This 200X Motor Sounds a Bit Loud To Me. What Do You Think?

[thehorse13]

Let me start by saying that aside from the noise in the video, the 200X has plenty of power; enough to bring the front wheel up off the ground with a flick of the throttle. It idles fine, it starts on the first or second kick every time without the use of the choke. The motor has the proper oil in it along with the manual specified viscosity.

It's been more than 20 years since I owned one of these but I do not remember if the motor had this sort of tick/mechanical sound. There are no leaks, it does not shake, no smoke...

Does the motor sound ok or am I sitting on a motor just waiting to grenade.

Thanks.

http://youtu.be/36aCpWc7yHQ

[oldskool83]

they all sound like they are going to fall apart...just how they are

[JacobMonster]

Yeah, oldskool is right. Even after I had mine rebuilt from the crank up, it still had that "tick" noise. Its normal. I hate the sound of it on mine lol

[ironchop]

mine`s rebuilt to the hilt and it`s still very noisy valve train/ timing chain.

+3 on what they said

[83ATC185]

If it doesn't sound like a sewing machine, somethings wrong lol

[knappyfeet]

Yea I can hear a little looseness in your chain......tighten that up. That's what I did on mine but besides that and the high idle.....sounds like mine. Now I want to go riding.

[atc007]

Turn your idle down,,,a lot lol. Adjust your valves,and make sure your timing chain is tight. If that sound is still there, check your cam and rockers for wear. That's what it sounds like. It isn't going to let go soon. But it is not right. You are right.. Nice bike.

[thehorse13]

Yea, I know the idle is high. lol. The previous owner cranked it up so that his wife would stop stalling out the trike when starting out in 1st gear. Every time she would do this he would have to stop riding and kick start the trike again.

Once I get the idle turned down, I will crack open the cam chain tensioner bolt and hopefully it will self adjust like the shop manual indicates.

[Bren_downe]

This should help…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GpoHh9EMhaU

[yaegerb]

I would say that the timing chain and valves need to be checked. Sounds a tiny bit "tickier" than normal, but it may be my crappy phone speaker.

[thehorse13]

Today I turned the idle down to a reasonable setting. One thing fixed...lol.

I moved on to the cam chain tensioner and removed the 10mm cap, which is not original to the motor. No big deal I guess. I then tried to thread a 3mm bolt with a .5 pitch down into the tensioner as the video showed in the post above. No threads caught so I decided to probe to find the threading. Interestingly, there is no threading down there, just a solid top.

I started the trike then loosened the 14mm bolt but it did not quiet the motor. I shut her down and pressed a rod down in the hole and I felt the spring pushing back and moving around without any issue so I assume that it is tensioning the chain. One thing that did disturb me is that when I removed the threaded rod, I did find a few very fine metal shavings stuck to what looked like a bit of dirty grease. Thoughts?

My next stop is the valves but at the moment my feeler gauges seemed to have walked out of my toolbox. Grrrrrrr. I'm kinda bummed that I couldn't check out the values today so for now I guess I will ride it around until I find my gauges or buy a new set.

[thehorse13]

I finally had a chance to fool with this trike for 15 minutes today.

I put the factory airbox lid back on along with all the OEM air cleaner parts, minus the airbox lid seal. I went ahead and fabricated my own gasket and it works perfectly.

After this, I tried to thread the 3mm bolt into the timing chain adjuster and it threaded in just fine this time. Go figure. lol. I started the motor, loosened the 14mm nut and the 3mm bolt started dancing. I grabbed that with a needle nose plier and pulled up on it with force. The chain did quiet down some but not a lot. I will go ahead and record a new video of what the motor sounds like now that I completed the timing chain adjustment later on.

[ironchop]

you may already know all of this and if so, ignore the rest.

that 3mm bolt is only there to plug the hole that you use to push DOWN the chain tensioner rod (the "solid top" you were probably referring to) to LOOSEN it

you push DOWN the rod thru that 3mm access hole with a small screwdriver or similar to LOOSEN the timing chain tension. The tensioning chain guide itself is manufactured in an arc so that when you change the chain or remove/reinstall you have to physically LOOSEN the chain tension by pushing DOWN on that rod and then re-tightening the 14mm nut to keep it in place until you get the chain installed or removed.

The 14mm bolt is simply a collet that LOCKS the tensioner in place after you adjust it. You adjust it by loosening the 14mm bolt while the motor is running and then tightening it back after a few seconds. While that collet nut (14mm) is loose, the tensioner guide is curling up and taking up all the slack in the timing chain but not enough to make it too tight. While it`s curling up, there is that pivot rod (3mm) that is pointed up from the bottom of the tensioner guide. The further up the rod is in that collet, the tighter the chain should be. Pushing down on that rod thru the 3mm hole while the collet nut (14mm) is loose will LOOSEN the chain tension.

No need for pliers or "pulling up" on anything as the tensioner will tension itself as long as there is free motion through that collet nut. If you try and pull up on that rod (if you can even get in there to grab it) you will put too much tension on the chain and it will stretch much faster.

the 3mm bolt is ONLY for access to the end of that rod to loosen the guide only and to seal off the lower end from dirt after you do so.

start the motor, loosen the 14mm nut, let motor idle for a bit, and tighten the 14mm nut back up.

if it doesnt tension properly after that, the tensioner guide is either worn down pretty good or its cracked/ broken (common) OR the chain is stretched ( also common)

That's it.

[barnett468]

I finally had a chance to fool with this trike for 15 minutes today.

I put the factory airbox lid back on along with all the OEM air cleaner parts, minus the airbox lid seal. I went ahead and fabricated my own gasket and it works perfectly.

After this, I tried to thread the 3mm bolt into the timing chain adjuster and it threaded in just fine this time. Go figure. lol. I started the motor, loosened the 14mm nut and the 3mm bolt started dancing. I grabbed that with a needle nose plier and pulled up on it with force. The chain did quiet down some but not a lot. I will go ahead and record a new video of what the motor sounds like now that I completed the timing chain adjustment later on.

check the valve clearance also if you havent.

[hoosierlogger]

if you think this bike sounds ticky, you should ride and ironhead Harley Davidson sportster. they sound like they have nickels floating around in the crank case.



Sounds normal to me. Maybe just a bit of a loose valve adjustment, But otherwise sounds good to me .

[thehorse13]

I checked the valve clearance today and they are within spec. I can see that the top end is getting plenty of oil as well. If you listen to the motor now that I turned down the idle and also used a 3mm bolt to do the cam chain adjustment you may be able to hear that the motor is a little quieter than the first video but still a bit on the noisy side. The trike has stock gearing and will raise the front end straight up with a flick of the throttle in 2nd gear so I'm going to just ride it until it doesn't ride anymore. Sorta like the old days when these things were new. :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoKLM-sL3Y0