magna engime noise

tedkraus · October 19, 2011, 05:56:36 PM

video done, hope you guys can use it. I am kind of shakey with the camera and think I sound pretty funny but oh well. It is is uploading to youtube as we speak and as soon as it is done I will edit this post with a link.

Video enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxjM_UeZUlM

TLRam1 · October 19, 2011, 10:56:24 PM

Did you sand off your Magna decals?

Where do you live?

You are correct, for me, it's hard to hear much.

Okay, I see you live in the Arctic.....too far away.

magnagregcan · October 20, 2011, 06:57:58 AM

Your bike sounds very good; you will hear some mechanical "ticking" noise of course because of all the mechanical movements.
I would suggest you drive it like you stole it and enjoy the bike. The motor is near bullet proof from my experience; I ride mine fast and hard and have 44,000 miles on my 2000. Never did anything but oil and filter changes and plugs. Put a K&N air filter. That's it.
I live in Nova Scotia and if this rain stops soon I plan to go riding on Saturday. Temp will be 16C (60F).

LIMagna · October 20, 2011, 07:10:40 AM

It's hard to tell but I'm not hearing anything particularly abnormal in the video. This engine makes a bit of noise, especially at an idle but all is good with the rev's up. Ride on my friend and ride safe!

tedkraus · October 20, 2011, 09:55:41 AM

It is hard to hear in the video but the cam chain noise has increased in volume by 3-4x this last 1000 miles. I live in Duluth MN where we have already seen snow this fall... But not permanently, hence I like to joke online I practically live in the arctic tundra....I did not sand off the decals, the last owner worked in a body shop and had the shop sand and repaint it black he showed me the before and after pictures. Per LImagna, I believe what you are hearing is the chains might be slack at idle and tighten up at higher rpm, but I cannot figure out why. Either they are very excessivly worn at 15500 miles, because my tensioners are just fine.

Chad in Michigan · October 20, 2011, 10:02:53 AM

i dont know why you just dont change the tensioners and get it over with. a spring is just a spring. it need not be broken to be bad. it can be worn and loose its strength. cheapest solution and quickest way to resolve it is just to get them out of the way. your video sounds like a normal bike to me from what i can hear. my old bike used to sound like that. i sold it a few years ago and the first tensioner just went out on him. you can probably ride it just the way it is, but to calm your fears, just pick up new tensioners.

lragan · October 20, 2011, 10:35:11 AM

There are but three ways a spring can "go bad":

1) It is strained beyond the elastic limit -- meaning that it will not return to its original position. This is virtually impossible as installed on the bike.
2) It loses its temper. In order to do this, it must get VERY hot, to the point of softening, and cool slowly.
3) It fatigues -- repeated extension near the elastic limit generates localized heat, causing a loss of temper in a concentrated area, usually resulting in the spring breaking into two or more pieces. Loss of temper in a concentrated area is not enough to impair its function until the metal separates.

So, if it hasn't come into two pieces, and it hasn't been extremely hot, it is unlikely that replacing it will change the performance in any meaningful way.

I suppose it may be possible to "catch it just before it breaks", and replace it with a new one, but I doubt you can do this. At the speeds it is being exercised on the bike, especially at high rpm, the time between local loss of temper and metal separation is quite short.

At lower rpm, localized heating is not so much of a problem, as the heat has time to propagate down the wire and dissipate into the oil. It is high rpm that kills it, especially sustained operation at high rpm.

tedkraus · October 20, 2011, 10:46:22 AM

I guess I don't like to fix or replace things unless I am certain it is a problem. I do have a very slim budget... I went ahead and ordered a front tensioner and gasket and will report if any changes are made...

LIMagna · October 20, 2011, 11:05:38 AM

The increase in noise could be related to dropping temperatures and your oil getting old(er) or perhaps you've just grown more sensitive to the sound so it appears louder. As I said, these engines make a bit of noise at idle and that's perfectly normal. When somethings wrong, it's usually very apparent that there is something wrong and even then, the bike will probably operate just fine.

Gloveberg · October 22, 2011, 03:07:10 PM

Quote from: tedkraus on October 20, 2011, 10:46:22 AM
I guess I don't like to fix or replace things unless I am certain it is a problem. I do have a very slim budget... I went ahead and ordered a front tensioner and gasket and will report if any changes are made...

Ted, I listened with the volume up full blast and to be honest I did not hear one thing unusual. The best way I can describe it when a tensioner goes or gives way and the tensioner backs off the sounds reminds me of sticking a pice of thin sheet metal into a fan. It's obvious and very loud. When my friend in California had one go bad he called me and staretd the bike while I was on the phone and after maybe two seconds I was like, "Ok, shut it down because it's the tensioner".

Noises are the hardest I think because everybody's ears are different...lol.

Keep us in the loop!

tedkraus · October 23, 2011, 08:59:52 AM

well I appreciate everyone's interest and hearing from you guys that it is just another noisy engine... looks like I am going to put her away this week. I will probably have to do the tensioner in the spring...

roboto65 · November 04, 2011, 07:47:42 PM

Ok so I have an interesting thing that happened to me as in another post I had a tensioner go.

Well I cranked it up the other day to run somewhere and bam she was rattling again now mind you this was a "repaired" tensoiner rode it home.

Much to my surprise the tensioner spring and all the parts looked good

The one thing I noticed was the upright part of the spring was bent over so when I get off the boat again I will look further into this

tedkraus · November 22, 2011, 11:34:55 AM

My bike is currently winterized, but it is possible I could have overlooked something like this since I am inexperienced with cam chain tensioners. I mean I have never seen a new one disassembled so my spring could just be deformed or otherwise the spring may just be shot. I plan on replacing it when the snow melts....

Gloveberg · November 22, 2011, 03:14:49 PM

Like I said these springs do not keep the tensioner extended with tension. These springs are just used to keep the screw part from backing out. If you take the spring totally out and reassemble the tensioner then screw it out to it's full extension you cannot push the plunger back in. You can screw it back in but you cannot push on the end of the plunger and push it back in. The spring is in place only to keep the assembly from screwing itself back in. It will allow the screw to extend if any slack comes in but not retract.

Allen I have repaired tensioners before myself and if they do not fully extend (and I mean all the way) then there will be some noise.

roboto65 · November 22, 2011, 05:50:49 PM

The only thing I know is that I heard it clattering after I put the fixed one in so I had another and put it in and took the other apart and it "looked" fine so not sure why it allowed the piston to return. I do think that it will return with all the vibration maybe is causing it to return. Not sure bit I know what I saw and the spring looked good. I will play with it when I get off next rime.