Ticking from engine, How loud should it be

[cbrown400ex]

From my experience working on cars I know that a loose rocker arm is better than a tight one. Although both can cause you trouble. My question is how much should a 400ex tick? It seems to get louder as it gets hotter also. I copied the directions off of the tech page, very helpful and descriptive. And I am comfortable in doing it myself. But it runs so good that I really don't want to mess with it. Plus It takes a little time to adjust the valves and that is time that I could be riding. Any help would be appreciated.
CJ

[barbwire44]

better to deal with em now then later when its to late. Saw a guy go 6 months and never touch em when he did it was to late mega bucks in repairs gotta do the preventative maintenence or have a big wallet.

How old is your bike and did you take it or do the break in service after goin thru about 5 tanks of gas..

[cbrown400ex]

It is a 99 that I got from a friend of the family. So I trust what he told me. I have had it for about a month. He has a lot of money so he has lots of toys. He said that he hardly ever rode it( which is easy to believe since he had this 400ex,a 250r,a banshee, and a warrior all at the same time). I have put more marks on the the frame and a arms in one month than it had from his three years of riding it. Also it sat in his garage for a little over a year. He did say that he had the local Honda shop check it out and fix what ever needed to be fixed. I assume that they checked the valves but who knows. By the way Rico it has the same pipe that your first 400 had. The FMF powercore IV. And it is so loud. Hope this answered your question. CJ

Yeah them original powercore IV's are some aggressively LOUD sucka's thats fer damn sure,,now the powercore IV/2 is not as loud if you ever wandered and they put out the same power. the ticking could just be normal,,,mine does that too,,i figured everthing done to it is correct,,had the dealer check everything on it after the break in period so I just left well enough alone and quit worring about it. I use good oil,,I don't ride real hard for along time,,and figured that theres no reason to worry that it's a motor with moving parts and it's gonna make some noise while running,,does your bike run good,,no backfiring or bogging or any signs the motor is not working at peak and optimum performance??

[cbrown400ex]

It runs great. When I first got it I tried running it the airbox lid on and it bogged a little at low rpms in 2nd. It has a dynjet kit installed in the carb and the guy I bought it from said that he installed the stage two kit. I talked to the dynojet people and they said that in order for it to run correctly I would either have to re-jet it or leave the lid off. It has a k&n with outerwares so it is probably not that big of a deal. I might get outerwares lid cover for. I rarely (never to this point) ride in water or mud anyway. I have thought about getting a quieter FMF pipe, buit it is hard to justify spend 200+ dollars when the one I have works just fine. It is sort of annoying to the people I ride with and my neighbors. I rarely ever ride mine hard for any length of time also. He was using Honda GN4 synthetic. After reading this board I might rethink that for my next oil change. It it really as bad as the stuff I've read about it? What is a better alternative? And do I need to stay with the same oil( which is what id recomended in cars). Thanks for the input. CJ

Well with the setup you have I'd say if you run with the lid off you'd probably run a 165 or 170 main jet. I run a 160 with a modified air lid,,,and acutally could go up to a 165. So if you went with a 170 main I bet it would do just fine. And if it bogs a little on the bottom end you might wanna raise the needle up,,which would be moving the needle clip down 1 notch.

Now if you do get another FMF pipe the IV/2 that I use is queiter but not real quiet,,,when I put the hammer down it's loud,,,just puttin around and sitting at an idle it's tolerable,,but it's a different story when I get on it. the powercore IV/Q might be your ticket,,

The oil I use is the mobil 1 synthetic V-twin 20-50 motorcycle oil,,,cost 8 bucks a quart but good stuff.