okay firstly, as stated in the subject this is my first post so hey guy's.. secondly i apologise in advance if im posting this in the wrong place and also for my lack of knowledge when it comes to bikes, or bike 'parts' to be exact, so if you read my post and im talking about the round circle thingy just bear with me, haha.. umm the reason i registered with this site is because i just brought a badly neglected FZR250 for a project 2 days ago (apparently it was sitting under a house for a few years) and after reading a whole bunch of posts from you guys i have come to realise that if i need to know anything about it, this is the perfect place to ask.. so yea as i said i have read alot of posts and established that my bike in particular is an 89 3LN model, possibly 3LN 2 if that makes any sense? so anyway, for the last 2 days i have been doing everything i can to get it back to good health, flushed and cleaned fuel tank, replaced fuel filter and hoses between fuel pump and carby (just realised there is a second/first fuel filter between tank and fuel pump yesterday), flushed radiator, cleaned spark plugs (cant afford new ones just yet, $24 each), bled rear brakes, changed engine oil (not the oil filter tho, cant find it anywhere?), completely stripped cleaned and re installed front brakes as the fluid had turned to sludge? and replaced fuses and missing bolts and what not.. so now for my first question, i started her up and thers a horrible knocking/tapping sound but i cant locate where its coming from, im no mechanic but it sounds to me like an exhaust valve thats free to open and close when it wants? (sorry if that makes no sense).. or a piston rod with a bit of play in it? still pumping the piston up and dwn but loose kinda? haha, sorry, it all makes sense in my head??? so yea any ideas? for some reason i dnt think its the cam chain, dnt knw why, im just clinging to the hope that its something simple.. cheers guys..
Hi, Dwezy - welcome to the addiction! First, you have an '89 3LN1 (there was no -2); the "can't find the oil filter" is distinctive. While the later models had spin-on external filters, the '89 had an internal filter behind a cap on the bottom of the sump. Annoyingly, you have to pull the exhaust to get at it. Second, these bikes have an EXUP valve in the exhaust collector (follow the cables on the left side); if the internal bushings are worn, it jingle-jangles like a load of change in a clothes dryer. The bushings aren't hard to replace, but you'll probably have to smash out the pipe-side bushing (it's just carbon). For someone who doesn't know much from bikes or bike parts, you did pretty good work resurrecting your bike in only 2 days!
hey mate, thanks for the tip on the oil filter and yea i found the exup valve but upon inspection it didnt really make sense? i think the guy before me messed around with it and put it back together wrong? first thing that tipped me off was the fact that the part on the valve where the cables plug into? didnt let it push or pull, i believe it was around back to front, so the tooth thing was far away from the valve itself, and the little holes where the cables fit in were closer to the top instead of down the bottom where they would actually be able to pull each other, if you know what i mean, it just looked like it wouldnt really work that way? then at the top where the little motor thing is that pulls the cables, one of the cables was lying on top of the other? thought that was kinda weird? needless to say the cables were pretty frayed, good thing is i think i have everything around the right way now and a better understanding of how its meant to work, bad thing is the cables are now so frayed i cant test it to see wether or not im right.. oh yea and the big washer (i forget what you called it) on the inside if the exup valve thats sits in the little hole on the other side? yea i snapped it in half, when i saw it sitting inside the exhaust i thort it had been spat out of the engine and dropped dwn the exhaust, felt a wave of relief when i found the other half still on the valve.. now just to prove my ignorance, i ended up just supergluing it back together and after wire brushing everything and spraying a bunch of crc everywhere it fits bak pretty good.. but yea since i cant test it, could you prove/disprove my theories about the back to front tooth thing? and surely the cables up the top by the motor thing aren't supposed to be lying on top of each other???
Hi, Dwezy. Sorry, hard to follow you - my head hurts right now. Take a look at this link, best EXUP maint. page I've ever seen, good info on what it's supposed to look like, and how to make it look that way! http://www.cartestsoftware.com/fz1/exupmaintenance.html
hey thanks mate, yea you know the pulley with the adjusting teeth, if around the opposite way the holes for the 'cable nipples' are at the top instead of the bottom, which doesn't let it pull, that link was awesome, thanks.. now to get my hands on some new cables..
Also don't buy the spark plugs at a bike shop. Just go to a regular auto parts supplier. I bought a set for mine $4 each after going to a local bike shop and finding out their price was one I could not afford at the time also I only buy at the bike shops as a last resort.
To give you an idea the early sounds of a bottom end on an fzr is alot like the tone you would expect from noisy lifter a top end on a car. The noise will get faster and louder and deeper with engine revs but will get dramatically quieter on when backing off. A bit of a rattle is not uncommon from the timing chain but it wont get louder with engine speed. hope this helps.
hmmm, not sounding good.. okay well i checked the cam chain tensioner and it is pretty much fully extended, thers maybe a mm or 2 left, if any, i thought i had diagnosed the problem, but it seems its worse than i expected, do you really think the bottom end is possibly on its way out? is a replacement engine my best bet? i was going to take it to the mechanic this week to replace the cam chain, do you think i'd be wasting my time and money? thanks guys..
Just sent this as a PM, thought others might find it of interest, or spark some ideas and discussion...
I found that if you need to check if the EXUP valve is rattling, then grab hold very firmly of the part that the cables attach to on the EXUP body. You will be able to feel it rattling, and if you twist it, push it backwards or forwards ( towards the wheels ) the noise will change or even stop. Be careful as it can get HOT, and if you rev the engine it will twist around. The EXUP valve is a major source of noise on the FZR250..
hey mate, yea that was the first thing i tried after i cleaned and replaced the valve without the cables on, definetly had play in it but when held tight (moved around, let loose) found it definetly was not the cause of the noise.. i talked to the bike mechanic today about replacing the cam chain and he told me it wasnt really worth fixing (has no idea of the emotional value i have already established with the bike, haha).. anyway i told him i think its the cam chain due to the fact that its 20 something years old and the tensioner is fully extended, and he told me its going to cost 2much to fix and it possibly may not be the only problem, he seems to think it may not be the cam chain thats causing the noise? any way before i go all out and buy a new/2nd hand engine, do you think its worthwhile attempting to put in a new cam chain myself? if the mechanic can do it why cant i? haha.. any input positive or otherwise would be appreciated, cheers..
there is a pic of the bike in this thread? <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://fzr250.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1860&p=27063#p27063">viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1860&p=27063#p27063</a><!-- l --> does anybody know what year it is?
I would say 3LN1 1989 because it has two distinct separate headlights, later models have one hole with two lights.
