would ride the heck out of it until it really displayed some symptom other than the "ticking" you hear at idle. Keep in mind that these air cooled engines do not have the sound-deadening layer of water and extra metal that water cooled engines have. They do make some noise, and that noise varies with the temperature of the engine.

My KZ750H with now over 95,000 miles on her makes miscellaneous engine noises at idle, but still has good compression, and runs great under acceleration. I ride her across the San Francisco Bay Bridge in comuter traffic every work day, and she has never let me down. This has been going on since I got her at 82,000 miles (abandoned in a prior owner's back yard). The only thing I have had to do to the engine is replace the plugs, clean and lube the cam chain tensioner, check the valve clearances, and replace the ignition pick-up mechanism. And during that entire 13,000 miles the engine has made noises at idle. (No more pronounced now than at the beginning.)

If your bike is still performing, has had the routine maintenance items addressed, and there are no other symptoms of a problem, then don't worry too much about the noises at idle. They are part of the KZ mystique.

You say "cool" no noise. "Hot" have ticking noise.
One would think that were the wires arcing they would do so cold or hot.
Piston expansion = wrist pin noise ??

ambergrismooon wrote:

To me the 650's have a little more mechanical noise than the others.

thats because the 900/1000s use the gear driven crank, and the 650/750 use a hyvo chain right?

I have checked and there is no arcing. It doesn't only happen at idle, it happens throughout the rpm range once warm. Could there be an oil passage that is partially blocked? As previously mentioned the valves are all within spec and it runs like a charm when cool. I am going to pull the head and cylinders to blow out the oil passages to see if this will help. How can I check the wrist pins when I have it apart? If I find a broken ring I will have to bore it out and replace the pistons and rings. Thanks in advance for your help.

piston pin