Dreaded Paint Can Rattle

[MikeM]

My 08 Rocket III Touring with 4300 miles has developed the paint can rattle. It just started last thursday morning. Went to the dealer sat. morning and was told "they're big motors and they just make a lot of noise". Of course the motor was warm and wouldn't make the noise when they listened to it. This is the third time I've taken it to them with what seemed like a lot of cam/valve train noise. I guess the real culprit finally raised its ugly head.

I sent them a link to a video with the noise. Guess I'll have to wait and see what transpires.

 

[Molinoman]

Mike, sorry to hear that you've got the symptons. I hope on one hand that it goes away on the other I hope your dealer deals with it quickly, contacts Triumph so that this can get fixed if it turns out it is the "paint can rattle".

Dennis

29 dtg Dubai
30 dtg Home

 

[MikeM]

Thanks Dennis.

Unfortunately I don't have the kind of luck that would make this "just go away".

I'll just have to wait and see what they do. If I can't get it resolved soon I may just trade it in. Maybe on the new Thunderbird? At least its a parallel twin. I KNOW Triumph knows how to build those.

 

[cktire]

Same thing

I took my "05" in for the 20k maintenance and complained about the rattle when the engine was cold. Triumph did me right and fixed it under warranty. I was suprised and grateful!!! But, now it does it all the time. Triumph says the older model engines just make noise. Not true.....it was quite until recently. I guess I'll just run it until it blows.
Carl

 

[Pig9r]

I was told by a Triumph mechanic that Triumph now believes that the rattle on warm up is actually the oil pump drive and that it does not cause any harm. The cam drive gear rattle would occur whether hot or cold.

 

[HeR3tic]

I believe it comes down to a lack of experience. Experience on the part of the service techs. And I dare say any dealer tech that would take the cold beast for a test run is required to wear a full helmet. In my case, I too will need to resort to a sound track recording.

I had mine in, early on, for the problem and it was then sufficiently prolonged and loud enough for a half-assed fix. Of course this was Triumphs decision. A partial fix included only the lower sprocket and the tensioner. This pseudo fix lasted a very short while, until the next time I wore a half helmet, and the symptom was heard once again. Since then, I've had it back twice; for one short overnight assessment and again on a near three week stay, principally for another issue, and both times the techs "heard nothing" out of the ordinary.

At the time of mine having the sprocket and tensioner replaced, along with the sprocket/crank key, I jumped to the conclusion it was the key, as it was sufficiently beat up, with the edges rounded. This has since been argued against.
To my knowledge, those who've had the benefit of having the entire shebang replaced, including chain and upper sprockets, have not had a recurrence. ???

I believe your's is the first 08 Touring Maybe a first clue is their reference to motor instead of engine. Make an appointment for an overnight assessment. Have the problem specified on the work order.

Perhaps it's time for a class-action suit? Surely there are a few legal minds out there?

 

[Pig9r]

Her3tic - I think your experience of it reoccuring after replacing the crank timing gear confirms that it may be something like the oil pump drive.

 

[HeR3tic]

Her3tic - I think your experience of it reoccuring after replacing the crank timing gear confirms that it may be something like the oil pump drive.

I might agree...just cause I'm willing to be persuaded; but, I'm not starting off with a cold out of the blocks run. Several minutes warm up ought to be enough to get the oil pump up to snuff. They say it only takes the oil pump about thirty seconds to get the oil from the sump to the reservoir, I believe that may be in the manual.

Usually if not always, I start out of the drive and within a hundred yards I throttle up momentarily towards peak torque RPM but not any more than that. The rattle is clearly audible, whether or not I'm wearing ear muffs (full helmet). Then usually I hear it no more. I get the idea that alignment and orientation takes place during that initial application of torque. That is until most recently: Lately, when I riding with less hearing impairment (half helmet) and I've run it a mile or several and I tromp on it hard, in second gear, the rattle is present again for perhaps a moment or two. Something is changing.

I'm sure willing to disregard it were I sure there'd be no long term damages.

 

[MikeM]

************Update***********
I would like to add that Engle Motors has been very accomodating during this process and have extended every courtesy. They've always worked me into their schedule, even if I was a walk in! I would recommend them to anyone buying a motorcycle in this area.

I went to the dealer today and had them they look at my bike. They ended up putting a spacer in the cam chain tensioner. After checking it, it was bottomed out. Their (Triumph's) procedure is to simply shim it. The mechanic, service manager and myself all listened to it in the parking lot. Everyone agreed it was making a ticking sound at certain rpm's. The mechanic and service manager said it sounded "normal" to them. At which time I said I would be satisfied if they had a new one that would make the same noise under the same rpms. The service manager said that a new one wouldn't make the noise because the tolerances are much closer when new and it takes some miles for clearances to open up.... Sounds reasonable...... They happened to have a demo model with 800 miles on it so we compared them side by side. The demo's ticking noise was actually louder than mine!

I guess these motors aren't going to age gracefully?

All I have to do now is decide if I can live with this ticking noise or trade it in on something else.

 

[dougl]

Have any bikes actually stopped running because of this?

I find the bike a lot quieter with a full helmet than a shortie.