Gear driven cams getting louder (5th Gen)

I have a 5th Gen with 144,000km and the sound from the cam gear drives seems to be getting louder. Is this a sign of upcoming disaster or just a signal that the bike isn't as young as it used to be? Bike has an excellent service history and doesn't burn oil. Any help appreciated.

 

Damn that is some serious miles!

Not sure if any of the members here have taken their 5th gen rides that far so it may be difficult finding experience on this subject.

The one thing I would say is, if there is something coming apart it will be contaminating your oil with metal particles so have a good look at your oil and cut open your filter to see what stories lie within.

 

Thats about 90k miles. The best thing for us is to post a vid or audio file. I know it wont sound exactly the same but its better than guessing.

 

I know that the RC51 crowd will remove the dampeners from their cam gears to get more gear noise. Maybe you have failing/failed dampeners? If that's the case, I would pull the gear drive assemblies and check them out thoroughly.

Jose

 

Thanks for all your comments. Short video is attached if you want to listen (bike wasn't completely warm). Bike is due for a service soon so I will ask them to check the oil closely and look at the dampers. Reading up on it further, it seems like most people think the gear drives should last as long as the engine. They are definitely getting a little louder but they don't sound bad at all. [video=youtube_share;t0WCde9KHN0]http://youtu.be/t0WCde9KHN0[/video] If you look down my youtube page further you'll see an older video of the bike (same but exhaust restrictor out) taken about 20,000km ago - just FYI.

 

What are these cam gear dampeners you are all referring to?

Keep in mind that the cam gears are all straight cut, so they are noisy from the get go. Too thin an oil will increase the gear whine that they put out as well.

 

Here ya go.

Cam Silencing Gear Removal Guide

I haven't checked to see if our bikes have the same silencing gear setup.

edit-Ok, I poked around and found a pic. of a 5th gen. with the rear valve cover off.



Looks like ours do have the silencer gears.

Jose

 

Hi baggman, the cam gears sound normal to me, my 1999 model has 260,000ks up and my gears sound like that, l wouldn't worry too much about them because they're fairly indestructible...just noisy, l could never understand why honda went back to cam chains in the later models

 

Holy smoke! 260,000km - that's brilliant. My bike has been very well maintained by original owner and more recently me so I guess I should safely expect 200,000 then. Might be worth tidying it up cosmetically given that kind of engine life... Thanks for your comments.

 

Hi baggman, they are a good motor alright but they need clean oil to survive, l usually change mine at 5000ks + a new filter, sometimes a bit sooner if l'v been doing at lot of city riding during summer, but l'v always just used the Honda GN4 mineral oil and it seems to work ok

 

I can When I go to sleep after long trips, all I can hear is that whining sound. I wish there was a button to turn it off on long trips. Maybe I will try to use thicker oil as suggested.

 

aaahh what a lovely way to fall asleep....hearing is so over rated LOL

 

that sounds like mine, normal. I just rolled 80k, If it doesn't whine, how will others know you have a gear driven cam?

 

Exactly! I LOVE my gear noise. Mine is pretty loud but i wish it was louder. If get a bike with a cam chain so you can hear the tensioner inevitably wear out and get clunking/rattling. If you get an ST or GL you have to replace cam belts. Gear drive is a win/win.

 

^^

If only there were alot fewer guys equating motorcycles with NOISE--especially the obnoxious straightpipe-types--and working to make them even louder ???! Again we see Thomas Edison home tinkers throwing out useful Honda technology to prove they're maybe smarter. Civilization, be damned ! It's a popular, low-culture way to be a man, i guess. Harley Culture. No one else but you wants to listen to your exhaust at 3am or even 3 pm !!!

Too much like walkin down the street shouting "I'm here !!!!!" to all and sundry. If i can hear your pipes from more than 2 blocks away, that's annoying to most sensible people, i believe.

 

To have a unique sounding vehicle is not unusual. Not everyone has the funds to buy brand name exhaust modifications, and although I don't find the loud Harley pipes appealing, god bless them for exercising their freedom to be different. I too am annoyed by bikes that can be heard for miles but I wouldn't want to live in a world where they were prevented from hacking off mufflers for fear of old ladies getting butt hurt. Although Japanese engineers make some amazing machines, its refreshing to see people supercharging gl1100s with vw carbs and car alternators and running two feet of straight pipe out of Harleys. Annoying maybe, but I am glad to live in a place where people can annoy each other. If it wasn't for the "harley mentality" that is unfortunately portrayed in a derogatory light, many of the inventions and farkles we enjoy and benefit from would not exist. Thank god for people wanting louder, faster, crazier, bigger, gnarlier, even if it annoys some snobs. I think that's the point.

 

needs more oil?

 

why did you bump a 3 year old thread?

 

You mean we need a REASON to talk about how great gear whine is??? Unbelievable!