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General Category >> The Cafe >> Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
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Message started by Dave on 05/14/12 at 13:57:02

Title: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by Dave on 05/14/12 at 13:57:02

My LS650 seems to have far more mechanical noise coming from the engine than I believe it should. When I ride my Kawasaki KLR250 the mechanical noise from the engine (cam chain, piston slap, valves) is almost non-existent, and the tires and chain are louder than the engine when cruising down the highway. On my 2007 LS650 which I just bought used with 262 miles on it (now 300) - the engine makes lot of ticking and whirring noise. The noise is not too loud when at cruising speed, but at idle it is loud and increases when the throttle is opened quickly. I would think it is too early to have problems with the cam chain tensioner or valve clearances. It may be that the larger piston and other parts just make more noise - or there could be something going wacky. The exhaust has been replaced with a SuperTrapp that is pretty loud and I just bought a Dyna muffler to see if that is a better muffler for my old ears =- but that is not going to make the mechanical noise any better. I changed the oil last week and the oil looked good and there was not any evidence of metal in the oil.

Is there anyone in the Cincinnati, northern Kentucky or Indiana area that could listen to my bike - or let me hear their bike as a comparision? I bought the tensioner spring update and plan on installing soon - but I would like to get a comparison with another bike to find out if mine is normal.....or has an issue.

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by Serowbot on 05/14/12 at 14:26:49

That's real low miles... shouldn't be anything even broke-in yet...
... a big air-cooled engine will naturally be noisier than a small water-cooled... bigger moving parts, no insulating water jacket, and looser tolerances...

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 05/14/12 at 17:12:18

Way too few miles for it to be going to pieces,, it is a noisy engine, Make sure youve got enough oil in it, its all oil,,& not gas,, & ride it,

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by sjaskow on 05/15/12 at 09:47:53

I live on the east side (Anderson township to be precise) and have a bone-stock 2006 with almost 17000 miles on it. PM me and we can meet up somewhere and compare notes. I'm going to be out of town this weekend but I'm pretty much open after than.

Hm, this will be my 200th post. :)

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by Jon on 05/26/12 at 13:43:23

If anybody in the Cincinnati area has a Savage they wanna get rid of let me know!

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by Dave on 05/27/12 at 07:47:14

I watched Craigslist to find mine....unfortunately it was in New York City! The day after I committed to driving 12 hours to pick it up - a pristine one showed up in Cincinnati on Craigslist.

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by Dave on 05/27/12 at 07:49:05

sjaskow came and listened to my bike - mine is much louder than his bike and he suggested the noise might be too big of valve clearances.

I may hide from the heat in the garage today and set the valve clearances.

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by Dave on 05/27/12 at 14:15:48

I adjusted the valves today. They were probably in spec.....I did tighten up to just a tiny bit.

It made no difference in the sound. It is still pretty noisey and makes lots of ticking noises at low speed - faster speeds things get less mechanical sounding.

I guess I will just put some more miles on it and see if it breaks in - it still has less than 400 miles on it.

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by savagedan on 05/30/12 at 15:08:18

675C5146575B40465D555847340 wrote:

I guess I will just put some more miles on it and see if it breaks in - it still has less than 400 miles on it.

I am having the same "problem"! My savage is a '98 and had only 800 miles when I bought her. I have since put 500 miles on and now the transmission or engine is making a rattling/clicking sound.

I checked for loose pieces but all looks fine. One mechanic nearby thought it was my valves... Another agreed with my thoughts that it may be the cam chain tensioner. However, I keep running into the mental barrier that this bike is still so young!

Please tell me what you find when you open up to expose the cam chain tensioner. I might need to do the same if you find yours is loose.

Thanks :)

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by sjaskow on 05/31/12 at 10:26:21

This http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1191167029 is the thread for checking the cam chain tensioner. Where Dave's was rattling was much higher up the engine than where the tensioner noise should be which is why I thought it was valves.

I really don't remember mine being that noisy when it was new, but it's been almost 5 years since mine had less than 1000 miles on it.

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by bess227 on 05/31/12 at 11:41:23

726B60726A6E76010 wrote:

sjaskow........regardless if you were able to pinpoint it or not, it was very commendable to take the time to meet up with him and help out. Very classy move. I applaud you for that. :)

Some great folks on this site.

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by Dave on 06/02/12 at 18:47:52

I have been working on my bike a lot this weekend. I took the right side engine case off and installed the smaller tension spring that I got from Verslagen to help extend the life of my cam chain. The tensioner was only out 13 mm so I am not yet in need of the extended plunger. While I had things apart I stripped the clear coat off the engine case and polished the aluminum to bring back the shine. I also took the carb apart and installed different jets and replaced the white spacer with 3 washers. I will also be installing a Dyna muffler.

Nothing inside the right side of the engine looks like it would be causing any noise.....so when it is back together I will just ride it some more and see if getting through the break in will help to quiet things down. The carb had a 144 Main and a 52.5 Pilot when I took it apart, and it was obvious that someone had been in the carb before as the idle air plug had been removed, the clamp on the cylinder was waaaay too tight, and the allen screws on the float bowl and slide cover were boogered up. I went and got new screws to put it back together. I put a 150 main and a 55 Pilot in....we will see if that works on my bike.
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Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by Dave on 06/20/12 at 09:06:06

I had adjusted my valves to 0.004 - which is the middler range of the allowable 0.003 to 0.005 range. The valves were still noisey.

Last night I set the valves to the 0.003" feeler gauge would slide through without much resistance - but the 0.004" would not slide between the valve and rocker.

The valves are much quieter - however I still think it makes more noise than it should. It runs fine, there are no metal pieces in the oil - I am anxious to see what the other guys think when I ride the "Tail of the Dragon" trip with them.

Title: Re: Need a good ear in Cincinnati area.
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 06/20/12 at 11:30:06

Youre supposed to adjust valves at 500 miles. At 400 you may have needed it already. If youll look at the tip of the adjuster, youll see its pretty pointy. It will mash down & work harden & over time, the valves wont need adjusted as often, By the time youve got 20,000 miloes on it, it wont need messed with near as often.