And to be quite honest I wouldn't know how to check if a cylinder wasn't firing, with no obvious power loss. I mean the bikes drivability is all there, it's just got that tick. That damn tick..... Also again you can put a stethascope anywhere on that motor and there's not a bad sound anywhere, but you stand in front of the bike and its certinaly there.

 

One of the easiest ways to see if a cylinder is firing is simply pulling a plug wire, start the bike and see if it sounds different. if not plug it back in and go to the go to the next one, rinse, repeat. :-)

 

Yea, I've done that. Everything seems good. I miss on all 4. And why would turning the choke on eliminate this problem (at least temporarily)

 

I mean it's gotta be something fuel related I'm assuming if the choke clears it up. Beginning to wonder if a carb is blocked up or something, I don't know. But the fact that choke on makes the tick go away leads me to believe I have some type of fuel/air problem.

 

Anyone else feel free to chime in, any help/direction is appreciated. Update: I'm here in my garage and I traced the problem to cylinder #2. When I unplug the spark wire on cylinder 2 and start it the tick goes away, as soon as I reconnect it it comes back. So I have some type of misfire or leak or something in that cylinder. Not sure why the choke helps rectify this but at least I know #2 is the problem. I got fuel in all 4 bowls btw. Also to add, I'm sure people are going to assume something in the bottom end, slipped bearing, rod knock etc.. I don't think this is the case though. Most of it goes back to the choke being on takimg the tick away, but it's not really a "knock" and it's not coming from the bottom end. It's more in the header area and it's a "TICK". It sounds identical to an electrical arc. The video I posted eggaerates the noise, it doesn't sound as "full/heavy" in person as it does in the video. It's a lot more subtle in person. The motor has 19,000 miles and the tick developed after changing plugs which leads me away from bottom end noise even more.

 

So I did a compression test, and I got around 150 give or take 2-3 across all 4, The lowest I got was 145 and the highest was 149, also did this with the engine dead cold, not been ran x2 days, so I imagine it would be a little higher properly warmed up. I also pulled the carbs and checked, rechecked everything. Cleaned out all the jets, etc... Made sure there were absolutely no blockages, dirt, dust, grime etc. so as far as now I can rule out any of that. I know the PSI is not "ideal" but it's even across the board. I ordered exhaust manifold gaskets and will change them when I get the chance just to rule out an exhaust leak at the header. I know that can make a tick, especially because my HEMI Chrysler has an exhaust leak and the tick is pretty obvious and relatively close sounding to the tick on the bike. I'm really not convinced it's piston slap/rod knock/spun bearing/ etc.. It just doesn't match up. Theres been no load on the engine big enough to cause it. It devolved after a plug change. So I'm missing something here I just don't know what.

 

Switch the plugs around and see if the noise moves to a different cylinder, if so i would point the finger at the plug itself

 

Deff not the plugs already did that stayed at cylinder 2. I did pull off headers today to change gaskets and found a hole a little smaller than the size of an eraser head on the same cylinder making the tick, fingers crossed that's all it is.

UPDATE: SOLVED!!

Ok, so as I said I pulled the manifold off today to change the gaskets. I didn't know what condition the gaskets were in but I figured I'd change them anyway, you know just in case there was a leak. So while I have the manifold out I start wire brushing some crud away to make sure they sit nice and flush against the new Gaskets. While I'm wire brushing im looking at it from the open ends, all the sudden I see light through one of the pipes. Wouldn't you know it's the #2 cylinder pipe. Is this my problem, I don't know. So I run out to the local parts store and pick up some 3000 degree quiksteel epoxy to fill the hole. I do that let it cure (website says an hour, and that heat helps it set better/quicker) so I patch it up and take a propane torch to it to speed it up a little. I put a little grease on the gaskets to keep them in place while I wiggled the manifold back on, fired it up aaannndddd...... Walah, no more God awful tick, why putting the choke on made the tick go away, beats me, but the tick is gone and I'm happy. Now to figure out why I'm spraying some oil from the valve cover. I removed the cover a little to start to measure valve clearances, still had the plastics on and realized I needed to have the plastics off to do it. So I slipped the cover back on, tightend it down. Since then I spraying some small amounts of oil. I imagine it's the gasket pinched or something somewhere.