Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

[jondoe]

Does this WR125 sound shagged to you? There's plenty of oil, no leaks of any kind. The tapping/knocking noise is the one I'm concerned about, the silly exhaust is a given

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v367f7hzj0pqs2r/audio.mp3?dl=0

She was stolen but recovered not long afterwards, having repaired the electrics, fuel line and some other small bits this was the sound I was presented with on first start up

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Sounds like a leaking exhaust to me.
Had the bike been dropped?
Does it backfire on the overrun?
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[jondoe]

Thanks for the reply It's likely the bike took a leathering in the 24 hours it was away from it's home, the toe rags that stole it wouldn't have treated it well at all.

There is no obvious signs of drop/crash damage, no signs of impact, just the vandalism from ripping the fairing/cowling off to get to cables, followed by a poor attempt to set fire to it, which amazingly failed miserably. That said, it might have taken a drop for all I know, but I'd hope the tilt switch would have cut the engine.

It's stood for a month before it was trailed to mine for inspection, that sound clip is pretty much from the first moments of it breathing back into life. I did give it some revs and there were no back firing, it idles fine, just that light tapping noise which I'm assured by the owner wasn't there before.

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Changed the oil and filter?
Checked the valve clearances?
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[jondoe]

I've not changed the oil, although I've taken a sample and it's not full of fuel or metal shavings, at least not from the 100ml I sucked out the hole I'll add that to the list of things to-do, it's probably not a bad idea and it's only a litre.

I know I'd need to take the fuel tank off to get to the valve inspection area and to be honest I'm probably a 2 spanner guy on the Haynes scale of general mechanics so I'm a touch nervous, that said, I might give it a go, although I don't own feeler gauges, so I'd need to buy some.

A Yamaha dealership fitted a new ignition lock the day before it was stolen, I took this off the bike so I could rebuild the loom and when I tried to put it back in the screws won't go back in for toffee. I guess they over torqued them and they used a metric ton of blue loctite in the process, re-tapping those is currently my priority

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

There are plenty of videos on finding TDC then checking the valve clearances, the main trouble you'll have is finding a spanner small enough to fit the adjuster.

Take photos, take your time.
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[jondoe]

I'm sure I can lash something together, I might give it a shot if the weather holds out this weekend, I don't have a garage so it's out on the patio in the cold

Is there a chance the cam chain tensioner is shot? That seems like an easy one to check so might as well tick it off the list.

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

As you're dropping the oil you may as well set your mind at ease and inspect the tensioner.
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[jondoe]

I can’t make anything worse, right? In the mean time I ran her up for a good 15mins today, it’s fair to say the noise lessens a little when warm. I gave it some beans when warmed up and nothing got worse, it didnt shit itself or cease up.

Just waiting for some feeler gauges and an oil filter now

[merquis00]

[jondoe]

I found some 10-40w Magnatec on sale in Tescos for £5 so it's getting a litre of that and it better bloody like it Just waiting for the filter to arrive in the post.