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{US} Tech Bulletin M2016-004 Cam Chain Tensioner Noise


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My bike started making the sound after around 590 miles.. Went in to the dealer today and he is going to replace the CCT rather than adjust the existing one.. I have an S2 version of CCT currently installed on mine. Dont know what the new one will be as its going to arrive in about 3-5 days..
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My bike started making the sound after around 590 miles.. Went in to the dealer today and he is going to replace the CCT rather than adjust the existing one.. I have an S2 version of CCT currently installed on mine. Dont know what the new one will be as its going to arrive in about 3-5 days..
You can't adjust the existing one, as it's a self-adjusting mechanism with a spring. 
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Actually, you can adjust the "base" setting, but be VERY careful, the spring metal parts in there holding the whole ratchet mechanism together, are VERY brittle.
 
And when you adjust it to the right setting, it can "un-adjust" just as swiftly by it's self.
 
See, the TSB notes the WEAR to the ridges machined into the housing that the ratchet is supposed to hook into while it self adjusts.
 
But without more oil to that, it wears out very fast, then the stock CCT just pogo's up and down wearing the machine marks faster and fast and faster... Think about breaking in a new pistol or rifle. All guns have machine tool marks. So do engines. These marks break in, and wear against each other, smoothing out and even polishing the contact/wear points. This is why you use non-synthetic oil for break in, you want the parts to "mate" or machine themselves to each other, then change the oil and remove as much of the metal particles as you can after the wear has happened.
 
But on the STOCK CCT, it's worn out swiftly, and will never ratchet correctly again. (In my opinion, a totally flawed design.)
 
And in the case of my 2014, FZ09, it destroyed a motor with less than 3000 miles on it. Just past 2000. And the second oil change I did on the bike to try and limit wear and tear on my bike. Changed the oil just before 600 miles, then again about 1800 miles. Then about 500 miles later, the CCT failed.
 
I had an APE on order, it arrived in the mail the afternoon my bike's engine crapped out and nearly killed me. Nice eh?
 
Yamaha should replace this entire CCT run with a MANUAL CCT of their own design/production for free, for every CP3 engine made/in service now.
 
Set it and forget it.
 
And for those of us who lost money/time/safety? I'd think paying at least a fair price for the APE unit and any lost value of trading out bikes would be nice. In my case, about 100 for the APE, and 2000.00 for the lost value on the FZ09 when I traded it for a 2015 FJ09.
 
It would not cost Yamaha very much, not many engines failed like mine, but there were more than a few, perhaps 50 in the world?
And all the owners who have had to buy the APE/Graves manual CCT's should at least get that money back now that Yamaha is "fixing" all the CCT's out there with a defacto recall.
 
It's called good will Yamaha.
 
Or I can keep on reminding folks what a joke your Warranty process is till the end of time I suppose? :)
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At PID 0003142, it looks like my bike was built just after the design change cutoff, so maybe my CCT will stay lubricated and work correctly.
Still, I'm going to keep an ear out for the "death rattle".
 
Pete
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@stevesweetz Now my mechanic is saying that it's not a recall just a TSB. Guess your mechanic was right the first time. 
 
I swear that repair order sheet he showed me said recall on it though.
LOL, while my mechanic changed his tune in exactly the opposite way! 
I think it's basically a "non-mandatory recall".  Thus far it doesn't seem like Yamaha is going to send out a notice to all potentially affected owners, but I think the fact that they're still covering the repair cost for bikes that are no longer under warranty makes it recall.  It also sounds like they're asking dealers to proactively do this change for any new bikes they currently have in stock.
 
---
 
Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting these parts.  My bike is rattling so much I'm worried about and the dealer said "if you're worried about it, don't ride it" - easier said than done.  I just paid $11K for this bike, I wanna ride it dammit!  Love the bike, but really disappointed at this issue, they had 2 previous model years and apparently already went through one design revision without fixing this problem.

 
No
 
It's NOT a recall.
It's a technical service BULLETIN, which means bikes that exhibit SYMPTOMS of a noisy/failing tensioner will get theirs replaced.
 
If a dealer tells you otherwise, they don't understand the difference, or are willing to absorb the cost of the repair when Yamaha refuses to pay for a new tensioner, that replaces a tensioner that doesn't make any noise. Or they plan on charging you, at which point it becomes a fight for who pays the bill.
 
Skip
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LOL, while my mechanic changed his tune in exactly the opposite way! 
I think it's basically a "non-mandatory recall".  Thus far it doesn't seem like Yamaha is going to send out a notice to all potentially affected owners, but I think the fact that they're still covering the repair cost for bikes that are no longer under warranty makes it recall.  It also sounds like they're asking dealers to proactively do this change for any new bikes they currently have in stock.
 
---
 
Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting these parts.  My bike is rattling so much I'm worried about and the dealer said "if you're worried about it, don't ride it" - easier said than done.  I just paid $11K for this bike, I wanna ride it dammit!  Love the bike, but really disappointed at this issue, they had 2 previous model years and apparently already went through one design revision without fixing this problem.

No 
It's NOT a recall.
It's a technical service BULLETIN, which means bikes that exhibit SYMPTOMS of a noisy/failing tensioner will get theirs replaced.
 
If a dealer tells you otherwise, they don't understand the difference, or are willing to absorb the cost of the repair when Yamaha refuses to pay for a new tensioner, that replaces a tensioner that doesn't make any noise. Or they plan on charging you, at which point it becomes a fight for who pays the bill.
 
