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DRZ400 tOP END RATTLE...
My DRZ 400e (2003) has recently started to make new noises (never a good thing). At first it was just a hollow non descript sound from the engine area but two days ago its started doing something really odd. There is a top end hollow rattle as before, but when I get the engine up to high revs (97kmh to be exact in top 14/47) the whole bike resonates like a tuning fork and rings so clearly that I can hear it loudly above all other bike noises....
My first though was resonant frequency of some random loose bit, but I´ve had the bike stripped down today and can hear the start of the sound when the bike is at tickover stationary. It doesnt change when the clutch is in or out. All ancilliary bits have been tightened properly. I used the old screwdriver as a stethoscope trick but its hard to figure out exactly where the sound is coming from (/unusual...). I think its top end area though. It also tends to be quiet on startup when cold and get worse as the bike heats up (oil viscosity related...). I know diagnosing stuff over the internet is prettyy hard but any advice would be gratefully recieved. I am currently in Spain and need the bike in October for a desert trip and so have a little while to sort the issues. All power is fine, the bike shows few other symptoms. The plug is perfectly healthy and the engione is otherwise behaving itself.... Ideas......Cheers as ever, Dave |
I would suggest that any rattle that makes itself felt through the bike is serious enough to stop riding and start spannering. I think the detective work you have done means the top end is the place to start. Keep in mind that it is not unknown for the bottom cam drive sprocket to go, if you find nothing "upstairs", as happened to Austin Vince's DR350 during Mondo Enduro Mondo Enduro* (which I heartily recommend reading/viewing). Let us know what you find as these bikes are very reliable and I have not heard about many problems.
Kind regards Nigel in NZ |
Best I can do. Get onto Thumper Talk DRZ forum, someone will sort it.
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Check your valve clearance.
check your cam chain tentioner. ie take it out and look at it, then put it back in per the book. BTW if your bike is older than 2003 I recommend putting a new cam chain tentioner in it. Have you cleaned the oil screen on the oil line? If not they tend to get clogged occasionaly and can cause oil starvation. It is on the front of the bike and take out one bolt where the oil line goes in. There is a little screen that needs occasional cleaning espically when new. Can't think of anything else, except check with the folks at thumpertalk. |
Have you changed brand or type of oil recently?
Had an oil change done in Andorra a few days ago. The oil that went in was 20/50 instead of 10/40.....BUT, I watched the exact 1.7 l get put in. The filter is a stainless mesh type and wasnt changed Are you certain oil level is topped up? See above. The bike has only done about 1000km since the new oil and the level hasnt changed appreciably. Did you put the filter in correctly? If in wrong it can cut off oil to top end. Didnt change it from last time when I did more than 1000 desert miles and dropped clean oil afterwards. When was the last time you checked the valve clearances? (mine never went out of spec in 3 years of dirt riding) I have never checked the vavles myself but they were checked 2000 miles ago by a top mechanic that I always use and trust Has anything changed in the air box so that sound is resonating in a different way? Not that I know of............. Odd one huh! But you´re right about the spannering. Sadly I´m in Spain with few tools. Thats why if you look at other posts around here you´ll se I´m looking for a recommendation for a good mechanic in Northern Spain! I leave for the UK in a few days and only fly back to the bike in September for another Desert trip..... I will check my valve clearances, my cam chain tensioner (the bike is an ´03, but you never know!), and my oil screener today... Cheers guys, and I´ll post the info on thumpertalk. Dave |
The ACCT was fine.......I whipped the rocker cover off, all looks normal. As I was replacing it and warming the engine up afterwards the bike spat its coolant all over the driveway.....A quick look confirmed that the water seal on the water pump shaft drive had just failed...ticking over on the driveway?!
Something is definately not right. If I was at home i´d have had it stripped by now, but in spain with no tools its all a bit tricky..... Anyone have any experience with ´water wetter´? I´ve been running it for the last 2000 miles and have seen a definate reduction in engine running temp, but I´m now wondering if it was lubricating the cooling system as it ran. I cant see any other reason for the seal to fail on so few miles...maybe a return to antifreze is called for when I get this issue sorted... Dave |
Any good advice from Thumper Talk?
Let us know what's up! Good luck! |
Ok, well the saga slowly moves onwards.
I left my bike in Spain and finally got a really good lead for a decent mechanics workshop just north of Barcelona from a guy working for Moto Aventures. Typically I got the bike dropped off down there just in time for the annual months summer shutdown (thats it, I'm leaving to work in Spain!!!)... I'm leaving for the desert next Fri for a month and I'm told that the bike will be ready by next Tue....So far everything sounds good, and the guy that dropped off the bike gave the workshop and the guys working there a glowing report....I really hope so! The mystery seems to be sort of solved. Apparently the problem is with Los Pinones.....Ahhhhhh I hear you all say..... The issue I have is that the info comes second hand from a friend who rang the place for me whose Spanish isnt much better than mine. So the spelling could be totally wrong. I've checked the internet to try and find out what the mystery part might be but we're currently non the wiser. If you know what 'Los Pinones' might be, feel free to contribute! Otherwise I'll wind the post up next Tue when I have the part to hand. Whatever it was it was a serious problem. The engine and gear box were split to find the issue so its probably worth knowing about. Seems like I bought a lemon! Ah well, I've been lucky with my bikes to date, but eventually it had to happen... Dave |
Nuts
Well, you said feel free:-
They seem to be nuts, perhaps pine nuts from a couple of translations in a search engine - maybe a nickname within the workshop? Looking forward to knowing the answer to this mystery!! :rolleyes2: Translation of http://www.pinonesie.com/= |
If I needed help diagnosing a DRZ, I'd make use of the brainpower at ThumperTalk.
