| Author | Message | ||
     Dr_greg |
I've got 6,500 miles on my Ulysses; she's been an absolute joy and completely bulletproof. However...this afternoon after washing her, I rode down to the corner gas station without helmet nor earplugs (I know, bad boy!) But...Holy Cow is that engine noisy! And it seemed like there was a high-pitched "pinging" that was evident almost all the time! I usually wear a helmet plus good earplugs; is all that racket okay? It can't really be pinging (can it?) since the engine has been so well-behaved all this time. My 2003 XB9R logged 10,000+ trouble-free miles, so I tend to expect the same from the 12X, but...all that noise was a little unexpected. Some reassurance would be welcome here... | ||
| Windaddiction |
Ya mine makes wierd noise all the time... gotta love that 2 year warrenty! | ||
| Chris_in_tn |
I was told by the Buell tech at my dealer that these are noisy engines and not to be alarmed. I have not had any Buell's before, so I do not have a point of reference. I have rode Moto Guzzi's for the last several years and have gotten use to noisy engines. While in warranty I'd say ride the hell out of it till it breaks!! | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
My wife claims my body is very noisy but I think it is just the fuel it requires that makes it so. | ||
| Cygnus_x1 |
Mine pings after its good and warm, then I go to pass someone or get on it, it pings quite loud. I run 91 octane. It still pings? | ||
| Eor |
Yep...mine pings on 92-93 octane. | ||
| Thunderbox |
Something is really amuke if it pings all the time. You need to tell the Buell tech to adjust your timing a 2 or 3 degrees retarded to get this problem under control. Could be the factory timing marks are not where they should be making the timing to far advanced. At any rate adjust the timing to where the pinging just goes away. Pinging is not good for your piston. It's like it gets hit with a hammer every time it fires. Eventually something will break. Not only that it will run hotter use more fuel and have less power. Are you sure it's not the horn hitting the flyscreen? To some that will sound like pinging. | ||
| Chadhargis |
My BMW GS used to ping badly. It sounded like a diesel. After 8500 miles, it had to have a complete top end rebuild. If your bike is pinging, that's NOT normal. I've run as low as 89 octane in my bike and it hasn't pinged. I run 87 in my air cooled two valve Ducati and it doesn't ping. High octane is not going to help you if your ignition is too far advanced. It will only help you if your compression is high. If your plug is firing too early, even 100 octane isn't going to help. I'd take the bike to the shop ASAP. They should be able to adjust the timing while in short order. | ||
| Thunderbox |
You may not understand what pinging is but I will give it a try. When the spark jumps the gap at the plug the air fuel mixture ignites. If the ignition occurs too soon the piston is still coming up on compression and the fired mixture creates huge pressures. When the pressures are too high the entire mixture ignites at the same time rather than have a proper flame propagation. This causes the noise we hear that sounds like a bunch of marbles in a bag. It is the air fuel mixture exploding. This is not good. Get it looked at. | ||
| Lowflyer |
Mine does not ping. Pinging is not something I would tolerate. | ||
| Jim_sb |
I don't notice mine pinging when I ride with my ear plugs. When I ride without the ear plugs I notice an occasional ping when I give it WOT in the 3 - 4k rpm range. Just a knock or 2. Is there any way I can check the static timing myself? The FSM says I need the diagnostic computer. Having just taken it in for service and having been told "you can't adjust the timing" in response to my query I am most reluctant to make the 50+ mile (each way) pilgrimmage back to the dealership. Regards, Jim in Santa Barbara (Message edited by jim_sb on March 28, 2006) | ||
| Eor |
I mentioned the pinging to the service tech. He said as long as it was intermittent, he wasn't too concerned about it. I don't know.... I hear it each time I ride, usually when I do a throttle roll-on at moderate engine speeds....but not every time I do so. Timing has been an issue with my bike, for some reason. The static timing has been adjusted three times that I know of. Most of my other concerns with the Ulysses have been eliminated, but the pinging thing does bother me. From everything I've read, it's hard on the engine. | ||
| Jim_sb |
I was told that the engine is "high compression" which certainly is one factor that can induce pinging. I personally would prefer an engine that is "detuned" so it would run happily on 87 octane found anywhere. I'm not sure my riding style requires the last few ponies the engineers squeezed out. Unfortunately we are in a world where the faster, faster, faster crowd seems to be the squeaky wheel getting the grease. It is my understanding that detonation, pre-ignition or "pinging" is caused by a combination of high compression and heat setting off the charge prior to firing of the spark plug. Do lean mixtures contribute to this phenomena? Regards, Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Blake |
Slight intermittent pinging/detonation wouldn't bother me. Consistent and/or severe pinging/detonation would concern me. | ||
| Stevem123 |