Skip
Point is it doesn't seem like they're going to send out notices, but they are paying for the repair on bikes out of warranty.   
 
That said, rationally, how exactly do you think Yamaha is going to verify that the repair is only done when needed?  Tell shops they need to make an audio recording of every bike on which the service is performed?   They don't say that the tensioner has to be damage as pictured, they just say a persistent rattling has to be heard and I doubt they're going to require proof of that.
 
In any case, my bike very much has the problem, and I don't know what they're telling anyone else, but they said they have noticed the rattle in other FZs and FJs in the past.  I suspect they may proactively offer the repair for owners who bring their bike in for inspection or some other service if they exhibit the problem.
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Yeah, who knows? Perhaps the TSB photos of the cut open and worn out CCT are from my bike? (Since they clearly paid to repair my bike, and due to the large amounts of noise I made, would want to see why this POS CCT design failed?)
 
Yamaha clearly KNOWS there is a problem, and this oil supply change is just the cheapest Band-Aid they could come up with v/s admitting it is a FLAWED DESIGN, with very brittle parts that can fail, and in very short order, allow the ratchet mechanism to push your cam timing chain tensioner on the slack side to it's untimely death.
 
But hey, that's never going to be known, because if they admitted who's CCT is in the photo, they would be admitting it's a flawed design...
 
But really, we don't need to know who's CCT is in the photos on the TSB, the clear proof is Yamaha is telling the service departments/techs/advisors that the ratchet area groves machined into the CCT can become worn, and then it does not work correctly.
And their fix is flowing more oil over the failure prone design, in hopes it will not wear out, break or fail while they have any reasonable warranty responsibility.
 
Very uncool for all us owners.
 
But hey, I've only lost more than 2000.00 changing bikes and suffered their insults that I don't know what I'm talking about... Whoops, they had to put out a TSB that proved me right... Whoops, I'm correct. !:)
 
I seriously love that they have had to do this. It's still not completely right, but it's a nice move in the right direction.
 
Now how about paying everyone who's had to go buy manual CCT's and/or lost money on this bike due to the CCT failure?
 
How about it Yamaha?
 
Or I can keep on poking you in the eye I suppose... :)
 
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I called my dealer for the heck of it. I was clearly informed they will not swap in the new part until mine fails. The retail on the part is $80-85 depending on where you buy it. Maybe I should just pay and have it done proactively? Mine is a '16 with 3400 miles on it right now. I'm tempted to do the install myself. 
2001 Honda Saber - sold
2003 Yamaha FZ1 - sold
2005 Yamaha FZ6 - sold
2007 Yamaha Vstar 1300 - sold
2008 Kawasaki Versys - sold
2009 Yamaha FZ6 - sold
2010 Yamaha Raider - sold
2012 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 - sold
2014 Yamaha FJR - sold
2015 Yamaha FJ-09 - lemon back to dealer
2016 Yamaha FJ -09
 
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Took my VIN (2015) down to the closest Ride Now (Dealer I bought the bike from) and mentioned the Yamaha Bulletin on the CCT's. He was unaware of it (!?) but looked it up & printed out the "recall." He said my VIN was on the list and ordered the new re-designed tensioner. We'll see how long it takes to get it in; and no he didn't need to see the bike or listen to the CCT.
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I called my dealer for the heck of it. I was clearly informed they will not swap in the new part until mine fails. The retail on the part is $80-85 depending on where you buy it. Maybe I should just pay and have it done proactively? Mine is a '16 with 3400 miles on it right now. I'm tempted to do the install myself. 
IMHO, just order the APE tensioner and install it.  Instant peace of mind, and about the same $ (assuming they charge you for the part).
 
I was amazed at how much noise mine was making before I swapped it out, and how quiet it was after.  Between the gradual increase in noise, and earplugs I hadn't realized how bad it was!
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I called my dealer for the heck of it. I was clearly informed they will not swap in the new part until mine fails. The retail on the part is $80-85 depending on where you buy it. Maybe I should just pay and have it done proactively? Mine is a '16 with 3400 miles on it right now. I'm tempted to do the install myself. 
IMHO, just order the APE tensioner and install it.  Instant peace of mind, and about the same $ (assuming they charge you for the part). 
I was amazed at how much noise mine was making before I swapped it out, and how quiet it was after.  Between the gradual increase in noise, and earplugs I hadn't realized how bad it was!
Same here. With the earplugs, I didn't realize how noisy mine had gotten after 8500 miles. Once I installed the APE CCT..Wow! So quiet!
Piedmont of NC
'15 FJ-09
'94 GTS-1000
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Had the new tensioner installed at the dealer. I didn't have any symptoms on the Orginal one. Now when cold till the bike is good and warmed up I have noise. Then it's quiet. I think I'm going back to the dealer to see if it needs tweaking....
A Motorcyclist's Church is the open road....
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Had the new tensioner installed at the dealer. I didn't have any symptoms on the Orginal one. Now when cold till the bike is good and warmed up I have noise. Then it's quiet. I think I'm going back to the dealer to see if it needs tweaking....
My early 2016 squeals loudly for the first 10 minutes and then is quieter (although still kind of rattly).  It did not do that new and the demo bike did not do that. 
Deal says thats the way it is.  Says it takes an act of god for Yamaha to pay for replacing a cct and they have only done it one one fz-09.
 
Even with ear plugs it kind of bothers me.
 
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