Cold idle rattle/tap. ideas??

hello all, this is my first post on this forum (so be gentle). Firstly thanks to everyone on here, all doing a cracking job

So, i bought a wr250x (09) with 6.5k miles on it last week. its great, done a service on it inc. oil + filter change, air filter, general stuff and all is well except for a noise that comes from the engine when started from cold and idling. Sounds like possible valves/timing chain to be and wondered if anyone has any experience of this? the noise goes away after a few mins when the engine is hot. any help/advice much appreciated. Regards, Jim

A little more info: i replaced the oil with a silkolene fully synth 15W50 4t race. i have also read a post about a crankshaft bearing failure that sounds similar to what i'm getting. sounds like there may be something loose near the exhaust header?

I'm not sure how much help it will be but, you might try to isolate the sound using a stethoscope. Lacking one of those, you can use a long screwdriver. Just touch the blade end to different places and put your ear on the handle. If it's a rattle sound, I'd probe things besides the engine if it wasn't absolutely clear where the sound is coming from.

I really doubt that it matters but, I don't see 15w50 as a recommended viscosity in the owner's manual that came with my bike. US bike/manual and it shows 10w40 & 20w50. I also have an electronic manual that I believe is from Oz that shows 6 flavors ranging from 10w30 to 20w50. Neither one shows 15w50. I am a tiny bit curious as to why they recommend more flavors for Oz.

good info, thanks for that. i did the screwdriver in ear method this morning and wherever it is on the engine i just hear awful sounds. in my head it does sound like something to do with the cam chain. is there an easy way of checking the tension or the correct functioning of the tensioner?

i'll probably replace the oil for some 10w40 just to rule that out and be on the safe side. in my thinking though, isn't 15w50 somewhere between 10w40 and 20w50? i only used it cos it was expensive stuff left over from the last bike i had and thought it would be fine.

I'm getting the same tap at startup - one of the dsbc guys figured its the cam chain/tensioner. My bike is new and I started noticing the sound at about 350km. Probably unrelated but it started happening after I put a skid plate on. I wrapped the frame rails with an inner tube so I'm not getting any vibrations, but it could be amplifying the sound a bit.

I'll be taking it in to the dealer next week to see what they think about it.

wrxjim wrote:

A little more info: i replaced the oil with a silkolene fully synth 15W50 4t race. i have also read a post about a crankshaft bearing failure that sounds similar to what i'm getting. sounds like there may be something loose near the exhaust header?

Any luck with a solution? Mines exhibiting the same symptoms and i'm praying its not a crankshaft bearing

I too experienced this when i first got my wrr, what greatly improved this was replacing the oil with 20-50 and then taking off the skid plate... I later put my skid plate back on with some rubber washers and foam weather stripping but the noise was still amplified some.

This is always gonna be a noisy engine do to the head design, after some research the solution for the start up tick would be a manual cam chain tensioner like this guy makes.
http://www.clems-garage.com/CCT/
heres a thread talking about them:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=782813

A manufacturer caller Krieger makes manual tensioners, too. My bike has suffered a slipping tensioner a couple of times, so if it happens again the manual one will go in.

We've got to be very careful not to overtighten the camchain when these things are fitted. I have one in my TTR250, and found it's really easy to make this mistake.

My '12 does the same thing sporadically. It only does it for a few seconds when cold and only once in a while. I am not going to worry about it unless it gets worse. In part because it's tough to troubleshoot if it only happens once in a while.

-morgan