Ticking Update

Finally got the bike home after 4 weeks in the shop, said it was the hydraulic lifters ticking and their was nothing to worry about. I hope they are right. I did change back to the Lucas motorcycle oil after running the rotella 1 time, that seemed to help a little bit!!!

[Idaho]

Glad to know that it is nothing serious. Sometimes our imagination runs away with us and we start to hear things going bump in the night, or in the engine as it were.

[ringadingh]

Try adding some Seafoam to the engine oil, it may clean the lifters and quiet them up. I use it once a season in my oil.

Yes, Seafoam, Rislone, LifterLube...something like that would be a good idea on a bike with few miles and lots of garage time. Those lifters tend to gum up if they sit around too much.

However: all those products thin out the oil, so I wouldn't run them too long. Put some in a couple hundred miles before you change the oil. Don't leave it in there for months and months.

[chuckster131]

I have that problem too, if the bike sets in the garage say for a month or two in the winter with out being started. The lifter/lifters will tick until bleed back up again. Never had any issues just the noise for a bit and they are fine again.

One thing that will help: If it's really cold or you haven't ridden in a long time, pre-warm the engine with a heat lamp. I have this 500 watt worklite I use, and I'll point it under the engine for about an hour before I start it up. This will thin the oil and tighten the bottom end clearances, and the top end will get oiled much faster. This will reduce all that lifter ticking and help prevent oil starvation to the cams. It also eases the load on starter and battery.

I ride all winter, and when the temps go down to the 40's and 30's I pre-warm the engine every morning. I also keep the bike on a battery tender every night.

[dogdoc]

I agree flash, my '05 I always have been able to hear the lifters ticking, all the time, its normal. Everybody hears different things but I hear lifters opening/closing, very normal for a motor. :-)

[nolan]

Motorcycle doesn't set for months since it's my main transportion. Mine started ticking around January 2007. Around 45,000 miles on it. Did take it to two different dealerships over a 6 month span and both said, "Lifters. Common for the Nomad."

I'll try Caddman Q's idea of Seaform a few hundred miles before changing the oil, see if that improves the noise.

How much do you put in?

[spirello]

It tells you on the bottle how much to use. Put it in the oil and the gas tank. It helps alot.

...Mine started ticking around January 2007. Around 45,000 miles on it. Did take it to two different dealerships over a 6 month span and both said, "Lifters. Common for the Nomad."

Maybe the cam chains are slapping? Have you tried the adjustment extender mod yet?

[nolan]

Well, first I didn't think it was the cam chain problem because of what Gadget says on his webpage it sounds like a buzzing or slapping sound. Didn't sound like that to me. But he does write "The chain can eventually wear a hole in those tunnels which then fill (slowly) with oil and suddenly the rider notices oil seeping down the side of one cylinder." And unfortunately the motorcycle does have a very little bit of oil on each cylinder.

Did some more searching and read about a posting on another Nomad forum and the guy said, "Do you have a bicycle lying around? One with a derailer type shifter? Ride the bike and kick the shifter so its just out of alignment; kinda in between gears on the back derailer if you will. You hear that chain "tic tic tic tic ticking" kinda high pitched. That's almost exactly it." Well, yeah that's what it sounds like.

So I guess I have YET another problem with this motorcycle. ::)

More in likely to late to add the cam chain tensioner extenders, huh?

Very disappointed with all the problems this motorcycle has been giving me. Never before have I had a motorcycle with so many problems with so little mileage.

Not too late for the extenders unless you've actually cut holes through the plug wells. Those can be replaced easily BTW. Get new o-rings for them at the same time. IF that's the problem.

Now sometimes those plug wells will just leak because the o-rings need replacement, and they themselves are still fine. If it's just a very slight seepage, it's probably either those o-rings or the rubber cam plugs seeping. If you've got holes worn through the plug wells then there will be LOTS of oil coming out.

Read Gaget's article on the cam chain adjustment extenders. It's real easy to check if you need them. Just a couple little caps to unscrew & you can see if they're at their limit of adjustment or not.

[nolan]

The oil seepage on the front cylinder is above the spark plug on the left side when sitting on the motorcycle. Right up by the chrome head part. The other oil seepage on the rear cylinder is on the right side of the cylinder. Same place above the spark plug, right up by the chrome head part. The front one started seeping over a year or so, the rear maybe six months ago. Just figured maybe it was head gaskets. Had a 1990 Harley that did the same thing on the front cylinder head. Just a very little seepage, nothing to worry about. Figured here the same thing. Guess I'm wrong.

That's not the head gasket. That's way above the head gasket. The head gasket is 2" below the spark plug.

It's most likely the rubber plug at the end of each cam. That's what always makes the front one seep on the left & the rear one seep on the right.

It's nothing to worry about either & totally unrelated to your ticking noises.