OK. Start with the fact I'm a mechanical moron. At service 9000miles on my 18reg was told slightly noisy engine probably cam chain. I thought these could be adjusted but dealer thinks they are self adjusting and so if chan is stretched I need a whole new part/s which with labour is several 100's£. Someone on here will know. Any ideas guys? Thanks.
Thanks. So that means they can adjust it without me taking a mortgage. Wonder why a main dealer didn’t know. Much appreciated Boothman.
Check with @Grooveski where he got his from, but I’ve seen them on eBay for £40 ish previously. I’m sure he will confirm that this is very doable for even the least experienced home mechanic. This post explained the set up procedure, you can find the full conversation on this page (https://www.1000rr.co.uk/threads/what-did-you-do-to-your-bike-today.2209/page-588)
Thanks again for that. I’m away soon for a week so will get to this when back. Great to have such knowledgeable people here and not just for the word association .
Yup, the one Boothman has seen is likely the one I got. Ebay user daemon0666 (in case that link goes flaky or gets changed). You can go cheaper. Half the price gets you one from aliexpress but it's missing the washer(which helps stop the oring getting chewed up) and has a large bolt head(which stops you taking it apart to fit a washer and would make life awkward getting a big spanner in to adjust). The ebay ones also show a large bolt head in the pics. I was well chuffed when it arrived with a little hex head instead. P.S. Yeah, it's not a hard job. You have to go in under the tank and will need a ¼" socket set with a UJ and extension bar to get the old lower bolt out. After that the rest is a doddle.
Again, many thanks for all the help and advice. I'll look at this soon as I can get the time put aside and probably call in a mate who might help.
Used the same manual adjuster here. https://www.1000rr.co.uk/threads/manual-cct-setup-advice-please.42533/#post-565756
Back from sunny Lisbon - yep, with my pension all you workers are contributing to - and took bike to a small independent biker garage. Guy was trained on Hondas. He listened and asked if the mechanic at the main dealer was actually the tea lady. Said there was absolutely nothing wrong with the cam chain, which could be manually adjusted as you said on here, engine sounded sweet and no charge for the time he took. So we all know where the bike's going for the MOT and next service. Not sure how a main dealer who quoted £784 can be so wrong.
That's great news bladey, main dealers certainly rip customers off they will do what they can to encourage bike and car owners to have unnecessary works carried out, and if you are a 'mechanical moron' you tend to trust them and take their advice.
Happy days! Gotta wonder how they ever came up with a quote like that in the first place. At that milage there was never going to be anything wrong with the chain or guides. Pukka price for a new tensioner is 85 quid. 8 bolts to get the tank cover off and the tank swung up. Another two to take off the old tensioner - only one of which is awkward.... (presuming it's a similar layout to my RR5) ...and then the same in reverse. Even if the tea lady had never held a ratchet before - you still have to be looking at about £300 an hour labour.
I know. That quote was to renew all the parts including the chain as they said it wasn’t adjustable manually. She made a decent cuppa though . Trouble is that if you’re not at all sure about the mechanics, and someone who is supposed to know their stuff comes along and says it’s a noisy engine probably the cam chain you then start hearing it yourself. I’ll buy more earplugs in future. Cheers.
OK, fair enough. For a chain/guide/tensioner replacement - that's a fair job. ...but Honda's tensioners have always been an achilles heel and I doubt they have a dealer on the planet who isn't aware of that. Replacing that alone should have been their first suggestion. I was first taught to set a manual CCT on my dad's CJ360 in the early eighties and even then Hondas had a rep for crap auto tensioners. It's part of their lore. Strictly speaking they're right enough about the OEM tensioners not being manually adjustable. You can wind them back with a key or wee screwdriver and let them sproing in again but it's not the same as a manual adjuster. Sometimes it'll get them going again but when I tried it last year I only got a thousand miles or so before it started rattling again.
looking at fitting an OEM tensioner , one question comes to mind , on removal of the tensioner do i need to lock anything in place to prevent the chain moving while there is no tensioner fitted?
No. The guide will go loose but still sit in place and the chain won't jump teeth unless you turn something.. Just don't thumb the starter while it's off.
