Yamaha TRX850 Enthusiasts Forum

Attached is a link to a short clip of the engine on the TRX I just brought. (Remus exhausts and K&N cone filters). Does this sound like a normal engine to you all?

Sounds quite `cammy` to me Anthud.
How many miles is on it?
Certainly top end rattles evident,cams,cam chain,cam chain guides and shims need checking out.Remeber a water jacket takes a lot of the mechanical noise out of a motor so yours is obviously showing some wear and tear being that noisy.
Maybe a past owner has ignored checking oil level and accelerated the wear the top end would receive if it`s run for any distance with a low oil level.Or indeed service intervals and/or poor quality or wrong grade oils have been used.
I recommend a cam cover removal exercise and a damn good inspection.Alternatively a long screwdriver held to various ares of the head and the handle pressed to your ear,you`ll pinpoint the general area of the wear and tear by where the sound is loudest.

I've got to agree with the Mincer ...

Mine sounds like a sewing machine by comparison...

G

do you think it sounds bad then? The bike has 30,000 miles on it. The last owner had it for 6 years and said he changed the oil every 1500 and filter every 3000. I've done an oil and filter change on it and the oil that came out did look in good nick and the filter was not shabby either. I'm fairly competent with mechanics, would you say its a fairly easy job to change the cam chain if needed (how difficult is it to get the timing right) Also any tips on how to tell if the timing Chain is knackered and what signs to look for on cams and chain guides would be good. I think I'm going to have to look at this myself as the cost of sticking it into a mechanic would probably be out of my league (any idea on likely costs at a bike shop?]

Ditto - but just to make sure its not gearbox/clutch, is the noise still there with the clutch pulled in?

sounds the same with clutch in or out.

AHTHUD wrote:do you think it sounds bad then? The bike has 30,000 miles on it. The last owner had it for 6 years and said he changed the oil every 1500 and filter every 3000. I've done an oil and filter change on it and the oil that came out did look in good nick and the filter was not shabby either. I'm fairly competent with mechanics, would you say its a fairly easy job to change the cam chain if needed (how difficult is it to get the timing right) Also any tips on how to tell if the timing Chain is knackered and what signs to look for on cams and chain guides would be good. I think I'm going to have to look at this myself as the cost of sticking it into a mechanic would probably be out of my league (any idea on likely costs at a bike shop?]

Don´t think you have to worry much, mine has sounded more than that since i bought it at 20000Km and has now done ~45000Km.
I posted a video here just as you have done when i bought mine and everyone said it was ok
....times changing i guess...

Greg wrote:I've got to agree with the Mincer ...

Mine sounds like a sewing machine by comparison...

G

The `mincer`?
HOW VERY DARE YOU!

And Killerwhale,no wonder you need a loud exhaust system,to drown out all the mechanical noise.

Hi Anthud.
I occasionally trawl this forum and have to say your engine sound is familiar. I'm in the process of sorting my engine as it sounded similar, a metalic rattle that was worse after it warmed up. So far the only area that might have been responsible for my noise was the head, in possibly two ways; the cam sprocket screws loose allowing the sprocket to rattle about or the valve to stem clearances.
I initially thought big ends or mains as the noise was worse once warm and louder on the left (is there a side that suffers oil starvation more?). Having plastiguaged all journals none of them were greater than 0.063mm (they're supposed to be 0.025-0.038mm new and tolerable up to 0.1mm). Some wear but it's done 66000kms. I suspect the valve stem wear as I could 'wobble' the valves in their seats - in that the valve had enough lateral play that who knows whether the valve seated in the same spot each time it closed. The head itself is gas flowed so obviously modified, possibly raced and probably knacked. The valve's seats were very worn and recessed but this wouldn't cause the noise surely? It was burning some oil with lovely blue smoke at start up so stem seals were to be replaced, further evidence of high race temperatures? The amount of carbon sludge on the pistons was worth the strip down.
Everywhere else the engine looks fine; honing marks still good, little end shafts and ring end gaps well within tolerances. Whether the cam bearing surfaces in the head were sloppy I'm not sure, with so many valve stems to replace I went on to a spare head and haven't gone back to check the old flowed head yet.
Now I'm trying to close the oil gap on the journals using Yamaha's different shell sizes. Trouble is, they don't seem to make any difference; a main bearing that had 4th size (green) shells doesn't seem to get a smaller oil clearance by using 6th size (red) shells. Plastiguage is lying or I'm missing something.
Oh and don't leave Plastiguage in a hot shed, it melts.

Hope some of this is of some help.

See here - current thread on carpe-tdm.

Same injun.......................

http://www.carpe-tdm.net/ipb/index.php? ... =13151&hl=

You know my old man use to wake up in the morning and burp n fart like really loud n carry on but he lived a healthy life till his 8o's ... My poor old rex has 98,000km and a lot more rattles up top and I'm just bout to have shims and cam chain and... replaced tomorrow... (started getting noisy from 75,000) I've owned it from 52,000kmh with nothing but reg old changes every 6,oook's too.(no service record from 20,000-52,000) Not burning much oil then dont stress,still running good,then dont stress, still feels strong then dont stress....... ENJOY...

Mincehead wrote:

Greg wrote:I've got to agree with the Mincer ...

Mine sounds like a sewing machine by comparison...

G

And Killerwhale,no wonder you need a loud exhaust system,to drown out all the mechanical noise.

Nah can´t hear the exhaust over the FCR´s anyway FCR´s with sockfilter are

Mmmmm,I agree,it`s the induction `whistle` that I love,not so much the `BOOOOOOOOR` when you open the taps.
I find playing with the induction whistle to be quite addictive to be honest,find myself changing gear more often just to hit it right.
So you`ve got another set of headers then Killerwhale?

If the cam chain tensioner is letting the chain rattle, would there be more noise apparent on the right side of the engine?
Jo

It would be easy to ascertain if it`s the cam chain (which is likely) as soon as you put that screwdriver to the end of the cam chain tensioner and then to your ear or even your chin(the jaw transmits sounds to the ears too).
Then again if you`re going to lift the cam cover it`ll all be there in front of you to check out anyway.