hi i have a 2016 griso it has about 6000 m on it its in really lovely condition .There is a noise in the motor its not knocking its a lighter sound coming from the front of the motor.I bought this bike from a dealer about a year ago and was told it had been given a full service and the bike was quiet i bought it home in a van during the first ride this noise appeared i checked the oil level and was surprised to find the oil was bright red and thick not 10 / 60 at all. My question is could anybody recommend someone who knows the 1200 motor well i would like to get the bike sorted thanks geoff
Has it been…
Rollerised?
You will need to remove a valve cover to check.
This is NOT a casual question - flat tappet versions of these engines all eventually self-destruct.
Do NOT run it again until you have read the link and know a bit more about what’s going on in there.
More info HERE.
And also HERE .
Hi, I have owned a 1200 Griso for over 10 years. For Griso motors built after late 2012, they all had factory installed roller cams, so if your Griso was registered in 2016 (when production ceased) it will have roller cams and won’t be affected by the flat tappet failure problem
The 1200 high cam engine is oil / air cooled and has oil cooling circuits in the heads, the engine must be filled with 10w60 fully synthetic oil. Don’t use mineral / semi synthetic, 10w60 full synthetic is essential. The cylinder head design is completely different to the previous generation pushrod 1064 cc motor
If you don’t know what grade of oil is currently in the sump, change it for this grade.
The timing chains are tensioned hydraulically, which is another reason why the correct grade of oil should be used, and not 10w40 semi-synthetic
It might be a sticking timing chain tensioner
That being said, the 1200 roller cam motor is a durable reliable design, but not known for its mechanical quietness.
If you are not confident working on the engine yourself, and are in the Midlands, Twiggers in Loughborough are the place to go. What they don’t know about Guzzi’s ain’t worth knowing 
If I have read Pete Roper’s posts correctly, none of the 8v 1200 Sports engines were built with roller tappets, they were being supplied in unmodified form up to 2015 in Oz, so it would be worth checking.
It sounds as if the timing chain tensioner/oil issue is worth investigating also. Hope it is something easy to sort out.
The Griso is a really nice bike.
You may be causing undue concern to the OP. You have not read PR’s posts correctly and it is plainly not true that ‘no 8V 1200 engines were built with roller tappets’. Of course they were, the date when the factory eventually, tardily, made the change is not a secret, it is well known. This issue had been endlessly discussed, examined, reported for over 15 years and by now there must be millions of posts, comments and articles produced and instanty available online. It was a mystery in the first years, due in good part to Piaggio-Guzzi’s unwillingness to accept there was any issue and to support customers, but for over a decade now there has been no mystery at all. The OP is very fortunate to have an end-of-production year bike. It should serve well.
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Not what I said. From GrisoGhetto…
"With one notable exception all 8V’s changed over to roller tappets and cams by the middle of 2012. The factory’s engine numbers for the changeover point are listed as;
Stelvio- Motor#AC12596 Build Date 12 March 2012
GRiSO - Motor#A813524 Build Date 12 April 2012
Norge - Motor#AA12214 Build Date 18 April 2012
The exception to this is 1200 Sports, none of which were ever made with roller engines at the factory."
The last two lines is what I quoted.
Anyway, here’s hoping that OP can get their bike sorted out… 
The question here is about a ‘2016’ Griso (possibly produced in 2015 but not likely to be older than that) not the out of production Sport – so it’s irrelevant and perhaps confusing for the OP and others. As Sport production finished before or around the time when the new / updated engine was introduced, it is of course in the same category as all the 8V models of that period – when there were no roller motors. The Sport is really only ‘an exception’ in that it didn’t exist anymore, whereas the other models continued. I don’t believe there is such a thing as a Sport produced from the factory, for example in 2016, with an old non-roller motor while the Griso, like the other 8Vs still produced, had the new motor for a number of years.
Gusty need not worry at all about the flat tappet issue.
Gusty should also not necessarily worry about the oil being red as that is one of the normal colours for oil. I don’t know how he judged the weight of the oil but if he doubts it is correct then as Guzzimax says, change it. Perhaps the engine sound will then change too, though there is no quiet air-cooled Guzzi motor.
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If the noise id from the front could it be the alternator belt as that can whistle or hum?
As suggested i used Twiggers in Loughborough for a service and some work on my stelvio.
Fantastic service and at a reasonable price.
Great guys.
thanks to everyone who has offered advice about my noisy 1200 griso. I did not know it had hydraulic chain tensioners and one might be sticking i live in dorset does anyone recommend someone further south than twiggers cheers geoff
Are Three Cross / Motomecca / Moto Corsa still going in Dorset? I know they went bust a few years ago, but I did hear that they had reopened as Moto Corsa Dorset?
https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2022/august/moto-corsa-liquidation-return/
Still quite a treck from Dorset, but a couple Oxford way, Tony Botta is recommended by a few on here or Baldricks workshop in Leatherhead or NBS in Stafford.
https://www.gavinsbikehospital.co.uk/
Tony Botta TB MOTORCYCLES : DIDCOT
M : 07970 855318. Email : info@tbmotorcycles.co.uk
Unit S7 Didcot Enterprise Centre Southmead Industrial Est Hawksworth Didcot OX11 7PH
AFAIK, Moto Corsa closed again, but it might be worth checking…
I’ve used downend motorcycles in Bristol recently and they were good!
Mike Russell de Clifford, former technical and warranty manager at 3X Motorcycles.
Bramble Cottage, Foddington, Somerset. TA11 7EL