Hey Jim, Lean mixture will definitely cause pinging because of the increased heat it causes. I had pinging on my S3T until I put on the race ECM which made the midrange RPMs more rich than stock. Pinging went away. Timing can also be a factor but in my experience it's mostly caused by heat and lean mixtures. You can tell by rolling WOT at the first instance of the pinging and if the pinging goes away then it's very likely to be lean mixtures. I want to get the software to tune the bike properly but the price of the good software and the fact that you have to buy a seperate dongle for each bike is keeping me at bay for now. The cheaper software doesn't require the dongle but it also can't do much in the adjustment department. I guess it's better than nothing and at least it allows you to reset the TPS and check for stored codes. I just want more. BC Steve | ||
| Whodom |
Dr. Greg- The best description I've heard of the sound pinging makes is that it sounds like marbles or steel ball bearings are bouncing around in your engine. It's a very distinctive sound. It is most likely to occur when the engine is hot and you're rolling onto the throttle at low speed. | ||
| Dr_greg |
Are you sure it's not the horn hitting the flyscreen? To some that will sound like pinging. Good call; that was it! It didn't really sound like pinging, and it was almost constant. Took the little bugger off; never had much use for 'em anyway. | ||
| Thunderbox |
Hey that's great Dr greg glad I could be of assistance. That sure was an easy fix after all. You can just install it facing the other way and it won't hit then. Doesn't make any difference for sound volumm as it all comes out the same way no mater which way the horn faces. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Whodom said *****The best description I've heard of the sound pinging makes is that it sounds like marbles or steel ball bearings are bouncing around in your engine. It's a very distinctive sound. It is most likely to occur when the engine is hot and you're rolling onto the throttle at low speed.***** Today as I was riding my XB12R, I was hearing something that could be described as pinging, I was most evident at 3500 - 4500 RPM during moderate acceleration. As I listened to it more and more I found that the sound was synchronous with the engine RPM's and less like the rattletrap pinging (as described by Whodom) that I'm familiar with on my S3T when riding in hot weather traffic. Like Whodom said it is a distinctive sound and you'll know it when you hear it. In my case I'll keep an eye on it (or an ear), but for now I'll be optimistic and say it is just normal valvetrain noise. | ||
| Davo |
I thought my bike was pinging too but I think it is just the valve train. It starts at 2700rpm when the engine is not under load (high intake man. vac.). I think it is a combination of early ignition timing at high intake vac. condition and valve train slap without loud pipes and a steel gas tank to hide it. | ||
| Bloochdog |
I have "the ping" too.... Mostly when Rolling on the throttle between 3500 and 4200... Is this what some people call "spark knock" ?... doc thanks too for the horn fix... | ||
| Stretchman |
There may be a cheap fix. Try the HD gas treatment. It's like, 4.99 a bottle, and is supposed to help you run lower octane fuel. The Buell, IIRC, requires at least 91, and when it's hot, maybe more. IF that does't do it, then maybe you need to look at something like the PCIII for the bike. Wish I could say that there was never a monday morning build, but it isn't always universal. Other than that, the Harley engines, sporty types in particular, have a tendency to reflect the noise off the windscreen and right at the rider. That has a tendency to amplify it somewhat. HD gas treatment, maybe some Chevron with Techron, and it may improve things somewhat. Stretch | ||
| Aeholton |
$4.99 a bottle? How many fill-ups will that do? Were almost at $3.00/gal now. I don't consider that a cheap fix, if I have to continue to buy $4.99 bottles of octane booster. | ||
| Patrickh |
I would suggest retarding the timing a degree or two if you hear constant pinging. If you only hear it occasionally while rolling on the throttle then I would not worry too much. My bike has exhibited occasional pinging its entire life, I refreshed the top end last summer and there was no piston damage at all. As a matter of fact, once I cleaned the pistons off they looked almost brand new. | ||
| Aeholton |
For those interested, I posted the results from my Ulysses' dyno run this morning in the pinging thread over in the Knowledge Vault (http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/3842/168513.html?1144770979). As you can see by the A/F graph it does run a little lean in the 3300-5500 rpm range. I believe this is a contributing factor during the summer when it is hot and humid. | ||
| Blake |
That ain't lean in my opinion. See my comments re your dyno run in the other thread. Darnit.  | ||
| Chadhargis |
77hp??? Isn't the 12 engine supposed to put down like 85hp at the wheel and 103 at the crank? | ||
| Thunderbox |
I thought that was a little low also but I don't know what the altitude was where the dyno was done. I just thought it was at altitude so the HP was low. Like I said I am doing mine this week so I will let everyone know. I broke it in the Motoman method also. | ||
| Eor |
I doubt very many stock Uly's would bust 80 rwhp on a Dyno... of course, those that do probably get 55-60 mpg, also.  | ||
| Jim_sb |
Hi Eor, I thought Cycle World said theirs dyno'd at 84hp and it reportedly had crushed gaskets blocking the exhaust ports. Mine pulls nicely from corner to corner and so far uses very little oil. I guess I don't care about the # enough to pay for a dyno test. I'm happy with my Ulysses - just need to do a little more suspension tweaking and *maybe*, just maybe a steering damper for when I'm in the 4" deep sand and she'll be good for lots of play time. Best, Jim in Santa Barbara |
