Strange engine sound

[Cav47]

Background: Went up to my regular poker game on Wednesday night on the FJR. (Cashed out up $71 dollars up btw).

Completely normal start up and no weird sounds.

Problem : Ride about 12 miles of the 18 mile trip and then I start hearing a weird sound. I don’t have ear plugs in and it is perceptible over my music. Sounds like an exhaust sound near the front of the bike. Maybe a rattle inside the engine somewhere. I did get after it pretty hard on one stretch of road. Nothing wild, but I did get the bike into the upper revs in 1st and 2nd before shifting to 3rd near 70ish mph. That is the only thing I can think of that was not “normal” for my ride. I babied the bike there and then rode it home.

Can’t locate exactly where it is coming from. Head home after game is done and sound still is there. No problems with acceleration or power. Clutch was not slipping.

Called Pants to see if he could hear it and he gave some things to listen for after he heard it. I won’t tell what he said so as to not direct the conversation. Maybe all the collective minds here can triangulate this.

Thanks in advance. Please chime in.

[SkooterG]

Ha! That's the boogers I put on your FJR at last year's Red Lodge Rendezvous. Sorry, those nasty things must have ate through something important.

[raYzerman]

Well, bro, you gotta narrow this down for us... we aren't there..... lift the tank, take out the insulation pad and listen some more to narrow it down. Is it on the right side of the engine or elsewhere? Tick, rattle, try to quantify, idle or at a certain rev, quick rev or rev up slow, etc.??.... can you do a video?
If you have some tubing, put a bolt/screw in the end of it and stick the other end up to your ear while you poke around with the bolt/screw end.... cheapo mechanic's stethescope.

[wheatonFJR]

Loose cam chain on right side?

[FJRoss]

An exhaust sound? Partially block the ends of the cans by holding rags over them and see if it gets louder - blown gasket where the cans join the header or loose where the header meets engine - escaping gasses and/or rattle.

Loose cam chain would be more at idle and generally when cold.

As Ray suggests, lift the tank, remove the heatshield and try to pinpoint.

I had an odd up-front rattle on my '07 once and it turned out to be a missing bolt for the front fender.

Any recent service where you might have forgotten to tighten something up all the way?

[extrememarine]

did you do a valve check and not tell us?

literally 10,000 possible variables here, so more detail is needed for any reasonable level of remote trouble shooting. Get a video of it and post it.

[Cav47]

Okay, Pants said the same thing about cam chain. I took off the cover and looked to see if loose. I didn’t see anything amiss, but honesty, I don’t know what to look for beyond obvious looseness and it wasn’t. I do have a pic of that I will post

Will take the tank off tomorrow and narrow it down. I will take a video and maybe pass it to someone that has a YouTube channel and can post assist. Need to secure the cam cover.

I can’t imagine it would be a lose bolt on any bodywork, but I do like the exhaust theory. Maybe wishful thinking but it sounds more internal after some other listening. But it was in the garage and the sound was bouncing around in the close quarters.

I didn’t mess with it too much because I was a little afraid of making it worse. Reviving the engine in the garage with the wife home is not making friends. Lol.

No maintenance done other than oil change recently. I am hoping it was not clutch related since I “fixed” that last year. It ran flawlessly for 6K miles. Went to Red Lodge, EOM, and Arkansas with no problems

Thanks for the responses.

[Cav47]

Chain was tight. Guide on left side would slide up and down some. The locating pin that goes through the hole in the plastic was hard to line up. I needed to move the guide up to get the hole aligned.




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[Hppants]

To be honest, I'm having a hard time deciphering the noise from the cell phone microphone. We need a better method of getting audio. To me it sounded like cam chain rattle, varying frequency with throttle.

[raYzerman]

I was thinking cam chain too, but would be odd on a Gen3... however, there have been a coupla broken springs with the new CCT.....
While you have it apart, zip tie the chain at the lower cranshaft so the chain doesn't slip below the crank sprocket (the normal thing we do at CCT replace or valve clearance re-shim).
Remove the CCT bolt on the end, insert a small screwdriver and rotate it to retract it and release it a coupla times. Feel anything not smooth, then remove the CCT and inspect the spring is not broken. If so, don't run that bike any more until you have a new CCT......
Yes that dowel pin MUST be in the rear chain guide. Once the timing cover is on, that won't be an issue, it can't fall out.

