So I rode the other week without my ear buds in and the engine seemed to sound a bit "clattery". Seems to quieten down when I give it more beans, engine is pretty quiet at idle too. I don't think it's got any worse over the last few K's.

In the process of tracking this down I decided to get an oil pressure gauge to see what my oil pressure is running at.

On choke she was running at 25-34 PSI
Warm idle is around 10 PSI (cold idle after start is around 20 PSI)
On the road it seems to stick around the 30 PSI mark (60mph in top gear) - but peaks higher if I get on the loud handle.

From what I can read on the internet I don't think I have an issue with oil pressure, so I am wondering if I might have worn lifters? The bike is at 69k miles and I didn't replace them when I did the tensioners. Is there a sure fire way of testing if it is the lifters?

TBH generally I ride with earphones in and I can't hear the clattering, but I just wanna make sure nothing is amiss!

Cheers!

 

oil pressure numbers seem good- there is a bypass/ relief at 33 psi in between the oil pump, the sender and the filter- so you shouldn;t see The High Numbers.

possibly lifters- I suppose you could manually see if the pushrods appear sloppy when the motor is hot.- lift the covers and clean gloved hand see if they appear too tight or too loose.

oil weight- running a 20w-50 synth? hotter oil is thinner

 

Deleted by me, wrong forum.

 

I'll give that a whirl, should I be able to twist them by hand like the check when putting the top end back together? If they were too tight would that mean a lifter that isn't flowing oil?

I am running the HD 20w-50 (360 i think they call it)