5000 rpm was exactly where that unmistakable cam chain tick was loudest when my tensioner was in need of adjustment.

 

Krieger was charging me Canada rates by accident, only $42 shipped!

 

Mine was 4-6K rpms and it sounded like rocks in the rocker box. you could hardly tell it at idle.

 

I received the krieger tensioner today. Will install it before I get too worried about engine failure. I have always hated that noisy lifter ticky sound that some cars make so I may be overly sensitive. There absolutely has been a change though.

Let's hope the krieger fixes it.

 

Keep us posted Highbeam. I too have been noticing a change, been gambling with the tensioner for way too long at 18,000 miles. My Krieger is on the way and am also hoping the sound goes away. Thought it was time for a valve adjustment, but they checked out fine.

 

I had two problems with my krieger tensioner when i first fitted it last year.

1. I found it very difficult to guess how tight i had the tensioner set at when i fitted it new! After 4000k of it running to tight I had the valve cover off to do the shims & backed off the tensioner about a 1/4 turn after feeling the cam chains tension was a bit to tight with my finger.

2. At 8000k on the tensioner it managed to loosen off the two allen bolts that hold the krieger tensioner onto the engine. Both bolts had almost completely unwound themselves & i heard a horrible loud cam chain slapping noise.....luckily it happen 2 minutes from home & i hit the kill switch within seconds of it happening. Now the bolts are back in much tighter with plenty on nutlock.

Don't get me wrong, both of these problems were my fault & i'm very happy with krieger tensioner.

 

Okay I do believe that the ticky tackiness was the cam chain tension being too loose. I removed the OEM tensioner and it looked to be in great shape with sharp teeth and no shiney spots.

Installed the krieger. Oh My GOD! who has fingers small enough to tighten that inboard allen bolt? I got lucky with a hex allen bit and a 1/4" ratcheting wrench. Some RTV got on those threads so I hope they will stay put.

Tighten the krieger by hand with engine cold. I have a kickstarter so I could use that to advance the cam chain and tighten more but the directions wanted CCW rotation and I don't know if that is what the kicker provides so I pulled out the plug and used a ratchet per the directions.

In case you have a kickstarter you can simply use the kicker to roll the engine the proper direction.

Started the engine and it was silent, no ticky tacky, solved! After warmup I followed the fine tune directions and had to back the tensioner off quite a bit to get a tick at idle and the rattle is just like the ticky tacky sound that started this thread. Like a valve guide noise or lifter tick in a worn out toyota. I ran the krieger in until the noise went away and then a slight bit more.

It's tough to set this right since a side load on the kriger bolt will silence the tick but the jamb nut locks the krieger in place without the side load.

I think I am a bit loose since this morning it was noisy until warm up. Is that what you all have found? That the tension in the chain tightens as the engine warms? It is easy to tighten a bit more until the cold rattle is gone. Is that how you folks did it?

 

Highbeam, I think the slight noise you hear during warmup is fairly normal with the manual tensioner. Adjusted properly, the noise goes away when warm. On getting easy access to the adjuster with the engine running, I used the setup pictured here. No burnt fingers with good, finite tuning. That's 1/4" drive stuff in the pic, and the extension is a wobble joint style...though I think a straight joint model works almost as well.

 

Your pictures are actually printed on the instructions mailed with the tensioner. I have no trouble accessing the adjuster bolt for adjusting, it is the installation allen bolts, the 4mm ones, that caused me trouble with my big paws. That guy back between the carb and the tensioner is a challenge.

Good to hear that I should expect some noise when cold that goes away when warm, that's what I have right now. Perhaps a bit too much cold noise though so I'll snug it up one increment.

 

I went back yesterday and readjusted the krieger using the finger tight method and I got a full turn of the adjuster inward. All ticky tackiness is now gone and the engine is silent now.

So the crappy chain tensioner can make an idle tick. Very loud tick tick tick.

Krieger fixed it.

I don't plan on going back in with the fine tune on hot running engine method as that results in a sloppy chain ticking when cold.