| Author | Message | ||
     Motorbike |
My 08 XT has a tinny,vibrating noise that is driving me nuts. It sounds to me like it is coming from down low, possibly from the muffler or the valve in the muffler. It is not noticeable out on the highway but riding around town is very annoying. It sounds like 2 pieces of tin vibrating against each other, or something like that, mostly on acceleration. It is not the horn hitting the flyscreen, as I fixed that back when the bike was new. I cannot reproduce the noise while revving the engine with the bike setting still. Any ideas? Can the muffler valve rattle and cause a noise like I describe? Thanks! | ||
| Hughlysses |
Could be. There's supposed to be an anti-rattle spring on top of the muffler. It sits down in the recess on top where the muffler valve actuator is. It just holds side-pressure against the shaft for the muffler valve to keep it from rattling. It could have been removed by a PO or rusted until it failed. Here's a pic of one I found on Badweb:  If it is missing, it can be replaced without removing the muffler but it is NOT easy (DAMHIK). | ||
| Froggy |
Maybe kickstand related? | ||
| Motorbike |
Hughlysses, I know exactly what you are talking about. When I had the muffler ceramic coated a few years ago, I forgot to put that spring back on but was able to do it without dropping the muffler again. And you are correct, it was NOT easy. It seems that I noticed the noise after I had the coating done and it has steadily gotten worse, or maybe I just listen for it now? I was very careful to re-install the muffler just right and used a new front band clamp and also a new clamp on the inlet. I torqued everything properly and was very careful to seat everything evenly. I do know that the inside of the gray plastic on the lower chin fairing rubs on the front of the muffler but I don't think that would make the sound I am hearing. That chin fairing should move exactly as the muffler does as it is attached directly to it via the mounting bracket, so the whole thing vibrates as a unit. Maybe I will pull the chin fairing off and see what happens. I (almost) always wear a full-face helmet but I have to admit I rode around the block once without my helmet and I could not hear the noise. Might have been due to the wind in my ears. Froggy, I will look into your idea. Not sure right now if that is related but thanks for the idea. | ||
| Etennuly |
According to your profile you have the comfort kit. Check the cover on the rear cylinder's pipe. Over time mine moved up just a little bit and began touching the bottom of the fuel tank. It made the noise you describe. | ||
| Nobuell |
I had a loud rattle from the muffler. Turns out the muffler valve actuator cable had to much slack. I tightened it back to spec and the noise disappeared. The internal valve was rattling against it's stops. It sounded like a rod was knocking. (Message edited by Nobuell on June 28, 2014) | ||
| Motorbike |
Etennuly, I do have the comfort kit but I never installed the rear pipe heat shield. I did not care for the looks of it so I left it off. Thanks for the idea anyway and I remember when you wrote that you found the issue with yours. Nobuell, you may be on to something. I removed the airbox cover and rode around in an empty parking lot a bit. While riding, I grabbed the muffler valve cable and pulled on it, just enough to remove slack completely. I think the noise was gone but kind of hard to tell. I also pulled the cable hard enough to open the valve completely and as expected, the exhaust note changed and was just a bit louder. ( Note: I do not recommend anyone to do as I did. Riding with one hand while fiddling with the exhaust cable is dangerous and could cause serious injury or death. I was desperate and only did this experiment while riding in a large, wide open high school parking lot, not on the streets.) Now, I checked the exhaust cable tension and adjusted to specs in the service manual. The noise is still there. I would like to tighten the cable a little more but am concerned that if I remove all slack, the actuator could be damaged if it tries to open the valve and the valve hits it's internal stop. At that point, it seems to me the actuator would still be pulling on the cable and might self destruct. What do you guys think? Thank you! PS To be honest, I rarely run the bike hard enough to cause the muffler valve to open anyway. I could probably just disconnect the cable from the actuator, pull the cable tight enough to remove all slack, lock it there, and just run it that way. Hey, maybe I'll do that anyway, at least just long enough to verify the fix, if so. (Message edited by motorbike on June 28, 2014) | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Motorbike, Make sure your horn is not vibrating against the flyscreen which was a very common problem. Makes a terrible racket. | ||
| Ratbuell |
EG - he said in his first post he fixed that when the bike was new... Motorbike - check all your fasteners. If you have a loose body screw or mounting screw, it can cause this type of noise as things flap into each other. Also pull your front pulley cover and make sure your belt pulley isn't loosening. The fact you say you cannot reproduce it sitting still makes me think pulley, or brake, or belt, or wheel... | ||
| Motorbike |
Thanks for all the replies. I now have a few things to check when I have time. May be a few days as we are taking a short 5 day vacation to San Diego but I will post back when (if) I figure it out. I really should be working on finding a job. I was laid off from IBM after 29 years of service. I was just 9 days short of retirement eligibility but fortunately, they allowed me to bridge to retirement. Still need to work though with a daughter in college and another going after next year. Could be worse though. I am fortunate to have medical coverage through my wife who works at Mayo Clinic. | ||
| Slowride |
Motorbike, I'm sorry to hear about your IBM lay off. I'm glad they let your bridge the retirement. I just started as a blue badge with IBM on 6/2. Stories like this give me pause. | ||
| Griffmeister |
Well, not to sound dense or anything and I know this has been pointed out, but have you taken the flyscreen off? I was having a rattle that sounded like it was down low and couldn't figure it out. Early on my horn strap broke and I mounted it directly to the bracket (upper headlight support bracket that is). Recently I took the flyscreen off for some other reason and saw that the bracket itself was broken on one side and cracked almost all the way through the other. For now I just took some flat stock long enough to span the cracks, drilled and pop riveted it in place. This just shows you how sound can travel. | ||
| Gp81 |
I had a mystery rattle/ vibration sound myself recently.... Took me almost three weeks to find it by accident lol..... Turns out it was the beaver tail assembly vibrating on the seat plus the right side bracket screw inside the tail behind the tail light was just a bit loose.... | ||
| Motorbike |
Griffmeister, I will probably pull the flyscreen off as well when I get around to debugging this issue. I know sound can travel, and on bikes, it can really be difficult to find a source while concentrating on riding, wind noise, wearing a helmet etc. The noise may very well even be coming from the rear, as Gp81 points out. Thank you all and I will check every idea out when I get back from vacation and after I make a serious effort to find a job. Take care! This reminds me of a story of my 1997 Dodge Ram pickup when it was brand new. It had a buzzing noise that sounded like it was coming from the center of the dash, under normal acceleration. The dealer was of no help. I pulled most of the dash out and could not find anything wrong. I drove that truck for almost a year before I finally figured out the noise was coming from under the hood. The plastic flexible accordion-like snorkel tube from the air cleaner housing to the fender was vibrating where it snaps into the oval hole in the inner part of the fender. I simply made a rubber cushion out of a piece of inner tube and slipped it over the plastic end and snapped it all back together. I still have the truck today and it has not made the noise since! |
