| Author | Message | ||
     Dman |
Wow that is a noisy engine, maybe the mic placement is exagerating it but yea that would make me think something was grenading inside. Mine sounds nothing like that. Congrats on doing a great job on pursuing the problem and a good dealer experience, hopefully it'll work out ideal for you on the repair & help the 1125 community as well. | ||
| Zac4mac |
YIKES That sounds horrible I'll try to listen more but could only take a few seconds with earphones. Build date 06NOV07, Loretta, 24.6k miles Z | ||
| Timtowtdi |
Yours does not sound much different than mine. I have always thought mine was very loud and clanky sounding. Like something is breaking inside. Sometimes the clanking gets louder when I am riding. Maybe mine is breaking too. I guess I will ride it until it breaks. LOL. What else to do? Anyone in the Chicago are want to ride together and compare sounds? LOL. | ||
| Metalrabbit |
any debris from that ending up in the oil? that not only sounded awful but it looked like it affected the way it ran, no? | ||
| Dannybuell |
What are the top 5 scenarios associated with premature wear and how do they rank? worst first. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. | ||
| Mountainstorm |
That sounds HIDEOUS. If mine starts to sound like that at least I will know what broke. Thanks for the vid. | ||
| Ratsmc |
Wow. Bloose, thanks a lot for posting that. I think you have done everyone a favor and many of us will sleep better tonight. Which makes me think: does anyone have a decent mic set up and a known good motor? Since the 1125 is noisy enough to cause people to worry about a normal engine, having a good audio baseline posted here would be really helpful - know when you are normal and know when you need help. It should go up on youtube but I'll host the soundfile (or video) as well. (Message edited by ratsmc on April 30, 2010) | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
There is something wrong with that noise it sounds like an old vw flat four. Mine does not sound like that. | ||
| Hairy_cannonball |
Bloose, thanks for the report. I just have a couple questions. Was the damage on both the balance shaft gear as well as the crank gear that drives it or was it limited to just the driven (balance shaft) gear? Also can you describe the damage, ie was it chipping/flaking, or was it like the gear was too soft. Was there any discoloration indicating that the gear got too hot? Thanks. | ||
| Bloose |
I'm going to call the dealer today and ask to see the old parts before they go back. If I can I will snap a pic. I couldn't see the crank gear but the dealer said both are bad and are being replaced. Even if the lower gear looked fine both should be replaced. More than likely this problem began with an improper gear tooth profile which caused the gears to mesh improperly causing excessive localized heat. Between the heat and poor tooth contact the teeth likely welded themselves together in spots and the damage took off from there. My immediate concern is the damage that may have been done by the worn off metal. I have an oil sample and will have the results today. A reliability engineer will advise me on whether to be concerned or not. When I have the bike back (today or Monday) I will shoot another video and we can all compare the two sound tracks. | ||
| Hairy_cannonball |
Thanks, I would love to see a pic of the old parts. | ||
| Sinjhin |
Bloose, just wanted to thank you for this post and your scientific approach. It is hard to tell what is distortion and what is not in the video, but your bike is definitely much more clanky than mine as well. Also, this might just be my imagination, but looking at the water drops it appears that there is a LOT more vibration in your bike than mine. Best of luck to you with the repairs! | ||
| Bloose |
Just a quick update. Before I took the bike to the dealer I pulled an oil sample from the crankcase. I did this of course so I could determine the potential damage the wearing gears could have caused. I was very happy to find out that there was 0 ferrous metal content in the oil. That indicates that the pieces of metal that were shed from the gears were larger than 15 microns and filtered out by the oil filter or collected on the oil plug magnet. Seeing as everything inside of the motor is fed a steady stream of clean pressurized oil the only thing I can think of that may have been negatively affected is the oil pump. I'm not going to worry about it. Interestingly there was plenty of contaminants in the oil when you got down to less than 5 microns. Being that they were not metallic I was told they likely got in there through an improperly installed of low quality air filter. That's interesting because when I removed the air box one of the side bands was not completely holding the air filer on. Because of this the bike will be getting an early oil change but because of the small size of the matter I again will not let keep me up at night. I should be picking up the bike tonight so hopefully I will be able to get a look and a picture of the old gears. I will also make a recording of the repaired motor and post it up. B | ||
