Knocking when warming up

[Jamie325]

I have a 93 zg1200 when I first start it has a loud ish knock for about a minute or so then it quits don't to a clicking sound only clicks at ideal when accelerating it's fine and you can't hear anything.

[Mr Jensee]

You may have a sticky lifter. Try putting 6 oz. of seafoam in the oil and see if that helps. Remember to only have 3 qts 22 oz. of oil in the bike which includes the filter.

[SgtSlag]

Welcome aboard!

Be aware that there are TWO oil drain plugs. It might be that you have too much oil in the engine; if the second drain plug is not removed, not all of the oil will be drained, so adding the specified 3 qts. 22 oz. will lead to excess oil in the engine. Pull BOTH drain plugs, and the filter, and fill with 3 qts. 22 oz. of oil, only. Forget the sight glass, as it is terribly inaccurate.

Mr. Jensee is correct, the SeaFoam treatment will dissolve any varnish or carbon deposits within the engine. It is a very good treatment to use. Marvel Mystery Oil will do similar work for you. Add one of the two treatments to the oil, run the bike, idling only, on the center stand for five minutes, shifting through all five gears, letting the rear wheel spin freely. This will circulate the treatment throughout the entire engine, and the transmission. After five minutes of idling, the oil should be up to operating temperature, 180 F. Then shut it down, and drain all of the oil. The treatment does not require miles to work -- it works very quickly.

If your oil darkens after treatment, it means that it has dissolved sludge within the engine/transmission -- a good thing! You should not need to re-treat the engine again, as long as you run modern oils through it: API SJ, or better, with SN being the latest. Modern oils won't break down into sludge unless you exceed the change interval. Cheers!

[Jamie325]

Thanks for the responses I'll give the mystery oil a try I did remove both plugs and filter when I changed it

[SgtSlag]

Make certain the oil you use is of the correct viscosity range: 10W-40 recommended. I used Shell Rotella T6 Full Synthetic, 5W-40, for a couple of years, but it led to shifting problems, false neutrals between 4th and 5th gears, and other issues. After I switched to Rotalla T (dyno), 15W-40, my transmission issues disappeared. The recommended viscosity is 10W-40... Do not use anything thinner than 10 weight; 50 weight (10W-50, 20W-50, etc) can be used, in high temperature environments, like hot deserts. Otherwise, a good 10W-40 multi-viscosity oil is your best bet. Cheers!