Back story: I own a '99 'Hawk that I purchased one year ago with 3300 miles on it. The bike has always run fine. I now have 7100 miles on it. Well, over the weekend I took a ~200 mile ride, everything was perfect. Monday I took it to work. I rode to my 1st appointment, all is well. 2nd appointment the same. Then I stopped at my 3rd, when I started the bike to head home immediately there was a noise coming from the engine. It was directly related to the engine speed. It sounded like a chain to me. It did not sound good, but did not sound too severe. I figured I would limp it home. Well, I made it about a mile when the thing just stopped, it happened very fast and just seemed to freeze. I was ready and pulled the clutch and made it to a residential side street.

I expected the cam chain tensioner and told the mechanic what happened. I received a call the next day that all was well. The top end was fine, no damage. The tensioner was fine and doing its job. He said that the front cylinder would not run do to a cam being 120 degrees off, that someone must have put it on backwards. The front sproket was 2 teeth off in one direction, while the other sprocket was two teeth off in the other direction. He said this was impossible from the chain slipping, if that was what had happened. The mechanic found no obvious reasons for the trouble. After fixing the timing the front cylinder is running again.

Now, I have never had any work done to the bike other than tires. I have never touched the bike other than oil, gas and chain lube. The bike ran perfectly for 4000 miles. Now this and no explanation for how it could have happened. Does anyone have any ideas. It just makes me uneasy that it may happen again at any 'time'.

Bob

 

I'm no mechanic and I'm sure the other members have better advice but I don't know how,If you haven't opened up the engine the cam just goes off 120 degrees. I'm guessing you're having a problem with CCT's. I have 43,000 miles on my hawk and the cam never jumped 120 degrees. I did have my CCT's going recently and when I took off the cam covers to install manual APE CCT's, the chain was loose enough to straddle between teeth. I would check with another mechanic. When my bike started acting up, my mechanic freind heard the chain noise and told me I could do Manual CCT's myself. In the forum, member Calitoz has a how to for APE CCT's which I followed and Irecommend you do just for the piece of mind - the Superhawk is pretty much bullet proof dependable, but the CCT's are it's achille's heel:

https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...nstall+CCT%27s

 

1st, in a 10 sec review of what you posted.

120 deg of cam timing is a lot more the two cam gear teeth.. So someone is confused or full of crap.

2nd,yes it soulds like a CCT or otherwise a timing problem,, but with the first bit of misinformation posted, and if that came from the mech,, then who knoes what to trust from him

 

the mechanics explanation just doesn't make sense. Aside from what was pointed out already, if somone had made changes to the timing like the previous owner, and it was running fine for 3K miles why would it all of the sudden cause a problem? and restoring it to normal would fix things? Implies something drastic happened. You may have gotten lucky without internal damage, but that whole story is off. And if he really did have to restore the cam position to stock, something must have slipped. I would not trust the CCTs you have in that case - it will happen again and itmight not be as lucky next time.

 

If anyone is off it is almost definitely me. I am not mechanically inclined in the least. Maybe it was the first thought that the cam was 120 degrees off, but then he said someone likely put the cam in backwards after trying to adjust the valves. He did say that two teeth off in either direction would not be enough to cause problems. Again, I am not sure of the experience of the mechanic, but he does work for a good Honda Dealership. I am trying to relay information I can recall being told and very likely am getting it confused.

In the end, the front cylinder was the only one effected, one spocket was off two teeth in one direction, the other off two teeth in the other. And this was *not* caused by the cam chain as it would be impossible for it to happen that way. He did state that the cam chain was tight when checked and in his opinion could not have slipped.

 

I agree with Cliby and TXSC. This whole story doesn't work. I don't doubt what you're relating ezerhoden, but what this mechanic is telling you is highly suspicious. I have also never heard of CCT failing at such a low mileage. What is the lowest mileage that anyone has experienced?

 

I talked with my Father-In-Law, he said that if the tensioner hung up or otherwise misbehaved for brief time, the front sprocket could have moved 4 teeth forward. So when the mechanic moved the piston to TDC to check the timing, the front would appear to be two teeth advanced and the rear sprocket two teeth retarded. This sounds pretty straight forward and I wonder why no one had thought of this. He is unaware of the design of the Superhawk motor but said it was a possible explanation.

He also stated that if there was pre-ignition the cylinder may have reversed direction briefly and could cause a similar situation.

Any thoughts? I am going to take the bike back up to the dealership and ask for them to replace the tensioner for the cost of the part only, as I have already paid over $300 in labor for them to tell me they did not know what had caused it.