I have a cbr 600rr with 26k miles on her... I took it to a mechanic to get a valve adjustment done. When I took in the bike, I could hear a light wooshing sound... almost as if something is going around in a circular motion. The sound was very light and I mainly heard it when I first start the bike (cold).

The guy did the valve adjustment and after completing calls me. He says all the valves were tight and after completing the adjustment, there is a loud engine noise coming out, so loud I could hear it clearly over the phone. He told me he tore down the bike again and checked his work and the adjustment was correct. He first suspected it would be the cam chain tensioner. I agreed with it, since tensioner are routinely culprits for CBR engine noises that were coming out... So i okayed to replacement. He replaced it, called me back and said the sound has dissipated but still pretty loud.

He then suspected the sound is still coming from the cam chain and thought the tensioner isn't getting enough oil pressure to put enough tention on the chain. He suspected its the K&N filter.. Ive used K&N filters before, but I okayed to get a new factory filter. He called me the next day and said I turned on the bike again and was going to check the oil pressure (with the K&N filter still on) and he heard a few clicks from the engine and the bike shut off.

He suspects the cam chain skipped a link. Now I have x number of valves bent, I have no idea how many... hes quoting me $1300 for labor and parts to replace the valves. I told I took the bike in working, and now I got this piece of junk that I cannot do anything with and will require an entire top end job. He said well its the K&N filter that Fed up the bike. I got K&N on the phone he sent them a few pictures and they came back and said its probably the cam chain guides that needed replacing and ... pretty much they cannot help any further.

What I need is to ask what I should do about this situation. I SOL at this time and not sure which way to go here. If you have had bent valves before, I really appreciate your guy's input. Should I fix it now? Is it scrapped? or can I wait to get it fixed?

Thanks!

 

So the mechanic f'ed up, blames some filter and wants you to pay for the damage?

That's messed up man. I don't trust other people enough to work on my bike. I do everything myself.

 

I would go down to the shop and talk to the owner and explain your story and that you guys tried to blame the problem on a K&N oil filter which we all know is not the cause of the problem. Tell him that before you brought your bike in it was running great, no issues. You wanted a valve adjustment and paid a lot of money for it and the mechanic messed everything up and started replacing parts before he knew exactly what the problem is. Tell him you are willing to pay to have your bike properly maintained but you are not willing to have a mechanic who doesn't know what the problem is throw parts, a.k.a. your money, into the bike. Because of the mechanic's lack of knowledge (or how the mechanic proceeded) your bike now worse than when you brought it in and you expect that the shop fixes this in a timely manner for free as they did the work not you. If they don't budge get your bike back and tell them you will file a complaint with the BBB as well as make it known to as many people as you can to not do business with this shop. Just keep your cool, don't start yelling and my bet is they will be willing to do something for you.

 

Be very careful how you procede. Start documenting everything in writing.

I almost guarentee this is what happened:

He did not time the motor correctly when he put the the cams back in, turned it over and the valves made contact with the pistons. He then retimed the motor and suprise it's ticking!

Go to the shop in person. Talk to the owner. Be very polite but firm.

 

He talked you into replacing the tensioner AND the oil filter of all things on top of destroying the engine and you still want to trust them to work on the bike? Insane.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I found an email he had sent to K&N explaining the situation in his own words... The only difference it i didn't tell him it was a rattling noise... but sounded kind of taking a coin and moving it in a circular motion on a smooth surface:

the customer fahad brought his bike to me for a valve adj. when he dropped it off he also mentioned a rattling noise coming from the motor when it was cold. his friend who road the bike down here for him mentioned that he also heard the noise on the freeway.
after performing the valve adjustment the there was a very loud noise coming from the cam chain. i tore the bike down again and put it back together. that day i had a a friend who is another motorcycle tech helping me with another bike...i had him double check the timing before starting the bike.
the bike still made the noise. and it really sounded like it was coming from the cam chain. i put a small screwdriver in the end of the tensioner while the bike was running and tighted the tensioner by hand. and the noise decreased in volume. i ordered a new factory honda tensioner and gasket. installed it and the noise is still there. the cam chain tentioner runs off oil pressure. so i pulled it apart again and took the cams and the cam caps to another friend that i used to work with at a dealership. he has worked there for 26 plus years. he inspected the cams and caps and said they were fine. told him the story so far and he asked what kind of oil filter fahad used on his bike when he performed his oil change. i told him k&n and at that point he told me about the ducati motors that have lost the bottom ends due to the lack of oil pressure from k&n filters. i came home to perform an oil pressure test with the k&n filter and another pressure test with
a stock honda oil filter. when i started the bike the noise was still there. but this time there were a couple extra clanks then the motor died. i pulled the motor apart and the cam chain had skipped a tooth. now from 18 years of experience in the motorcycle and automotive industry. that usually happens when the cam cain does not have enough tention. and being that the tentioner runs off of oil pressure i can only assume that it would be the filter. oh sorry forgot to mention that i also pulled the oil pump out of the bike and checked all the clearances. they were all within spec and it did not have any excesive wear.


Do you guys have the same thoughts or anything different?

 

See above. A motor just doesn't skip a tooth unless he timed it wrong or he installed the cam chain tensioner completely wrong. (i.e. not installed)

Edit: You need to educate yourself on how a motor works. That way when he starts spewing BS like he did above, you can call his *** out on it.