A total noob. Just bought my first bike in May, a 95 Suzuki Savage 650. Didn't know a darn thing about bikes but have spent the last month or so researching cause this bike had issues when I bought it and the guy I bought it from didn't have much to tell me when I bought it except "he let his friend borrow it, now it's running loud".

In this time I have learned more about bikes than my 33 years combined, and I am in love! The rocker arms were shot and the cam housing area had some scratching so I figure it was not taken care of and probably ridden inappropriately for too long. Found a great service shop near my work that had a couple Savages they were parting out, so I bought the entire cylinder head assembly cause it looked in pristine condition.

Swapped out the cylinder head assembly and hooked everything back up and started her up, and she sounds pretty good! However in recent days I am currently making the current repairs/upgrades:

1. Checking the cam tensioner to see where it's at, I get no noise and the engine runs quiet but you guys got me paranoid about it and I have to see for myself how far it's travelled.
2. Raising the seat mount about 1" or so.
3. Raptor 660 petcock replacement for OEM petcock.

Eventually getting some paintwork and aftermarket parts (turn signals, pegs, headlamp cover, and possibly a neon kit to match the paintjob)

I have become obsessed with this bike right now, and this site has been invaluable in the process. Thank you to all the people who participate and help out beginners like myself who don't quite know what the heck we're doing.

Thanks

First,welcome to the site.

You think it was ridden " inappropriately"? I had no idea that was possible!
What were the rockers looking like?
You were careful with the valve lash adjustment?
If you get them too tight the engine will be quiet,but the valves will be burned.
You got the Suzuki manual or Clymers?
Clymers has a coupla mistakes in it.
How many miles on it?
How did you figure out what was wrong with it?
What oil did you get for it?


You don't know what your cam chain tensioner is looking like,but you swapped the head out?

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 08/13/14 at 15:41:39:


The "innappropiate riding" was a guess by the guy at the service shop who looked at the rockers and head assy and said that could have been the cause.

I have attached a pic of the old head with rockers and cam shaft wear.

I need to get a proper torque wrench to be sure of the tightness, i havent been riding it much at all right now. Just a min or two up the street in between tweeks made to see how it feels and sounds.

I have the Clymer, and I use this site to confirm or dispute the manual, if its from a reputable member than Ill usually take their advice over the Clymers. I also have aquired the companion CD from here as well.

Its got 11,450 mi

The guy who sold it to me basically said "It ran great, I wanted something bigger, so i lent to my friend, he had it for a few months and then brought it back because he thought it "sounded loud". They removed the head to check it out, and then left it at that.  He hinted the rocker arms probably had to be replaced. I had an experienced friend who was supposed to help me fix it but after 5-6 weeks i got tired of waiting and just jumped headfirst into savageland. I didnt really even know what good rockers and worn rockers would look like so i took to a local bike shop to get some help. The guy sold me a very good conditon head from same year and just reassembled, new spark plug,checked fluid levels, drained gas and added fresh, hooked up carb, and turned it over to see what it sounded like. I thought at least i would hear if it was rockers or cam tensioner since i have watched lots of vids on YT about it and could hear how distinct that sound can be.

I plan on not riding it much if at all until I take cylinder back off, properly bonding it with Yamabond 4, tightening to specs with proper torque wrench, replacing petcock, and checking the cam tensioner and replacing with a verslavy.

I orignally bought Quakerstate 10w40, and put in a qt. I intended to drain today and replace with Rotella T Triple 15w40. But now as i look at the bottle it says "heavy duty diesel" engine oil in the corner, did i get wrong kind?  :'(

Like i said this is my first bike experiece, i am learning as i go and i wanted to just get the head back on and start it to see if i could determine early if it was indeed the tensioner.

IDK why my pics are coming out sideways. Sorry

Well BoB !  

You got the right oil !  

I just guess at my Idle speed .    The bike will Idle so low it can hurt itself .   So just set the idle to +- what sounds a little high , and you'll be OK !