Hi, I recently adjusted the valves on my 2007 TE610. The intakes were at about 0.006, and the exhaust side was so loose the swivelling heads on the adjusters would tilt and jam the feeler gauges, so I didn't even bother measuring them. Adjusted all the valves to 0.002" and buttoned it all back up, and man, it was so quiet... till it got up to temperature, then the typical clattering thumper sound was back.. oh well. Is it supposed to sound like that? My last 2 bikes were a KLX250 and a DRZ400, both of which made normal thumper clatter when cold and hot. Also, the exhaust valves must have been really loose, because the bike has noticeably more power now, before I couldn't use the throttle to lift the front wheel, I had to clutch it, now I can just blip and crack it open and the front comes up no problem. That just maaay be because I also tied up the AP linkage while I had it all torn apart though, I just remembered I did that as I was typing. I bought the bike with 12k KM on it, and I only put a bit over 3k KM since I bought it, and the cam chain is still at 9 clicks over that time, should I just get one for my spare parts bin? Previous owner said the cam chain was replaced already, if that's true or not I have no idea. I replaced the valve cover inspection port gaskets with Ultra Black RTV, is there any other areas that I'm not noticing that can benefeit from some RTV? I spent about an hour scraping off crap from the top of the engine, a mixture of oil and coolant and probably some gas too... there was so much dirt on the top front of the engine it's sickening... I'm hoping it's all because of the silly inspection ports leaking. It's always reassuring when you're not entirely sure if it's leaking oil burning on the headers or the bike on fire. Thanks for any tips/advice/help, I love this bike so far, just wish I had more trails to ride it on... might have to do a Hooligan conversion on it.
Sounds like you need to get a new cam chain sooner than later. Btw, the bolt threads allow the oil to leak, not the cover itself. A bit or RVT on the threads will stop that.
Yes, I read that, I put a bit of RTV on the underside of the bolt heads as well. I've not been finding flakes of metal in the oil or on the screens, so I think my reed valve is ok. Aren't they 5-7 clicks new, and 11-12 when worn out?
From what I have seen on my two 610s it is the top engine cover that leaked after the inspection covers were sealed. Ten clicks out is the number most people seem to agree on for chain replacement..
I had gunk built up all over the entire top of the engine on the front side at least. The back side only had it seeping out from the inspection ports and down the back, not enough on the sides of the engine to consider the whole top cover to be leaking. Plus it seems to have a nice metal gasket, not a paper type one like the inspection ports. Guess I'll order up a new cam chain then.
