ISSUE:
switched out the tensioner shoes and now have loud noise which seems to come from everywhere from cams to rockers to crank to compensator, but I'm guessing it's mostly coming from the cam compartment, since that's where my handywork was done.

WHAT HAPPENED:
bike appeared to run fine, but almost immediately developed the noise at higher RPM, and now hear it at all times. is constant, sounds like chain/knocking or something loose, just a bunch of mechanical rubbing,grinding,bumping.

TECHNICAL:
compression is good on both cylinders, so it's probably not valves; upon second inspection, pushrods appear straight, lifters look good (so far as I can tell); oil pump aligned; .005 crank runout.

so... what happened? it could be anything, but insight is appreciated. thanx.

03 FXDWG 55k miles

 

Your sure that oil pump is aligned correctly? If the engine starts to get noisy at higher rpms it could be oil starvation at the top end. Maybe take it back to the place that did the work.........these types of issues though are hard to solve online, best bet is to be PRESENT when the wrech checks it over again assuming its even related to the tensioners.

 

Oil pump alignment tools used as instructed: loosely install in holes 1&2, rotate wheel to turn engine allowing oil pump to find itself while alternately tightening alignment bolts.

Wish there was an easy way to test it. Maybe pour oil in the down the spark plug holes &cover the rockers with oil, then fire it up, see if noise is gone? thanx

 

Too bad you dont have an oil pressure gauge installed on that bike. They are so valuable to the TC engine...........when the engine is idling look into the oil tank, you should see a significant amount of movement and circulation of oil even at idle, but if it looks real calm in there you may have found your problem. Have someone on the bike upright off its kickstand twisting the throttle when you check it. This will at least eliminate one potential.......

 

When you R&R'd the cams from the plate, did you use new inner and outer bearings? If so where they installed correctly? Just thinking out loud. Also did you replace the black cam shoe on the outside of the plate? is it oriented correctly? Most importantly: usually when you remove the cam plate one of geroters and sometimes the separator will fall out of the pump. Where the reinstalled correctly with the separator inside of the geroter? Again thinking out loud. Jay

 

Didn't change the bearings, but would assume that if they were bad, they'd have been loud before, too. Black cam shoe proper. The first time I took it apart the oil pump stayed together = nothing moved.

As far as oil movement in the oil tank, vibration creates a lot of movement.. not sure what I'm supposed to be seein in there.

 

If I had done the job, my first check would be the pushrods. That just seems to be the place with the most room for error to me. Even when you follow directions to the letter (or number) it kinda comes down to having a feel for it that I assume comes with experience. Did my own and they seem fine but can't help but wonder if they're exactly right.

 

JUST FINISHED: Replaced o-rings, checked alignment of gerators (not sure if the punchmarks were aligned before), and the rear cam sprocket bolt was loose, so replaced it with a new one -- hopefully the red loctite will hold it this time. She seems fixed so must've been one of the above. Good to get it in the wind, though, for any amount of time.