Not a happy bunny

tosh23 · Post by **tosh23** » Mon May 26, 2008 2:17 am

Ive had the storm 4 weeks now and I love it. Now I have a knocking at the bottom half of the engine ( left hand side ).
Its not always there and only seems to come on after throttling off.
We went for a ride a few days ago , everything was fine until I went down a long steep hill and then knock knock knock. Its not the cam chain.
I have put two new tensioners on ,oil and filter and chain and sprockets less than 30 miles ago.
After it started knocking it went away after 5 miles and then came back after another 10.
The knocking matches the revs and sounds like a very loose cam rocker but it comes from the bottom and not the barrels.
Do the storms have something weak in the bottom or is this very isolated.
R reg with 8000 miles.
Thank you for reading

warby221 · Post by **warby221** » Mon May 26, 2008 11:44 am

Doâ€™s the rattle come with the clutch out and goâ€™s or gets less with the clutch lever in if so its properly clutch basket rattle a lot of Hondas seem to have it my viffer and my vtr both have it nout to worry about theyâ€™ll go on like that for years more annoying than any thing else
Leave if for a bit if it gets a lot louder then have a look

Post by **sirch345** » Mon May 26, 2008 11:48 am

I've not heard of any Firestorms giving bottom end troubles

I don't suppose it's got anything to do with you being in too high a gear when going down that steep hill if you're holding back using the brakes

That could cause the engine to give a knocking sound.

Chris.

tosh23 · Post by **tosh23** » Mon May 26, 2008 5:27 pm

The rattle stays weather the cutch is in or out deffo nowt to do with clutch because that was my first thought. Its not a rattle , more like a knock .
Im gonna have a look via the clutch so i will keep you posted .
Wish me luck.#

tosh23 · Post by **tosh23** » Mon May 26, 2008 5:31 pm

sirch345 wrote:I've not heard of any Firestorms giving bottom end troubles
I don't suppose it's got anything to do with you being in too high a gear when going down that steep hill if you're holding back using the brakes That could cause the engine to give a knocking sound.

Chris.

No mate it still knocks when on tickover.

tosh23 · Post by **tosh23** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:45 pm

Took the bike to a workshop yesterday and the mechanic said it sounds like the clutch basket, so off I went today and got a second hand clutch from ken urwins in thorne and took it back to the workshop .
He dose not know wether it will cure it but he will find out tommorow..
If it dosent then ive just blown Â£100 on nowt.

bikerpiker · Post by **bikerpiker** » Thu May 29, 2008 6:28 pm

Sorry for jumpin on the bandwaggon.....but..
Mines has got a squeek,yep, a squeek

Been like that since i bought it,can hear it when ticking over,or riding,the more revs,the more it sqeeks. Not too loud......but its there

Goin to nip down to Ayr soon to compare with Geordies engine.
Any ideas anybody

tosh23 · Post by **tosh23** » Fri May 30, 2008 2:29 pm

Got the bike back today and still knock knock knock. So Ive just spent Â£100 on a clutch i didn't need.......
I don't know what to do now. Even the mechanic cant pin point the problem because its intermittent, it only dose it when hot ?

Beamish · Post by **Beamish** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:42 pm

bikerpiker wrote:Sorry for jumpin on the bandwaggon.....but..
Mines has got a squeek,yep, a squeek

Been like that since i bought it,can hear it when ticking over,or riding,the more revs,the more it sqeeks. Not too loud......but its there
Goin to nip down to Ayr soon to compare with Geordies engine.
Any ideas anybody

Mine did the same, turned out to be tight link on the chain.

lee67 · Post by **lee67** » Fri May 30, 2008 5:20 pm

the knock is most defo cam end float knock u can hear...commonish noise on a v twin...some do it some dont, normally nothing sinister, a good mehcanic would know that, think u need to go elsewhere, esp after getting u to buy a clutch basket...hope this helps

now the squeak u here is one of 2 issues, tight dry link on your chain as beamish says, or worse a faulty cam chain

bikerpiker · Post by **bikerpiker** » Fri May 30, 2008 5:55 pm

lee67 wrote:the knock is most defo cam end float knock u can hear...commonish noise on a v twin...some do it some dont, normally nothing sinister, a good mehcanic would know that, think u need to go elsewhere, esp after getting u to buy a clutch basket...hope this helps

now the squeak u here is one of 2 issues, tight dry link on your chain as beamish says, or worse a faulty cam chain

Cheers

...its deff not the drivechain,cos it does it when stationary as well,it does it all the time,accelarating and slowing down

Its not loud at all,some mates can hear it,some say it sounds fine

Now you mention it, it does sound like a squeeky rattle

......oh sh1t

Poss cam chain,dont like the sound o that

Its not loud at all,but im sure i can hear something,its not got any louder since buying bike nearly 2000 miles ago. Has done 22000 miles with fsh,till i bought it

lee67 · Post by **lee67** » Fri May 30, 2008 6:46 pm

FSH mean nothing m8...most dealer services are nothing more than monkeys changing ur oil, if your lucky...think about getting to an honda dealer( one u can trust) and enquire about cct's and new cam chains..might be nothing, but least u found out the least expensive way, cos it they let go...it aint pretty

bikerpiker · Post by **bikerpiker** » Fri May 30, 2008 7:00 pm

I know whit you're sayin lee, but surely even if they ONLY changed the oil and nowt else, that's the most important thing to keep your engine in good nick.
Im sure i hear a faint noise ,but as i say,most mates think it sounds spot on ,but really need to compare with another storm

Dont have much faith in my local..ish Honda dealer after the fork seal saga

stevie

Hankie · Post by **Hankie** » Sat May 31, 2008 12:17 am

One of the paranoia problems is the fairing - and adding a lower fairing which reflects engine noises back to the rider. One of my first bikes was a Honda 250N (well, somebody had to buy them), and I put this f-off big fairing on it and the engne sounded awful afterwards. (sounded sh1t to start with thinking about it).

Chris

tosh23 · Post by **tosh23** » Sat May 31, 2008 3:16 am

[quote="lee67"]the knock is most defo cam end float knock u can hear...commonish noise on a v twin...some do it some dont, normally nothing sinister, a good mehcanic would know that, think u need to go elsewhere, esp after getting u to buy a clutch basket...hope this helps

Dear lee,
Just to confirm your theory. When I start the bike on the side stand and leave it to warm up - it then knocks....Today I had it on my bike lift (which holds the bike vertical ) and from stone cold to the radiator fan coming on there was no knock at all...
The knocking is all the way through the rev range not just on tick over.
I was thinking that it was oil deprivation on the clutch side seeing as the bike is Lent to the left on the side stand ..
Your description of the fault could well be spot on because "I think" (I'm no mechanic) the sound comes from the middle of the engine that's why I changed the cct's.
You say "deffo" on your diagnostic ?
1..have you come across this problem yourself ?
2..Any idea how to fix the problem ?
If you are right mate there is a bloody big drink coming your way.