ZXR 250 cam chain

[Tomc]

Hi. im new to the forum. Just brought a 93 zxr 250. makes a rattling noise at idle that dissapears over about 4 thou rpm. a mate of mine thinks its the cam chain or tensioner. How do i tell if its the cam chain or if its the tensioner or if its both? How much $$ am i looking at in parts? Who is best to get kawasaki parts from in the welligton area? are any special tools required to do the chain or tensioner and how hard is the job? im not a mechanic but im fairly mechanically minded and have done a fair bit of work on cars. sorry for all the questions all at once.

Cheers

[gammaguy]

Hi. im new to the forum. Just brought a 93 zxr 250. makes a rattling noise at idle that dissapears over about 4 thou rpm. a mate of mine thinks its the cam chain or tensioner. How do i tell if its the cam chain or if its the tensioner or if its both? How much $$ am i looking at in parts? Who is best to get kawasaki parts from in the welligton area? are any special tools required to do the chain or tensioner and how hard is the job? im not a mechanic but im fairly mechanically minded and have done a fair bit of work on cars. sorry for all the questions all at once.

Cheers

very likely to be the chain,caused by a faulty tensioner,very common on those models.

Unless you really know what you are doing,take it ti a professional.Valves hitting pistons can really spoil your day

[wbks]

very likely to be the chain,caused by a faulty tensioner,very common on those models.

Unless you really know what you are doing,take it ti a professional.Valves hitting pistons can really spoil your day

As he said, it's the tensioner. I got the same problem with mine, as did everyone else I know that had a zxr250 with higher km's. Good thing is; even if you get a mechanic to do it it's still relatively cheap, and will be the only thing you ever need to do to that motor providing you look after it. I wouldn't try it yourself considering you've only worked on cars. Big difference between a 2000cc+ engine and an 18000rpm 250. You'll feel like coach builder working on a wrist watch! Some guys who do a lot more work on their bike than it sounds like you have, hesitate to open up those engines, so I'd drop it off at a shop. Not trying to have a crack, just sayin! btw, don't go thrashing it on the way to get it fixed!

[hmmmnz]

if you want you can bring it round to mine and we'll have a look at it,
and hopefully sort it

[Tomc]

thanks for the replies guys. put new internals in the tensioner today. it has improved and the rattle is much quiter but it is definatly still rattling. having had a timing chain go in a car before and making a very big dent in my pocket im pretty keen to get it sorted properly. got quoted $350-$400 by boyle kawasaki to do the job wich sounds sweet but he didnt think he would be able to do it for two weeks. i really need the bike going by the end of next week if possible. any suggestions on reasonably priced mechanics in the wellington area? hmmmnz i will definately take you up on that offer if it still stands? ive got pretty sporadic access to the net so flick us a txt on 0276370598 if your still keen.

Cheers

[sefer]

For that price they'll be breaking the chain, since it's a big job if you don't.

While it's not necessarily a bad thing (though I wouldn't, and didn't) they should at least tell you they aren't going to install the chain as it should be (endless).