valve tick please help!

[Flea Jr.]

1986 EVO Sportster 883. Had the motor punched to 1200cc with flat top piston kit so i had my heads professionally reworked and chambers opened up so it would be a true 1200 not just a bolt on (not reverse dome pistons). i had all the machine work done by a professional harley head shop. The bike runs great and has about 500 miles on the new top end. after about 5-10 minuets of riding the front cylinder starts this ticking sound that sounds like its in the head/ rocker box. The bike runs great but the tick is driving me crazy. i have replaced the lifters, pushrods to adjustable and rockers/shafts. this has gotten very expensive and the tick continues. i have stock cams and valve springs. I heard that bad springs or worn valve guides could cause this but i don't think that is the problem(my heads were rebuild by a very trusted shop that only dose performance harley heads) but you never know with my luck they were done wrong. Dose anyone think it could be valve guides/ springs? or any other ideas?? i know my pushrods are adjusted right and nothing is touching the rocker cover. i ran the bike with out rocker cover on and it still made the noise. oil pressure is great and lots of oil is getting to the top end and compression great. any and all input is much welcome as i am stumped.

[HogMike]

1986 EVO Sportster 883. Had the motor punched to 1200cc with flat top piston kit so i had my heads professionally reworked and chambers opened up so it would be a true 1200 not just a bolt on (not reverse dome pistons). i had all the machine work done by a professional harley head shop. The bike runs great and has about 500 miles on the new top end. after about 5-10 minuets of riding the front cylinder starts this ticking sound that sounds like its in the head/ rocker box. The bike runs great but the tick is driving me crazy. i have replaced the lifters, pushrods to adjustable and rockers/shafts. this has gotten very expensive and the tick continues. i have stock cams and valve springs. I heard that bad springs or worn valve guides could cause this but i don't think that is the problem(my heads were rebuild by a very trusted shop that only dose performance harley heads) but you never know with my luck they were done wrong. Dose anyone think it could be valve guides/ springs? or any other ideas?? i know my pushrods are adjusted right and nothing is touching the rocker cover. i ran the bike with out rocker cover on and it still made the noise. oil pressure is great and lots of oil is getting to the top end and compression great. any and all input is much welcome as i am stumped.

Why not take it back to the shop that did the work? See what they say?

[Panzer]

I agree with Hogmike.
My opinion, valve guides won't give you the 'tick' nor the springs........look elsewhere, like a spark jump.
You might look at a loose fitting plug cap.
Is the annoying 'tick' at all speeds?
Louder the fast you go.....on acceleration?
Can the ticking be heard when you have it on the jack stand and kneeling beside the bike?

[dusty1]

Sounds like improperly adjusted pushrods.Hydraulic tappets or solids?Too much rocker shaft endplay can also cause noise,but sounds like a tappet/pushrod issue to me

[andyxlh]

Hi
I'd have to guess either a bad lifter (apparently they can go bad from new or so I have heard) which is not pumping up, or incorrectly adjusted pushrods. How's the oil pressure? My bike does make this noise but I have the original rockers and pushrods in, with new lifters and rocker pins and over 100000miles. Doesn't worry me much cause I know what it is and has been doing this for a long time.
Have a listen through the end of a screwdriver or similar to try to isolate the location of the noise - that should help.
a loose primary chain can slap the case and make this sort of noise too.
also had a guy who thought the top end was bad - turned out to be a bit of loose metal in his fuel cap rattling!!!! So as suggested, isolating the exact position of the noise is very important, warm the bike up and listen through a steel rod or screwdriver as I suggested to isolate.
my bet is still with the pushrods or lifters.......
good luck
A

[Flea Jr.]

it is at all speeds under a load is 100% worse tho. i have adjusted the push rods at least 100 times and i know they r set correctly. i swaped the lifters front and rear and the noise stayed in the front.  i listened to it with a stethoscope, sounded like it was in the rocker box i removed the rocker cover and then ran it. the noise seemed to be coming from in the combustion chamber. i am starting to suspect spark knock/detonation. Is there any way i can test to see if that is my problem. and what could be causing spark knock/detonation? 

[andyxlh]

well it seems you are doing al the right things. I'm kinda at the end of my ideas tho. I'd like to see what others suggest on this one. there would be something seriously wrong for the ping to only come from one cylinder. If it was that loud I'd have thought spark plugs would show it very quickly. Compressions are all ok? inlet seals also?
the bores on the lifter blocks are OK? one of the front ones are not scarred up and letting oil past without pressurising the lifters correctly?
you mentioned the heads being reworked - I haven't done this as have the flowed 883 heads on my bike, but is there a possibility the shop didn't open the heads up correctly and you have a very high compression caused by lack of squish volume by using domed pistons on 883ish heads? Is there a chance of valve to piston kissing? do you have high lift cams?
a compression test might be a good idea. also turning the engine over by hand with the plugs out to see if there's anything obvious.
Sorry but not much more from me. Best of luck.
Andy

[Hooda]

My 1988 sporty same thing exhaust lifter on front cylinder ticking. 200 miles on rebuild. Have Rivera adj. push rods. Adjusted twice no change. Read some where that happened to another guy. Turned out magnet came loose on alternator rotor. My charging system went out tore it down and two magnets came loose. Waiting for parts so not sure if tick is gone till everything replaced.

[09RG/92spster]

Maybe an intake manifold leak?

[WhipLash96]

I would be checking for gasket leaks first. Head and exhaust gaskets..... Also thinking that I would check for arching plug wires. 

[sfmichael]

 

[trat]

I had what I thought was a valve tick as you described. I too checked every thing I could think of. I finally  found it......a blown Exhaust to head gasket. sounded just like a valve with too much clearance.