[n4mwd]

I saw the old guy with the cam chain video before. Its tempting, but don't do it. Doing something like that might be OK for an old dirt bike, but its not OK for a high tolerance engine. Just so you know, the tolerance inside a car engine is measured in hundredths and sometimes thousandths of an inch. In a Ninja 250, the tolerance is measured in microns - that's 1/1,000,000 of an meter. There is no room for error.

Sadly, if you have to replace the chain, it means you have to split the crank case to do it right. There is a cam chain retainer around the crankshaft that prevents the chain from coming out. And if you are going to do all that work to split the engine, its time to rebuild it and replace all the bearings. You are probably looking at $500 before its all said and done. But if you do it right, you will have a brand new engine. Do it wrong and you just burned $500 and a lot of time. When I rebuilt my 2007 it took several months due to the fact that I had to order parts and wait for them to come in, then I'd find that I needed another part.

Lets hope you don't have to change the cam chain.

But regarding your cam chain, did you try removing the CCT and pushing on the L shaped rocker inside the CCT hole to see if it has ANY effect on the cam chain? Even a worn out one should have some noticeable effect even if its not enough.

Basically, we are trying to determine if the tensioner can take up the slack or not. If the CCT is bad, then its just a few cheap parts and you are back in business. The complete tensioner assembly with all the parts brand new from the dealer is about $35.