| Ratsmc |
Good news. Thanks for the update. I am not overly pleased with the way the airfilter mounts and find myself spending several minutes screwing with the fit to make certain it is secure every time I take it off. | ||
| Doerman |
Bloose.. Be sure to clean the oil screen as well. It is located on the underside of the engine and you have to remove the muffler to get at it. On edit: Since the bike is at the dealers for repair. You may want to mention the screen to the tech. They are not always aware of the screen and may not clean it. (Message edited by doerman on May 05, 2010) | ||
| Bloose |
Here is the new video, lets go for a quick ride shall we! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwKAKbUHku4 The difference is amazing. I cannot believe I thought for even a second that the noise it was making before was normal! I'm not sure how much better it will sound in the video but in person it is night and day. I do have pictures of the old gears too. I'll get them posted up in the next day or two. BTW, the dealer I worked with is Stock's HD in Manitowoc. So far they have been just great. I bought the bike there and have had it serviced there a few times now. I was a bit worried because this is the first time I've had service there since they lost a couple of their service advisor's. I'm happy to report that this trip was as good as the rest. I highly recommend them to anyone in the area. B | ||
| Bueller4ever |
Quite a noticeable difference. It's easy to hear if you play both videos with the bike at idle. | ||
| Mountainstorm |
Sounds normal now. | ||
| Metalrabbit |
It's Back! Thanks for the follow up Bloose | ||
| Ccryder |
Sounds MUCH better. How is the engine smoothness compared to before? | ||
| Rombi |
I am glad to hear that Stock's has a good Buell department. I think some of those guys ride Buells. I bought mine there during the sale, did you get the Black one that they had left? | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
I hear the difference. When I have my valves checked. I am going to have the dealer check the shaft gear. I got 8,000 miles now. Should hit 13,000 soon. (Message edited by freezerburn840 on May 07, 2010) | ||
| Bloose |
Rombi, Mine is black but I did not buy it after the Buell announcement. I bought mine about 1 year ago now. It was one of their last 2008's just after the '09's came out. I got what I thought at the time was a good deal and really at the time it was. Compared to what they were giving them away for at the end though... B | ||
| Bloose |
Here are the pictures,     | ||
| Dannybuell |
Wow! Is that Rotax or Rotax outsourcing? | ||
| Cataract2 |
Erm, wondering if I should check mine. | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
think im gonna check mine it's about halfway between the two videos | ||
| Ccryder |
That is EXCESSIVE wear! I find it interesting, from an ME standpoint, the one balancer gear has the teeth wider in some areas than others? Maybe just to fine tune the balance factor. Don't know what could really cause that failure mode of the teeth like that, heat treating or material properties are my first guess. The gear gurus s/b able to tell pretty quick, there are a science to themselves. Neil S. | ||
| Bloose |
The balancer gear is wider on one half because that side is heavier which gives it its imbalance to counter act imbalance in the motors imbalance. The gear appears to be induction heat treated so unless it was a material issue I don't believe hardness was the problem. Tooth profile and or clearance was the more likely culprit. With to little clearance the oil would get pushed out when the gears expanded from heat. This would cause the gears to make metal to metal contact and gall. It would just get worse from there. If the gears were soft I think the problem would have been even worse. Just my guess though. B | ||
| Ccryder |
If the gear or gears were hobbed incorrectly (too big/ too small or incorrect profile) you could see what is exhibited in your picts. Most likely the too big/ too small scenario. The correct dimensions are a very tight tolerance and could be off by a few 0.0001" and be out of spec. Glad you caught it before disaster, and can now enjoy your quiet and smooth ride. Later Neil S. |
