question about engine noise
 

Thanks for all the advise you guys have given me. Ive got a new question. So I havent really ridden this bike yet, still going over everything. So when I start her up she sounds great nice and smooth. After she gets warm, and I give it a little rev I get what sounds like a clicking sound toward the front of the bike. I dont know ANYTHING about bikes but if it were a car I would say a lifter sound...How do I check the oil level? When I start it the sight glass empties and then when warm it fills back up? Any thoughts?

check your oil level when cold with the bike in level riding position.

if it sounds like a bunch of ball bearings in a can,it may be tensioner.
our bike does make a bit of noise though.

No its more of a clicking.

can you post a video?

Might be
 

Might be the valves. Earlier last month I took my bike to the Ducati dealer for a preseason inspection and asked about valve adjustment. The Ducati dealer said to me "clicking or loud taping noise consistence with the revving is a sign of the valves needing adjustment". I didn't need anything done but it was good peace of mind.

Damn I'm hoping its something simple..I dont want to dump $ into a bike with a rebuilt title I wont get back! I'll try and get a video up..

Engine noise
 

Tried to take a video but cant hear the noise over the Jardine pipes.. Noticed a few drips of antifreeze out of a drain tube while doing the vid...What is this? Temp was only 160? Pic.

Does it just do it at idle or throughout the rev range?

Without hearing it the noise could also be an exhaust leak or just the carb slides bouncing around.

Also with .012" clearance on the exhaust valves, they can "tick" a bit also, Does it do it more when it is cold or when it is hot?

To check the oil level the bike needs to be not running and should be between the lines on the sight glass.

Only makes the noise over like 150 degrees? When its cold it sounds great. It stays thru all rpms...

We are are guessing here, take it to a dealer or get a experienced guy over. To prevent more damage stop running it. If lashing is needed that is not too expensive and can be done at home. If it's major I have a all stock running motor about to be up for grabs.

If it's only doing it when warm, it's very likely a loose valve (too much lash). But like 8541Hawk said, a slight exhaust leak can sound just like a loose valve.

With it running and warm, use a long bladed screwdriver (2' or so) to isolate the noise. Put the tip of the screwdriver blade on the valve cover. It acts like a stethoscope with your ear pressed to the end of the handle.

Is a loose valve an expensive fix? I dont want to dump $ into this bike...

The terms "loose valves" and "tight valves" refer to valve adjustment. It would mean you need a valve adjustment. Having a loose valve is better than having a tight valve, which you would not hear. And a tight valve will cause the valve to burn.

If you don't have a somewhat high level of mechanical skills, shim type adjustment (which our bikes have) is best left to a qualified technician. But even if you take it to a shop, get some references first. There are a lot of hacks out there charging $50 to $85 an hour for lousy work.

most places want $300-$500 for valve adjustments on the super. Cheapest method is to find someone nearby who know their hawk well and trade beer for help :D

leak at red circle?
if so water pumps seal.

When was the last oil change? do you have mcc't? might be a leak from the combustion chamber to the water jacket. This could be the cause of leak, as for heaing a taping sound that is the puzzing part. or Bad water pump, before the bike get up to 160 the thero doesnt open putting more presure on the pump causing it to keeping quite. but once the presure is released the pump makes noise. these are all guesses. Your going to need someone to dig into it before it gets worst or drive it until whats making the noise flys out the side of your engine. JK, dont do that.

+1 and if this area is indicative of others, even the dealers use "Hot Cams" shim sets which are not typically specific enough to even up all your valves, so you are likely to end up with some 1 over spec, some 1 under spec, and maybe some right on, which IMO sucks when you're paying big bucks to get it done.

If you do it right, valve adjustment could be a 20-30 thous+ maintenance item, or it could be 5-10 thous if one or more is set at one under spec. Hope you can find someone in your area to help you. There are threads herein that can assist someone with a little mechanical ability.

Wrong...The pressure cap, not the thermostat, determines cooling system pressure. If coolant is coming out of the water pump vent hole, the seal is bad. You need to pull the clutch cover, then new seals need to be properly pressed in.

And the screwdriver method I mentioned above will help locate the source of the noise. It can be used on the water pump as well.

