Hello,I am somewhat new here and I have a few questions about the cct and valves them selves.My 99 F4 is starting to tick a little.I have no powerloss and starting does not seem to be a issuse.It ticks no more or no less cold or warm.The bike has around 17000 miles or so.I know there is a lot of threads on this but I cant seem to find one that fits.It sounds like the rattle you get from ohv fourcylinders w/high mileage.Now while your ridding if you level out at say four thousand or so it stops.Sometimes I start it and I hear nothing sometimes it ticks right away.The bike has been rode hard but maintained.I have a timing advance six degree I think full akrapovic exhaust,k&n filter,stage two jet kit.But none of this was a problem in the past.Could the valves be to tight at this point?Or does this sound more like a cct?I feel I could adjust the valves myself after reading everyone in here tell how easy it is.So thats my next question is it really that easy?And lets just say that all of you lean to the valves being the issue is there anything I should look for inside the valve train in regaurds to wear or damage that the book may not tell me about?If most think its the cct I would like to get an adjustable one is that hard to adjust?And do you have to keep adjusting it?Thanks to all who give there advise.I can keep up when it comes to mechanical work/lingo so please give me what you got.I have done alot in the past with my gixxer and other bikes but never valves>

 

Well for me, i had some noise that I thought was ticking but was the CCTL, I swapped it out and it sounds great now....@25k

Otherwise I dont know too much about actual engine ticking in the F4 yet, I did a valve lash adjustment on my acura because that did have a nasty tick.

 

Do you know if your valves have been adjusted at all in the 17k miles? If they haven't you should check them anyway but I think it's your cct if it goes away when you rev the bike.

 

I'd say cct aswell. Valve tick will be fairly consistent, though will get a little faster with engine rpm. My f4i has a sh**ty head on it and I've had to adjust the valves alot. The last time I actually set them right at the loose side of spec and now the valves rattle a little but they will just get tight within a couple thousand miles or a couple weeks for me, so im not to worried about it. The thing I hate the most about mine is the dang APE cct my bro installed before I got it. its a bi**h to adjust without removing the intake stuff. I will probably put an auto back on the f4i when I rebuild or replace the head and use the ape for my track bike.

 

Yeah the rattle does somewhat go away as the rpms climb and today I found it does rattle more as the rpm's drop.I am going to replace the cct with the stock one thanks for the tip on what you have to remove for adjusting.I dont always have the time to take her apart.And no the valves have not been adjusted as far as I know.Has anyone done the valve adjustment them selves?I have the service manual and all the proper tools that the manual shows to do the job.It looks like its not that bad but I have found in the past thats not always true.Is there anything I should look for in regaurds to wear? should I change the timing chain?I would like to only do this one time lol.So any helpful tips would be great like I said I have the book so the directions are there for me to read.I would just like a heads up on incounters some of you might have had while doing yours and a what to watch out for.I have read in threads about the cct and that its common on the F4 and F4i so is there anything else I should be watching for?Is there a way to tell if needing adjustment if I should adjust on the tight or lose side?Thanks to all who reply.

 

The valve check and adjustment is pretty straightforward. You will have to take off everything the manual says to, and pull the valve cover. Then set it to TDC on #1 compression stroke. then follow the directions of the manual. As long as the valves arent too tight its easy to calculate different shims if you need them. if they are within spec put it back together and check it in another 16k miles.

 

Having been down this road b/f as well, it sounds like its more than likley the CCT. The ticking will be annoying but you'll get used to it...that is, if you can live w/ it. If you can, there's probably many more miles you can get out of that CCT b/f you need a new one. By many, I mean hundreds or thousands of miles. This is very common on F4's.

You'll know, or should be able to know, when its getting close to time to change it, b/c the ticking will increase in intensity & will be almost constant.

As for a new CCT, factory or APE self-adjust is ok. Many prefer the APE b/c you can adjust it yourself when it starts to get out of adjustment. It isn't terribly hard to install, just tedious.

As recommended by others, it wouldn't hurt to have your valves checked anyway. This shouldn't be expensive at a factory shop. &, it would just be good to know all is ok w/ them, if you haven't ever had them checked.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do.

 

Ok just one kind of stupid question left.I have googled how tight to tighten the APE tensioner and have found a lot of diffrent answers.So how tight do you tighten it? And ballpark how many miles before it will need to be tighted again?(Worst case)

 

Good response by "APE Dustin"...
https://cbrforum.com/forum/cbr-zone-50/ape-stock-replacement-cct-f4i-12605/

 

I'v been fighting with this recently as well. My problem is yet to be solved, but i'll share the information my instructers at school have given me. (i'm in the motorcycle technician program at BCIT)

1) Valve clearance is the first adjustment you want to confirm. If this is too tight or loose it can make proper cam chain adjustment impossible.

2) With valve cover off, you may as well take advantage of the situation, pull the motor, and check you cylinders, pistons, rings, and most importantly your CCTBs (Cam chain tensioner blades) which are the nylon guides that actually press against the chain to remove the slack. These can become damaged from over being overly tight (easy wit an APE CCTL)

3) Of all the descriptions of APE adjustment (which are several and varied) The best success i've found has been with a stethascope and feeling for the resistance from the chain. This combo gives you a good feeling for the stress on the CC and gave me the best adjustment (minimal noise)

I need to do my valves in the next month, and i'll be able to report further. Good luck.