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Ok, well, thanks for the pine nuts.....!!!;-)
It seems my top end rattle was more a bottom end implosion. I still dont know exactly what the score is, but a friend of mine who picked up the bike this morning said that when he asked for the offending replaced part he was given a bag of parts looking suspiciously like the entire innards of the crankcase! To my current knowledge I now have three new bearings and at least three new gears.....and lots of other bits.... Gentlemen, I think I bought a lemon!!!!!! 1400 euros.......OUCH!!!!! (although that did include some other stuff and some tyres..) Dave |
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1400 euros.......OUCH!!!!! (although that did include some other stuff and some tyres..)
Just my opinion. |
of course you are right, and your opinion is identical to my own. Sadly circumstances conspired against me and I was committed to a trip and had no time.....1400 euros later......
Always time vs money eh...... See my latest post for more news. As ever, cheers guys. Dave |
Anyway, sometimes a bearing is salvagable...hope yours are.
Good luck. |
The bike is ok, the noise i was initially concerned about is still there although not as bad (bad). But the last 1000 miles of desert hasnt killed it (even at 250 miles a day), in fact it doesnt sound much different, so what the hell!!! Ill ride it until it dies....
The fact that the front sprocket was put on backwards and caused the output shaft seal to fail about 3km over the Moroccan border didnt really inspire confidence, but then neither did the wrongly routed brake hose that I didnt spot on my mates bike which almost got cut through by the disk on our first offroad section.....After that I checked both bikes REALLY closely!!!!! Im normally anal about my bike prep so all this shit is killing me. For them not to have checked my head bearings as part of an overhaul costing 1400 euros for a desert trip is, quite frankly, shit......Especially as when I cracked the bearing open today I found the reason it didnt run notchy before it failed....it had siezed solid and rusted up! it failed when the lower bearing cage disintegrated with resultant chaos. Its ironic really, the DRZ is by far my favoutite bike to date of all the bikes Ive ever ridden in long distance desert conditions. For one reason or another its also been the least reliable. I think its pretty obvious that that has little to with the model and more to do with the purchase of a lemon and unfortunate circumstances. Still I have to say, Ive had a grin on my face six feet wide all week prior to my latest mishap.....boy oh boy does that DRZ do dunes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why, Oh Why, Oh Why, etc......have they stopped making them? What the hell do we do now? Dave Hoping for new head bearings from Suzuki Maroc at Noon tomorrow....after a mere 24 hour wait. Can it really be true? If it is then theres time for another 500 miles of piste yet.....Watch this post!!!! |
Youve picked up my bike luck, sorry!.....
Still jealous as hell though. Having a nightmare in the desert beats a day at work everytime! |
Hey! Good news David!
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name and shame "pinones" in Spain
Dave,
I hope you will name and shame that workshop in Spain - this has to be as important as a much longer list of good-excellent workshops that will be available in the relevant forum; alongside that list, would be your warning of poor value & botched workmanship. Apart from "the lemon" problems, you have made me a tad curious about the logistics of your trip - are you travelling very light with a back up vehicle, relatively-light touring in between accommodation (say), or "heavy" self-contained with camping equipment, to name a few permutations? |
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My total luggage capacity is two soft small side panniers of just under 15 litres each. Thats it. I rarely stay in hotels, always stay out when I can and never ride with support. In those panniers I can get a sleeping bag, bivi bag, self inflating mattress, two spare tubes, wash kit, bike spares and tools, maps, navigation kit, and enough clothes to see me from desert miday temps to freezing 3000m passes..... Why carry more? In answer to Mollydog, your dead right. Ultimately no one is responsible for my bike but me. I have now learned that leaving your bike in another country anbd trying to prep for multiple trips with no tyesting and prep time built into a hard years riding shedule is NOT a good idea. It almost always leaves me knackered at the end of a trip and in a hurry to get home, and stuck withy too much stuff to think about when I arrive and too eager to get moving. All these things lead to simple mistakes like the head bearings and assumptions that other people will take the same care of my bike as I do if I pay them enough..... I have now learned and will be either shipping my bike back the the UK in the next few months or spending some time time is Spain specifically on looking after my bike. Another important lesson learned with nothing more than a few days delay and no serious incidents. Lucky huh! Dave |
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:funmeteryes: Cheers, |
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