I have recently purchased a 2011 RK with 15,000 miles. I noticed that when I accelerate going up hill I begin to hear the engine ping or what sounds like to be the valves. It usually does this between 60 and 79 mph. Not sure if this is normal. Any help is much appreciated.


Hector

 

Try downshifting to a lower gear to keep the Rpms up more so when pulling a hill these bikes love high Rpms they also seem to ping more on the hotter days.

 

Are you running premium fuel? Are you trying to accelerate in 6th gear? Like gomiler2 says, use that little lever by your left foot; anytime you hear pinging, kick her down a gear.

 

What he said :-)

 

While all of the above is definitely true, it could be that you have excessive carbon buildup on the tops of your pistons/in the combustion chambers causing the ping, especially if you still have the heads' breather tubes running back through the air intake.

Right before your next oil change, try squirting some Sea Foam or Marvel Mystery Oil down the plug holes, doing your best to disperse it over the entire top surface of the pistons, and let it sit overnight. Change your oil/filter the next day and start 'er up. May blow some smoke and bits of carbon out the pipes, but this should clean out any excess carbon pretty well.

Worth a try.

 

Thank you all
I will definitely keep the RPMs higher. I actually
Think that it is doing it when I'm in 6th gear. In a few 100 miles I will do the oil change and I'll try the seafoam trick. Thank you all again.