Hello all, just want to say what a great site and I've search but can't find exactly what is going on with my EVO.

New to harleys but a home mechanic into every bolt on my dirbikes forever.

Recent noise: 95 EVO 1340 with HC pistons, Cam and Delcron cases. This moter was stock until about 25K and now has 48K. I bought it with 43K on it. Softail custom.

This noise is at idle or just off idle when barely giving it throttle and is completely new this year. Motor is strong and runs good. Seems to have started after sitting for the winter as I noticed it almost immediately this year. The thing that gets me asking a question on here is I just noticed my oil pressure as dropped. This bike has run 30psi hot when revved and about 25psi going down the road and 10-12 at idle. Now I'm only getting 16psi revving or going down the road and drops to zero at idle.

Obviously I'm concerned the two are related.

This Pink ta tink tink noise is very metallically sounding and doesn't sound like what I would know as a car lifter noise. I put a screw driver to motor and my ear and can't quite find the exact noise through the screw driver but can still hear it in my other ear. By putting just my ear toward the motor it seems to be louder near my rocker boxes but again just started out of the blue.

I definitly don't baby this thing and have run it pretty hard! Thanks for helping a noob out.

 

Your oil pressure is not "out of bounds" and consider the oil temp and the outdoor temp and how it affects your oil pressure. When the oil gets hot the oil pressure will drop when compared to cooler oil just after starting the motor.

So far as top end noise, it may be a little bit of clatter from your valvetrain..With the numerous hydraulic tappets out there, that is a normal part of life! Adjusting hydraulic valves can get tricky...

1.) The general rule of thumb is to pump down the lifter (put the lifter at full cam lift to drain out the oil)..I leave it all full lift for 20-minutes just to be safe..

2.) adjust the pushrod to ZERO lash (just like a solid lifter).

3.) Turn the pushrod adjuster out an additional "X" number of turns.."X" is determined by the manufacturer of the lifter.

Years ago while using Crane tappets with S&S pushrods I went with "2" turns after ZERO lash...It's been that way since 2007..There is a slight clatter when the oil temp hits 215-deg but it goes away below 200-deg...

 

Hey thanks for the response: but a few more details to add and a couple of questions.

I have no idea what is in the motor for tappet/cam/pushrods-
I'm a noob to this thing and have about as much knowledge as can be learned on the internet(scary I know).
1. So if I pull off the push rod covers and go one by one with the 20min technique I should have no up and down movement in the push rod?
2. Do I need to the adjustable push rods to this or is the adjustment at the top of the lifter? Again, I haven't taken off the covers yet.
3. If there is movement up and down is it a sign of maybe a bad bearing on the lifter(that I've read about) or should I just adjust it.

Detail I forgot about: Of course I'm relying on a drag specialties oil pressure gauge that I just replaced because the one I got with the bike was broken. When I took it off the tappet screen was a jury rig screen setup with a spring that had been cut off for some reason. Not sure if this is because of the Delkron case but I assumed it was only to protect the oil pressure guage and it wasn't sealed perfect at the top(pointy end) like ones I've searched on the net. Could crap have gotten through that and up into something causing the noise.

I changed the oil before I rode this year and put Spector syn it and thought this was the cause of the noisy motor but have just changed and purged the old oil from the system before adding 50W HD dino oil and the specified 30um harley filter--this didn't change the noise at all.

At first startup I thought this was the cure but as the bike warmed up I got the Pink ta tink tink noise back so as you suggest with heat it got worse.

Any nice links for this push rod adjustment--Thank for the help!

 

Yes, you must have adjustable pushrods to do the adjustment...This link might help..
http://www.harleyhelp.com/pushrod.html

You should have NO up/down movement on any pushrod whatsoever!

A bad bearing would give a different sound...What you are experiencing is not dangerous unless it becomes an audilble loud knock/clank!!

 

Well just to keep up to date to help someone else, maybe. Just took a piece of tubing and isolated the sound to the front of the rear cylinder rocker box. Definitly coming from there--so my guess intake pushrod for the rear cylinder is the one that is causing me the noise. Going to pull the cover off the pushrod and check this one out. I'm guessing I could check/adjust just this pushrod and see if it alleviated the issue. Will post what I find--and thank you!

 

Just a caution on the above procedure. As I'm reading it, I think Bob may have transposed something. The way I'm reading it WILL damage your valves.. Unless of course, I'm thinking wrong. In which case, I'll learn something here..

You're lifter needs to be at the bottom of the cam, fully closed at the starting point. Give it time for the spring pressure to pump up. At that point, you'll follow the zero lash and what ammounts to .200" adjustment.. I've had a tick for over a year now and have adjusted my valves to no avail. My next step is to replace my relatively new HD lifters with something else since I dont trust them.. Good luck.. If you dont have adjustables, when you install them, you'll wonder how you ever did without them (at some point).. I'd recomend the Screamin Eagle chrome molly rods. They should only be about $100 at the dealer. I've had trouble with others in that price range..

 

+1 your adjustment to .200" (if you have adjustables) will depend on how many threads per inch on them. on mine, it's 4 complete turns. after the adjustment, wait 15 or 20 minutes, you should have no up and down movement but your pushrod should be able to be be spun by hand, if it won't spin, it's too tight. Oh, and don't forget to tighten the lock nut on the adjustable pushrod.

 

It sounds a lot like "carbon knock". It's caused by excessive carbon build up in the cylinders and can be heard only at idle rpm. Otherwise the bike runs fine. Evo's that are running on the rich side or even slightly so will have this happen.

 

Bingee- at first I thought it was sort of a ping so that makes sense as well. I can still here the noise if revved up but I think the exhaust noise is hiding it at that point. Plugs looked pretty good but then again it's got some miles on it and I'm sure there is some carbon build up. I'm going to check the push rods and then run the sh@t out of it.

Oh by the way the oil pressure is fine as on startup/cold I can get upward of 45psi when revved and idle is nearly 30psi. As it gets hot the oil pressure drops as described in my first post. Which seems to be pretty standard for these EVOs.

 

You are spot on with carbon build-up!!! I had .013" of baked on carbon on the piston domes when I did my top-end 3-years ago...I had to bead blast that garbage off..