Good thing our bikes don't have a dry clutch.:eek:

But that could mask most of the other quirky sounds coming out of our bikes, which would save so much stress and second-guessing! :D

eliminate a lot of the stress and second guessing by replacing or adjusting the CCTs, checking valve adjustment, TPS, and basic carb settings, filters, fluids, and plugs, RR, etc., so that you have a good idea of what you have and what you might be dealing with in the future. Not a good idea to just ride it and wait to find out what's gonna happen the hard way.

Post your location to find out if someone nearby is willing to help you.

I am in in Seattle/Renton Wa.

Agreed... I would hope no one took my last post to be anything even remotely like advice.

Coolant drip
 

Here is a pic of the hose that drips..It is literally only a few drips tho? Have been tracking down a battery drain also so I have started her a few times..She is dying when I put her into gear now????

yerp water pump seal is bad

Expensive?

not sure on price of seals,labor is what usually gets you.
save some labor by removing cover yourself and take to local shop.
should be under 1 hour labor.

These bikes do make a bit of noise. The carb slides opening and closing at certain rpm's make a "clacking" kind of noise. The bike has a lot of "character", which comes with a certain amount of noises. As someone who has suffered chatastrophic failure, I hear everything! When mine failed however, there was knocking in the front cylinder just prior.Hell, I hear things that aren't even there!! If you don't have manual tensioners, check it, or have it checked by someone who KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING. If you do have manual tensioners, they may need adjustment. I've met up with two other people who have hawks to "compare", they all make some noise.

+1

So I've got an update..Putted my bike around today..Put about 3 miles on it, not wanting to cause any damage...The clicking noise went away?? came back a time or two but for the most part its gone...Does anyone think that it may have been caused by the shitty gas that was in her that was just burning out?? No weeping either..Any thoughts?

Detonation, or pinging, can be caused by a bad load of gas. If that's the case, it would have sounded like marbles were bouncing around on top of the pistons when the engine is under load. To check for detonation roll on the throttle from a low rpm (say 2500 or slightly lower) in 3rd gear or higher. If you're going uphill it'll work better for this test.

But didn't you say you heard the noise at idle? Detonation doesn't happen at idle.

Okay, I answered that question by reading your first post. Do the roll on under load test.

I got a bad load of gas from a station that was .20 cheaper than anywhere else (gas was just over a buck a gallon then). This was in the late '80s. My truck pinged like crazy. After getting the tank about half empty, I filled up at another station. Pinging went away. Tried the cheap station 2 weeks later...pinging. I've never bought cheap gas since.

Man I hope this is the case..Cant do the test quite yet..Out of state plates, bad tabs, no endorsment..Well I will see what I can do? haha Thanks for the reply

One comment re valves. You don't mention the mileage of your bike. At our dealership we find many owners of sportbikes (GSXRs,ZXRs,CBRs,VTRs,whatever) sell their bikes around the 16000 mile (24000 km) mark to avoid having to pay to have their valve clearances inspected/adjusted (should be done every 16000 mi/24000 km on the VTR). If you bought your bike used and the mileage is greater than 16000 miles and you don't know whether the valves have been checked or not I would recommend having them done.

There are other areas that have not been mentioned that could attribute to cause this noise. These are the oil & water pump drive chains which do not have any tensioners attached to them.

My bike has a low level knocking when hot at idle which disappears when I rev passed 3K. I have standard cans on so I can defo hear it go away. I will be checking all that I have read so far in the hope to isolate it. My valves do need checking as well.

welcome darkember! valves, ccts and tps at minimum, and sync carbs.

I have the same knocking issue when hot at idle, started 2 weeks ago. Pinpointed the sound to the right crankcase cover. Removed it to find that the water pump drive chain is excesssivly slack and could easily be the source of the my knocking sound. Nobody talks about these chains in this forum(??). Does anybody have specs to these chains that we can compare to? I just don't want to buy a new one and it to be just the same as the old!!

Chains don't usually make a knocking sound. They give more of a rattle or slapping sounds. Most likely if it's coming from the right side and it's a knocking it's the primary drives gears. Sorry if this is redundant info I didn't go back and read through the entire post.