Does anyone know how to determine if one of the hydraulic lifters is leaking oil? I have the valve covers off the engine so I can go from there.

If your lifters are collapsing you'll hear the telltale clacking sign on startup, which then slowly disappears.

Why do you suspect your lifter is leaking?

If you're sure it's leaking then replace them with aftermarket lifters; there're not that expensive (I paid $30 for 4) . If unsure then take them out and try pumping them up.

Doc

When checking the valve adjustment on my machine I noticed that I could compress the lifter on the intake valves of the rear cylinder by hand. The result was about an eighth inch gap between the valve and rocker arm - pretty sloppy and not normal, I believe. The other valves were tight and a gap could only be obtained by prying with a screwdriver. It seemed to me that the only thing that would cause this is a collapsed hydraulic lifter. I intitially got involved with this exercise due to increased noise in the engine upper end.

It's not uncommon to find the OEM lifters collapsing. I had one of mine fail at about 3000 miles and replaced all of them with Mellings.

Once pumped up the lifter should be very difficult to compress. I also would suspect that the lifter you describe is bad. But then again, my mechanical knowledge is limited.

For piece of mind just change it out.

Doc

Doc:

Thanks for the info. After some further thought and discussions with other folks I'm convinced that it is a lifter problem. I will change out all four. If you don't mind my asking where did you get the Melling lifters that you mentioned? Hopefully I'm back on the road to quietness.

TreeDr,

They are quite common and have been used in various models of cars. I just went to the local auto machine shop and picked them up. There are various brands and models that appear to fit but I used Mellings JB2011 (if my memory serves me.)

BTW .... I followed the process in the manual with respect to pumping them up.

Doc

Doc:

Very good. I looked at Mellings webpage and they say nothing about making parts for motorcycles. I'll visit one of the Melling dealers here in San Diego and see what they say. The model number will be a big help.

I have the Roadstar shop manual and will follow their instructions - bleeding with kerosene, etc.

Thanks again.

TreeDr

Doc:

One last comment. I installed the Melling JB2011 lifters - the bike runs and sounds great. I still have a few more clatters to chase down but I am confident the lifter problem is handled. I purchased the lifters at a local engine shop, as you suggested, at $17.23 out the door for all four. The Yamaha dealer quoted me $29.95 EACH for OEM replacements. What's wrong with this picture?

Thanks again for all the help. NOt only did you help solve my problem but saved me a bundle of cash in the process.

TreeDr

Been looking at the manual. Were you able to do this with the engine in the bike? Did you pull the lifters up the push rod tubes wihtout removing the heads?

CRASH:

Its actually pretty easy. Remove the cylinder head cover, the head cover spacer and the rocker arm base (page 5-14 thru 5-16 of my service manual). Then lift out the pushrods and remove the push rod covers (they may take a bit of wiggling). Remove the lifter case cover by removing the 2 screws (per cylinder) holding it to the cam cover. The lifter case can now be lifted out and the liters taken out and replaced (page 5-17 of my manual). Page 5-22 shows how to bleed the lifters before installing the new ones. They recommend using kerosene to "pump up" the lifters - I could not find kerosene so substituted Marvel oil at the recommendation of a guy at the Napa store. I assume the lifters will be filled with engine oil eventually anyway. I did one cylinder at at time. That is, I set one cylinder to TDC, did all the work back to replacing the rocker arm base so I would not have to reset the valves. Then I set the next cyclinder to TDC and did all the work. My service manual does a good job for explaining and illustrating what needs doing, I think.

TreeDr