Bike problem, need advice !!!!

[TOM M]

Basically over the past few days there has been a small rattle sound comming from my zxr400, not very loud and didnt affect performance at all.
Today i was riding it and suddenly approching a roundabout the small rattle turned into an extremly loud noise (It was that loud that it drowned out the sound of the engine completely)
After the roundabout i pulled into the entrance of an industrial estate and called recovery.

Even with this extremly loud noise, performance was not affected and it started off the button with no problems at all and goes through the revs as normal.

Called out recovery and got it taken home.

Keith (Kickstart) came over (thanks again) And we checked a few things. He took the rockercover off and all the valves etc seem fine.
When he arrived it again started fine, first tiem off the button with ease.

The camchain is buggered, its got about 2cm of movement in it from side to side. Inside the cover where the cam chain adjuster is we found shards of rubber (probably off the guides from the cam chain)

Has this happened to anybody else before? If so is there any internal damage etc that could of occured?
Approxamite parts costs, will need a new cam chaim, adjuster and the guides.

Is the job fairly easy to do and what is the best / easiet way to do it, i.e engine out and fit it or fit whilst the engine is still in the frame??

Any advice on doing the job?
And approx costs for the whole job being done??

Hoping to get it sorted before i go off to uni in a couple weeks.

Cheers tom
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Now owner of a 1200 Bandit

[Kickstart]

Hi

Just a few further comments.

The bike started instantly but sounded VERY rough. Decided to pull the rocker cover off first, but could find nothing wrong in there.

Got the r/h fairing panel off to try and find the cam chain tensioner. This is a strange device pushing up from below. Pulled the crank end cover off and you can see the free play in the cam chain. There was a slither of plastic in there, about 2" long and a few mm wide. Looks like a piece of a tensioner blade.

There is around 2cm of play in the cam chain, and that is only just above the crank, and even worse it was on the front chain run (ie, the one that the crank should be pulling tight).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[bazza]

Shit in the carbs.
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"That's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college."
'98 Ducati 750SS, '08 Suzuki GSX650F ©2004-2014, Bazza's Harmless Banter

[TheShaggyDA]

How often?


Badoom-ching!
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Current: CB500 Previous: CB100N, CB250RS, XJ900F, GT550, GPZ750R/1000RX, AJS M16, R100RT, Enfield Bullet

[i:6e3bfc7581]But still I fear and still I dare not laugh at the madman...[/i:6e3bfc7581]

[Jack_Cheese]

First thought was bearings fooked, though it wouldn't explain the plastic. What about gears being stripped? could explain the freeplay.

Jack
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Quacker_boy: "Jack, you really are a dick!"

[mr.z]

A mate just happens to be selling a zxr-400L engine (minus the top end rockers/valves e.t.c.)

Its got a new camchain in




Thing is without takeing the engine appart its going to be hard to tell if cam chain gear shards are working their way through the innards of the engine...



Good luck getting it fixed
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[Kickstart]

Hi

Bike runs fine except for the hideous noise. If the sprockets on the crank or cams were stripped then the cam timing would be out and it would almost certainly have bent all the valves and not run.

Fairly certain that what has happened is that the cam chain tensioner has failed and / or the guides have been chewed up. Not sure if this is a common problem with the ZXR400 or how easy it is to replace the tensioner blades (cam chain is on the end of the crank). Hoping someone has done the job before on one of these and can comment on how easy it is.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[bazza]