Knocking/Tapping in Engine (Engine Area)

[RPGator]

I purchased a 2009 Gator 620i with 300 hours on it a few days ago. I discovered today that there is a loud knocking / tapping noise in the engine or area of the engine at idle. The noise tends to either go away or is masked by louder noise of the engine revving when I accelerate. The gator runs and operates fine. The unit has a Kawasaki engine.

Any thoughts on the source of the knocking or if this is normal for this engine/model?

[Mr. Moose]

Could be that it had poor fuel in it. or You could have low oil or the oil pump isn't circulating. I've got a few engines that do that and I still can't figure them out. It's like they miss and then stutter and knock and try to die.

[RPGator]

I took the gator to my local John Deere dealer. They suggested the noise was valve chatter and adjusted the valves. It had no affect on the noise. I did a little more research on line and found one occurence of someone with a XUV 620i with fuel injection who was told that the fuel injected Kawasaki V twin engine was notorius for its valve clatter that could not be resolved. Is anyone else aware of this being an issue?

[campoman]

sounds to reason that if you didn't have the noise before it wouldn't be a valve clatter noise all of a sudden I know a faulty injector can make a taping or knocking noise other then that carbon accumulated on a piston can make a knocking noise try some injection cleaner in the engine , sea foam works very well hope this helps