Check the top right end of the valve cover on the inside. There should be a black plastic block that snaps into two divots. It's purpose is to keep the chain from hitting the cover and not make noise.... a couple have fallen off at valve checks, a couple have fallen off and went down into the right end of the engine..... jammed into the cam chain, but the bike is still running, so very likely that didn't happen, but IF it fell off, it could be lodged somewhere......... look in parts diagram "Camshaft and Chain" item 6, Guide, Stopper 2.

All I got right now...... until we nail this down further. But, let's at least verify all is well with that cam chain while it's apart.

[extrememarine]

CAV - I can post the video if you can get it to me via google drive or dropbox (probably too large to email). Use something other than a cell phone if possible. This, of course, only after validating the CCT is not stuck or has a broken spring as Ray mentions above.

[blind squirrel]

Sounds like Cav is trailering his bike to Geek's tech day.

[dcarver]

I was thinking cam chain too, but would be odd on a Gen3... however, there have been a coupla broken springs with the new CCT.....
While you have it apart, zip tie the chain at the lower cranshaft so the chain doesn't slip below the crank sprocket (the normal thing we do at CCT replace or valve clearance re-shim).
Remove the CCT bolt on the end, insert a small screwdriver and rotate it to retract it and release it a coupla times. Feel anything not smooth, then remove the CCT and inspect the spring is not broken. If so, don't run that bike any more until you have a new CCT......
Yes that dowel pin MUST be in the rear chain guide. Once the timing cover is on, that won't be an issue, it can't fall out.

Check the top right end of the valve cover on the inside. There should be a black plastic block that snaps into two divots. It's purpose is to keep the chain from hitting the cover and not make noise.... a couple have fallen off at valve checks, a couple have fallen off and went down into the right end of the engine..... jammed into the cam chain, but the bike is still running, so very likely that didn't happen, but IF it fell off, it could be lodged somewhere......... look in parts diagram "Camshaft and Chain" item 6, Guide, Stopper 2.

All I got right now...... until we nail this down further. But, let's at least verify all is well with that cam chain while it's apart.

Like this?

[Cav47]

Yeah, there is no way I am gonna be taking it all apart like Ray is saying. I will be left with lots of parts after putting it back together.

Could it be a clutch issue? Internal? Remember I replaced mine last year.

I am gonna button it up and take some video/audio clips and send them to Extreme Marine(thanks for the assist)

Too bad the border wasn’t open!

[raYzerman]

Yeah, there is no way I am gonna be taking it all apart like Ray is saying. I will be left with lots of parts after putting it back together.

Could it be a clutch issue? Internal? Remember I replaced mine last year.

I am gonna button it up and take some video/audio clips and send them to Extreme Marine(thanks for the assist)

Too bad the border wasn’t open!

About your post above..... I was misunderstanding you already had it apart???
OK this is easy enough, pull the right timing cover off, zippie tie the chain just above the crank sprocket...... take the 10mm head CCT bolt out, small screwdriver through the slot in the frame, and unwind the CCT, rewind, unwind, rewind..... anything unusual,rough, notchy? If so, needs new CCT before you go anywhere.
If all good, then we look elsewhere.

DC's doodad that came off and got into the crank sprocket... while you have the right timing cover off, IF IF it came off, it's bound to be down there somewhere and not in the crank sprocket..... and it COULD be that the chain is hitting inside top of the valve cover making a noise under certain conditions.... just pull the black thing out, you can still ride it, be aware of the noise but that should be fixed soon before you go on any trips....... meaning coolant drain, valve cover off, etc. as if we were doing a valve check.

OK, really lazy, then do the stethescope thing and tell us whazzup in your mind.... sorry, not in your mind, but in your engine.

[Cav47]

Taking video with sound now. Hopefully Wayne can assist me. Thanks again for helping out

[Cav47]

Where is he screwdriver is touching is where I hear most of the sound. It sounds like a loose part inside the top part of the engine. And it is most audible on the #1 cylinder. Assuming that is the one I am point at.





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[extrememarine]

2 video clips :

[Cav47]

What is the that red plug supposed to be plugged into?




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[extrememarine]

Clip 3 added.