Cam Chain :(

[sefer]

Sady enough, over the past week or so I've been noticing a noise that sounds a bit like a(small tinny) electric horn buzzing as I've pulled away. It's since got worse and now it's constant between 5-6rpm (and possibly over, that's when my bike starts making a bit more noise :) ).

I'm going to jump straight to the idea that it's the cam chain, because I cannot see another cause. I've reciently hit 30K on the clock, which assuming it's never been changed it when it should be done, so I'd say it's a fair guess.

My issue atm is that I've only just done the sprockets and chain and as such don't really have the cash to replace it atm, so I'm thinking maybe (hopefully) I'm going to be able to get a few hundred ks from a service and maybe a manual tensioner.

Anyway, I'm about to go look at the tensioner just to make sure it's not obviously that, so any advice on what to be looking for/at, and what to do about a manual tensioner (I'm fairly clued up, and should have all the tools I'm likely to need) I'd be greatful.

Thanks.

[sefer]

Well pulled it (tensioner) apart, cleaned it up and put it back in. Doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. It might be a little less noisy now, but still sounds pretty bad in that rev range.

Anyone got any ideas of what else I could try?

Anyone know what size/part number cam chain I'll need, it's not listed in the manual for some reason..

[N4CR]

Yeah it will be camchain, it will last about 1000kms before that 'ticking' around 5-6k becomes widespread then your chain is hitting rocker covers and doing all sorts of nasty shiet like mine was. I was close to forking out for a new engine, get it replaced asap - I got mine done at 29850kms or so. From memory they are about $110-200 for the parts from Kawasaki NZ but they take a while to come in so ask the bike shops first.

Apparently you can just feed it in from the top of the engine without having to pull the whole thing out. (Saves one hell of alot of time).

[sefer]

Ah, so I won't have to pull the whole thing apart? Good to know.

Price isn't too bad at least, thou I hate to think what the local kawa dealer would slap on top of that, they were twice the price of everywhere else when I needed sprockets and chain.

So anyway, do you think I'm safe for another 2-300K or should I just bite the bullet and do it as soon as I get time?

[N4CR]

So anyway, do you think I'm safe for another 2-300K or should I just bite the bullet and do it as soon as I get time?

Depends how much you care for your bike. It might fail next week or it may not fail at all for 2000kms - I'll leave it at that.

[Devil]

Hey man, I had my cam chain and tensioner on my ZR250 replaced with the kawasaki parts. Cost me $340 ish all up including labour. Seemed like a good deal to me.

Just need to get them to order the parts in advance. Took about 2-3 weeks for mine to turn up. Till that happened I had to regularly take off the tensioner make sure it was all clean and put it back on kept it quiet temporarily.