Sticky valve or?

[Milehog]

What does a sticky valve sound like?
The bike.. injected '05 EG
The motor...95", KB flattops, .040 head gaskets. AMS heads, TW26g cams, Baisley spring, good oil pressure, stock pushrods & lifters. I hopped up the motor at 6,500 mi the noise started suddenly, 600 miles from home at 7,500 mi. 8100 mi on bike now.
The symptoms... On cold start a LOUD tapping or clacking. Sometimes it's worse than other times. Worst case two minutes. When I have a poor mans stethiscope handy, 30 seconds. I think it's coming from the rear head (?)
It sure sounds like a tappet but I don't think it's coming from the camchest.
The manual suggests; obstructed oil passage, bad lifter, bent push rod, rocker arm binding, valve sticking.
Any of you experiencied wrenches have any ideas?

[hdmarsh77]

Mine valves make quite a racket for one or two seconds after a cold start. I think it's because the lifters have blead down. To me and my vast and inept knowledge, it sounds like you have a bad lifter.

[xkvator]

a friend of mine - '03 ultra - had the same type noise...just for a couple minutes...ended up being the exhaust - can't remember exactly what...maybe heat shield clamp

[Milehog]

Heat shield & exhaust clamps seem tight. Thanks for the idea.

[bikernut]

sounds like a lifter issue...I had a bad se lifter right out of the box

[Milehog]

I'm outta town right now & don't have my manual handy. I'm wondering, is it practical to replace the lifters by going through the cam chest?
I don't wanna go to adjustable pushrods and pulling the heads is a bother.

[Milehog]

Youse guys were right, bad lifter.
The Indy sez it's a good idea to check the oil passages in the cam plate & make sure the oil bypass isn't sticking when chasing down lifter noise.
P.S. Johnny's Ol Skool Motorcycle Repair in Vancouver, Wa has a good reputation. (360-735-0000)

[hivolt132]

namooz, take a look.

[Hillside]

Has the symptoms of a lifter bleeding off.
Not running HD synthetic oil are you?
Scott Palmer
www.hillsidecycle.com

[TXCHOP]

Hey Scott, have you noticed a problem with the syn3 as well. I only use it on 2 screamin eagle bikes that i service and both do have the occaisional clack at start up. All other bike i service with syn get amsoil and no noise....Sorry to hijack....

[Hillside]

That one-size-fits-all oil is not what we use.
All of the engines that leave the building are so fresh we use real oil in them.
Spectro is our choice in the engine, and Red Line lubricants in the chaincase and gearbox.
In the heat of the summer, in T/C service manuals, it refers to straight 50 and even 60 weight.
The quality of oil could also be the culprit. We've had many a customer complain about the Syn 3 cat piss.
Scott Palmer
www.hillsidecycle.com

[roadkingbelgium]

i had my bike started with a wrongly installed oil pump. at starting, man what a rattling noise...

i reinstalled the oil pump correctly.Noise came on for a few minutes and then it stayed away. so check your lifters...