Engine Noise Help

[Dave B]

Hello , I am a recient owner of a 83 V65 , It was said to have only 9300 miles as indicated by the odometer. It has set a long time , I have riden it over 2000 miles in 3 weeks. I reciently cleaned the carbs becasuse it had a bad hesitation at mid throttle, I also removed the valve covers to check the cams and rockers and found all things to look in good shape. reassembled everything , bike no longer has the hesitation and runs like a Raped Ape but has developed a clunky almost knocking noise from around the clutch area, I removed the side cover and just looked but didnt see anything out of the ordinary, removed the oil pan and inspected the gears and found nothing, nothing in the pan and just some very slight metal shavings in the screen. the noise lessens when the clutch is ingaged.  If anyone has ever heard of this problem I would really apreaciate the help, thanks Dave

[Greg Cothern]

Hmmm this could be a number of things, however since you just recently purchased the bike I would first suggest chaning the oil and filter.  Use a good motorcycle specific oil even a synthetic (no friction fighters) and see if this helps.  A lot of folks use ordinary automotive oil and they tend to increase transmission noises.
This is a starting point that hopefully will help.

[Dave B]

Hello Greg and thanks for the reply, I have tried changing the oil, use Mobil 1 10/40 and 15/50 with no change, I will pull the side cover again today and disassemble the clutch and se of theres any issues there.

[Dave B]

Ok I purchased a Sabre to go along with my magna which basiclly has a similar problem, first i should correct myself, this more of a vibration that can be felt even in nutral , but lessons conciderably when the clutch is used. and can be felt at differant RPM when in gear. Could this be Bearings in the clutch, shaft or gears, or perhaps the clutch push rod bushing ? Also on the magna I get a slight Clatter that sounds like a Muffler rattle but is not consistant, sometimes it does it sometimes it dont, but I cant narrow down where it is. What does a malfuntioning chain tensioner sound like? thnaks for the help, Dave

[troycurtis]

You might check one of the cam chain tensioners. Occasionally the direction of the noise can be deceiving. The V65 original cam chain tensioners occasionaly would fail or wear out or just fail to do what they are supposed to do and it would sound like a rattle or knock. The best source of knowledge is Dave Dodge. He also has the better than original parts to correct the issue. His prices are also more reasonable than the bike shop.
I had the same problem with a V65 after it had set for a number of years. When I changed the cam chain tensioners I also noticed a damaged cam due to poor oiling in the top end. I allso put the oil mod in but at that time the damage was allready done. I rode it a while and the new tensioners did quieten it down. I guess that I could have ridden it for a long time trouble free but opted to just send him the whole engine and carbs. After allmost a year, I received a rocket that I was never dissatisfied with. It was a very expensive thing to do but it is OK to throw money at a hobby....right?
Troy