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engine noise

  • Thread starter Thread starter MunkyMastr
  • Start date Start date
M

MunkyMastr

Guest
So, I bought my baby, and I know a few mechanics who have some knowledge of this particular bike, and bikes in general. Bike starts, runs fine. At idle there is a rattle in the motor, people seem to think it is the cam chain. While waiting for someone to assist me in adjusting the chain, I changed the oil, oil filter, stator, and reg/rec. Now, I start it up to cycle the oil into the filter housing and such, and fill it more. The noise is now substantially louder, and alarming to me.
Does this ring a bell with anyone? I used 10w/40 fully synthetic, don't know what it had in before.
 
What bike do you have?

The GSs have auto cam chain tension adjusters and it's unusual that the tension is the problem. Not beyond the realm of possibility but still unlikely.

Depending on the mileage you may have to to do a valve adjustment. How many miles are on the bike? What's the service history?
 
82 gs1100e I'm sorry. It's late, I'm bummed. Service history, no idea. No idea how long previous owner road the bike with the noise I heard. Mileage is 20,500.
 
Boo Yah! You have the same bike I do. :)

You need to do a valve inspection/adjustment. Either take it to a shop or get the tool to do it yourself. I don't have the part number on hand but Motion Pro makes a version.

With the mileage you have you're ready for a valve job. The clearance should be .003 - .005"
 
Where is the sound eminating from? Could be start clutch rattle, common issue on the big 1100s for whatever reason. The noise seems to get worse when the oil is cold, and disipates when the bike warms.
 
I'll check the valves as soon as my valve cover gasket comes in, it's leaking anyway. Clutch rattle, eh? Is that a looseness issue or what? It is louder at ilde, very loud, to not very noticible when revved.
 
MunkyMastr said:
I'll check the valves as soon as my valve cover gasket comes in, it's leaking anyway. Clutch rattle, eh? Is that a looseness issue or what? It is louder at ilde, very loud, to not very noticible when revved.
Click to expand...
Well there are generally three "common rattles" from the GS motors at idle that dont translate to throttle. One, is a weakening STARTER clutch. This is a clutch that is driven by the starter motor to engage the primary gear (sometimes called the flywheel) to intially turn the motor over. As they wear out, they get loose and start making some racket at idle. This noise would be coming from the STATOR cover, as the starter clutch is behind the charging rotor, between it and the primary gear. The second would be actual clutch basket rattle. This would involve removing the clutch cover, and clutch springs and plates and checking to see that your clutch hub nut is tight. This is a common rattle on the GSs and most people sorta live with it it seems. The last rattle noise, is more like a shuffling noise and that would be associated with "cam walk" As the cams, journal bearings and cam chain wear, they sometimes develop a little bit of slop in the cams that allows the cam to shimmy side to side in its bearings. Nothing far enough to do any damage, and when you feed throttle to the bike, the cam chain tightens up a bit and pulls the cams straight again. This is another one of those noises that people tend to live with for a while. If the noise is your starter clutch, however, I would recommend replacement as soon as possible. Eventually, the starter clutch can start to spit out the little springs that push out the rollers that engage the clutch, and these can end up in bad places throughout the motor. Other people might have suggestions as well.
 
I just had the starter clutch out, I think. I replaced the stator, and if I am following you, the starter clutch was right behind the magnets. It was washer, starter clutch, washer, all on a shaft that went into the cases on both sides. That shaft came out with the stator cover, could those bearings you speak of have come out, or are they sealed?
 
Found the problem, starter clutch it is. Now, the puller is not in my hands, and getting the magneto thingy off is impossible right now. :(
 
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