Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hi Tanya & members, I've been dirrected to this by a mutual friend who thought I may be able to shed some light on this for u. Sorry my first post here isn't an intro....... for what it's worth here's my input....
I agree with others here on a few things...water wasn't the issue inside the engine, anyone that has raced &/or had anything to do with "water injection" over the last 30 years will know the good effects that are produced with carbon reduction on backs of valves & tops of pistons(keeps combustion chambers clean & retains constant compression ratios where needed..drag racing etc.). So I agree water NOT the issue inside !
Now that being said, it is always good "not " to be mind set into looking for one cause for a problem & there is more often than not more than one thing going on.......... this makes me add this link for u just as input because of what I know about quite a few brands

http://www.mvagusta.net/forum/showthrea ... il+warning

To help u understand what the fuel effect is about, which many of us have known about for years u need to understand that the fuels are being designed for cars. Which run way hotter under the bonnets & are able to burn off all additives in the fuel especially the crap they put in the "premiums" in this country & others inside the combustion chamber.
Our bikes cannot under some/many curcumstances...(ie..ridden around town a stupid slow speed limits) burn off this residue which leave a tar like residue on the valve stems & builds up until the valve sticks in the valve guide which they slide up & down inside(normally sticking open), this can cause a lot of dramas that I won't go into detail of here but a loss of compression in 1 or more cylinders is the give away sign to many of us. There are ways to de-coating these by running a product directly into the throttle bodies while the engine is running at a reasonable rev rate, but a injector cleaner added to fuel once in a while will be the best preventitive measure for most of u. That & staying away from premiums...JMHO !
The bikes run great on normal unleaded if they are tuned for it & the only down side we have noticed is miles per tank full are slightly less on normal unleaded.
Now here lies the problem.....some bikes are tuned with the tanks off, & hooked up to a workshop hanging tanks for easy acsess to the engine while tuning(more than likely premium), which means if your tank is full of normal unleaded it's tune will be slightly off when u get it back & keep running on the fuel u picked. It can be noticed on some/alot of the higher performance machine/bikes of today & their riders. So u need to know what your merc is doing & be on a "talking" bases with him if u want to try this your selves.
We in this house don't run premium in anything, even the VT Belina Comm.
I have over 50,000 Kms on my Aprilia Tuono from new & it's NEVER had premium in it(NO problems either in fueling), neither has the MV Butale since my lady has owned it.
& there lies another problem .....u never know what the last owner was running(if second hand) & the damage/build up maybe already waiting to cause an issue. The people that ride really "hard" don't usually seem to get affected by this but those that go touring & are stuck commuting sometimes do.
A lot of the(older) mercs know about this & will work with you if they know what their doing.
I hope this is of use to some of u.....good luck all.

Thanks Scary, I worked out who you are with the Brutale comment, please say Hi to Missy for me

I've already switched the bike to non premium fuel, and I've put a fuel additive/cleaner in it.. now just to find the time to ride it

Tanya....(will do mate)....DON"T FREAK OUT ! this is just input to think on & ask about ........just on the rattle side of it, it's worth knowing that the valve shims come in many diametre sizes, now it's not unheard of for someone to put in a smaller dia. shim than is meant to be in there because of size shortages or lack of stock inhouse. Has yours had a shim adjust at all ???? Rattle is a sign of this &/or to bigger gap(outta spec).
But it also is not unheard of for a shim like this to tip up on it's edge because it has more room to move, & they can do "not" nice things to an engine(rare, but has happened in the past). Normally means valve & piston top get to have a face to face meeting...never nice.
Now if it has had one at Bretts old shop I know for a fact the merc there knows "way" better than that, cause I tested him one day ages ago while Brett still owned the joint. If he's still there then it's cool !
Then it comes down to where is the rattle....high up in the head/cams area(valve stems/guide play or shim adjustment possible) or down towards the middle of the barrels/pistons(piston ring/bore wear/damage) Known as piston slap to many of us ????
Or as meantioned above in the cam chain area(stuck/damaged Adjuster)???
Get someone u know to have a close listen to it for u. Pity we're not on the coast now or I'd have had a look for u. Don't worry toooo much though cause some do it more than others & types & thickness of oil can make one bike sound different to another. Monday or Friday bikes toooo etc. etc....

I think the comment about staying away from Premium fuels is a bit misguided. When the manufacturer recommends nothing under 95-octane is to be used, then are you saying that its better to run standard unleaded of 88 or 90 octane ?

The potential damage that can be caused by detonation (or pinging), from using low-octane fuel in a high-compression (ie sports) motor is far worse. In order to stop your valves from sticking (pretty rare problem according to my local Big K workshop), is give your bike the berries every now and then. That, and some injector cleaner as already mentioned, is a far better preventative method than using low-octane pump fuel.....

If you ride around on a commuter bike with standard compression that is under 10:1 static, low-octane fuel is *just fine*. I just wanted to point out that a specific approach should be taken with specific bikes....

It's a monday bike, no doubt about that at all.

Brett hasn't owned the shop for about 18 months now.

The bike hasn't had any shim adjustments, and it's about to celebrate it's first birthday..
I've been trying to get it into my mechanic for him to listen to, it's just he's been away on saturdays, and they're the only days I can get there.

Gosling1.......Totally a fair warning & input mate, & is why I made it as clear as possible that the engine needs to be tuned to the fuel. Many here have found our fuels are shocking, some brands are worse than others & for many of us it's been the best option here. Everyone makes their own call on the web stuff as it is only the web 'A'.
But this input is not short term Knee jerk stuff & the rotax engine in my Tuono is one of the higher compression bikes around, which is why I gave u that input. A lot of Triumph gents over here were the first to have these dramas & for many HERE this is common knowledge.
Think about when it was the last time u heard about a later model ECU fitted bike having blowen because of being toooo lean.......the new breed of ECU systems may do more than u know.


But fair input for others to take onboard.


PS...Tanya....Cool mate, it's all good then.