worried buell boy....

[SeattleBuellMan]

Ok.....bought 06 xb12r with 1184 miles on it. Had it for two weeks when a ticking sound came about from the right side of the engine. Became louder and louder. Also noticed that if i was in say 4 gear at about 3500 rpms i could also hear and feel another metal ticking sound coming from the area of the lifters. I took it back to service and they replaced the cams, valves, lifters...and a few other things. Needless to say i was more than frustrated. It took almost a month to get my bike back. I just got it back wed night. Have put 457 miles on the new parts and pieces over the weekend. Now im really frustrated because today at about 40 mph, in third, i open her up a little bit and can hear and feel same metal ticking sound coming from lifter area...can anyone give advise BPG, LeFox...love my bike. Had 04 xb12r so am familar with buells but getting to the point were i want to take the bike back and just get a totally different one. Any input would be much appreciated. Thankyou

 

[BuellPartsGuy]

What oil are you running?

Let me guess, you rode Jap's before you bought your Buell?

Buell's have a common tappet noise when warm, especially when you are running a synthetic. If you are more concerned about the noise than performance, run straight 50w standard oil

 

[LeFox]

I took it back to service and they replaced the cams, valves, lifters...and a few other things.

can you tell why they changed these parts?
is it because it was damaged or showed some type of stress?

 

[SeattleBuellMan]

Actually had 04 xb12r prior to owning 06...have never touched a jap bike. When i originally bought bike...ran it for 250 miles then changed spark plugs, which i gapped, then switched oil to lucas 20/50.
All the technical mumbo jumbo they said was like hearing another language. I know they took pics of the cams and one had some damage to it. They sent pics to harley Tech services and they decided to replace valve train and cams....here is a list if that helps;
1 gasket, inspection c
1 pinon and e cam gear set
4 tappet lifter
1 gasket kit, rocker c
1 gasket, gearcase cov
4 o-ring
1 gasket pushrod cover
2 rivet, #53 open end
1 gasket, pushrod tube
2 gasket, cylinder hea
2 gasket, cylinder bas
0 valve seal kit
2 seal, intake manifold
2 seal, exhaust

thanks again guys

 

[LeFox]

seems to me they repaired the damage, but did not look at the cause.

i would take it back with a copy of the previous repair. they need to treat this as a warranty issue.

hard to say what is going wrong without hearing or seeing things.

 

[SeattleBuellMan]

exact same noise as the previous repair but now seems to be more through out the gears. rides well just the feel and sound of the noise....gotta be something wrong they over looked. luckily it is under warranty. just sucks....had bike for 2 weeks then it was in shop for 1 month now i've had it a little under a week and back it goes. thankyou again lefox for taking the time. wish i could put video up for you to listen to...but hey...i'll just settle for the other guys

 

[markwoodlief]

Im curious where you are getting the service done? I've heard mixed reviews on the Dealers in our area..

Im local to Seattle.. out in Fall City and work in Redmond..

 

[SeattleBuellMan]

Bought my bike from Eastside in Bellvue and work has been preformed by their service department...you have about the same commute i do. Born in Maple Valley...now live in tacoma and work for the City of Renton...main reason I bought the bike. Commute and fun.

 

[zoedogg1]

I got my bike from eastside and found them sorta tuff to deal with when workin out a deal. They dont budge at all. Got my bike used and they never even serviced the thing. I brought it home to tricities and got the 10k service. Lucky they found not a thing wrong with it. But I changed the plugs, oil, filters..etc. right when I got it home and it was pretty dirty. Runs smooth as a babys butt now....I dont think I'd deal with them again though....next bike will be like a 2010 1125R or something real close, but must be BUELL.

 

[mrdozer2you]

2010 1125R

Or 2010 1125S

 

[markwoodlief]

Ive dealt with eastside alot.. It's true they dont budge.. unless your me, I walked out with a 07 Uly for 9500 out the door.. But I wont take my bike there for service.. Scott Moon is a great guy and knows a bunch about buells, hes the sales manager over there.. But I asked service some routine quesitons and they had no idea.. At this point I'm my own servicing dealership, If you need an ecmspy cable let me know I ended up with an extra..

 

[warhorse]

sounds like you got snakes. my oh 4 did it and they could begin to give me answer to why it is doing it. well long and short that motor took a big ol' dump. got a new one [mad]. and it now makes the same noise the thing i see that we have that is the same. the oil so i am going to tomorrow and take what i have out am put something else in thats for the insight.

be easy

 

[SeattleBuellMan]

well dropped my bike off again today. noises only got worse. so....now their just going to put a whole new power plant into her. eastside is difficult to heckal with. they treat you well though. tried to be a dick or rather be hard headed and sturn but im too nice and the service guy spencer took care of me. got a v-rod nightster as a loaner. sweet bike. got all kinds of power. i get to mob that around until my baby gets her get her new engine. then round three....can not wait though. buells are just soooo addicting

 

[LeFox]

good thing you got a loaner.

if they are replacing the whole engine without too much hastle and within warranty, they don't sound that bad.

you can always get a bad bike, no matter what brand, but it's the service that is important.
it's good everythig is going as it should for you [up]

 

[DealsGap]

yeah sounds like you are getting good service. I hope to god that they deciede to warranty my bike repair. I might have the same problem as you. Did u notice any metal in your oil?

 

[premierwheelman]

I have the same noise, a light tapping sound that sounds like loose rockers or a loose chain or something, i only notice it sometimes though. If you figure out what is wrong with it let me know. My bike is an 05 xb12r and i am running synthetic in both the engine and gear case.

 

[SeattleBuellMan]

well got my bike back friday. have to say im pleasantly surprised. the problem it seems was my oil check valve. it was binding up and not letting enough oil into the top end causing the engine to run extra hot. they shaved it down and ran her a couple of times and told me to come get her. the sound has almost completely gone away and my baby seems to be back. took her out yesterday along the foothills here in beautiful WA and my two buddies on their 08 GSXR 600 and 07 R1 were having a difficult time keeping up until about 120mph then they would get me...but damn i love buells...ride hard, be safe.

 

[LeFox]

glad everything worked out!

have fun

 

[taylor]

fellow seattle owners
im also from seattle and got my 08 firebolt from them and traded my 03 to them. anyways i have found eastside is a great place to buy buells but there service dept doesnt know much about buells. have you had same issues? and keith in there service dept is cool, but hes just the service report guy. (same as spencer)