first time harley owner,and newbe here on the forum.

in june i bought a 2004 electra glide police,twin cam,injected with 6,000 miles on it,was completely serviced by the dealer ,oils changed.

I've noticed a valve train "rattle" sound which the dealer says is pinging,and to just ride the bike,"they all do it", well I've put about 2500 miles on it since buying it in june,and the noise seems to be getting louder,I have a few buddies that ride electra glides,there's have a very slight valve noise,you really have to listen for,mine ,well...... it's alot louder,seems to be mostly at cruising speed,steady throttle between 2,000-2700 rpm,twist the throttle and it seems to go away,until you level off at a steady speed again,I only have till january left on the factory warrenty,and wonder if I should spend some cash for labor,and have the dealer get into the valve train,and see if in fact there is a problem? i'm guessing it would be better to lay out a few dollars now,out of pocket,over having the warrenty run out,and find i need major work. anyone have any idea's or similar experinces with this kinda problem?if so maybe someone can give me a direction in which to look for this ,doesnt seem very normal to me,everyone who listens to it says it's to loud,and can sometimes hear it riding next to me.but dealer says "normal"
i'm wondering if in fact it might be the start of a failure somewhere in the motor, need some piece of mind i guess, so.... point a new guy in the right direction"please"

thanks ,
mike

 

First of all, the dealers call everything normal , so you can discount what they say right off the bat. What grade of gas you using, try a different brand or station of the same brand if you're stuck on it. I've seen bad stations selling cheap gas under a brand name and all 3 of my cars started to ping after a fill up at that station. Try different gas in the hi test range from another station and see what you get. Being a police bike, probably you have a carbon build up in the cylinders, you could use a spray bottle of water with the bike at a high idle and spray a stream of water down the carb and adjust the throttle to keep it from stalling. Use an ounce or two of water and park the bike with the mufflers facing a wall so you can see how much carbon is blown out when you do this. It works to remove the carbon from the combustion chambers, which could be what's causing your problem here. Heat the motor up after doing this by riding a few miles. Let us know if it helps.

 

I've try'd about three different brands of fuel,from more than 7 different locations,a buddy of mine suggested i drain the tank,started off with fresh fuel in the tank,every time i try it from a different station and or brand,so....... I try'd that,took a gas can down to each different station,pumped the first 3 gallons into my pickup,to be sure the line was in fact pumping the 93 octane,and not a hose full of regular first,lol changed the spark plugs,switched over to the HD syn 3 oil,in hopes of getting better protection in the lube end of the motor,nothing so far seems to make any difference in this "valve rattle" noise. this is starting to play with my mind abit,and taking the fun out of having a awesome bike like this.I'm about ready to spend a few hours labor at a different dealer(have a friend who's a service writer there,told me to come up and see him,he'll take good care of me,and put a very good mechanic on the bike) and have a HD mechanic get into this valve train ,and see if there is infact a problem(push rod,rocker,hydraulic lifter,etc) ,with the hope they in fact find something,so I dont have to spend agood chunk of the coin I tucked away for my stage 1
upgrade,but piece of mind knowing it's nothing major will be worth the money spent. Any more idea's or experiences,jump in with them,
thanks for the reply!

mike

 

I seem to have the same problem. The engine will rev up slowly and sounds loud (abnormally). It sounds like there's hammers in there. Acceleration is poor as well. I don't know if you can have arbon buildup in 2000 miles though. I'm also revving between 2000-2700 rpm. I know the bike is suppose to rev up to 6000, but with the way it sounds at 2500-3000 rpm I think it would fall apart at 6000. If the water trick works flhtpi04, then let me know.

 

Most of these engines have a RPM area where they sound like there's something wrong with it. If it happens throuout the rpm range , then you may have a problem. If you feel that it was in a certain range like you say, it may be ( i hate to use this term ) normal for an air cooled v twin. I would much rather say characteristic.

 

Another one.

Well at this point I'm so fed up that I'm just going to ride the **** out of it. If it's defective it will snap. And instead of saying look there's a squeal here so there may be a problem developing I can say look there the rear brake fell off/exploded/locked/whatever. I won't have to say look the engine is noisy is that normal, I'll just say look the engine seized. Now fix it.

That's the way my father has driven every vehicle he owns. He told me, son you drive the **** out of it and if it breaks it was defective and that's what the warranty is for.

 

I've noticed that since I switched over to the syn 3 oil ,it has become even louder now,goes away under throttle,but doesnt seem to matter what rpm i'm at, at a steady throttle it just makes alot of noise ,sounding like very loose valve train.speed has no effect on the noise,nor does rpm,steady throttle at any rpm is when it's making the most noise
I've had the chance to ride a few of my buddies bikes,all electra glides,all stock just like mine,their bikes all have a very slight valve train noise(which sounds normal),but mine is about 10 times louder,when they ride next to me,they can hear the valve clatter noise over their own engine. dealer says it's normal,but i cant seem to find a bike that makes the "normal sound" as loud as mine,taking the fun out of the rides,when strangers tell me I should have that noise looked at,no one but the dealer seems to think it's a "normal" sound,warrenty runs out in january 06
I've had the bike since june of this year,put 2500 miles on it so far,voice in the back of my head is think major repair once the warrenty runs out,

ps. the water thing didnt have any effect,still the same. good idea though,have done that on cars before with good results

 

If you are certain that the noise is associated with valve train and is abnormal , You may consider replacing the pushrods with adjustable ones and this should quiet things down for you.

 

I'm going to head to the dealer today,ask them what kinda money i'm looking at for them to check out this problem and see if in fact something is wrong/worn/sloppy in the valve train. comes back the same way it is now,I'll put it in the basement,get a part time job to pay it off faster,and down the road it goes! cant tell i'm at my wits end here can ya,lol this noise is really getting under my skin .LOL

mike

 

First, stay the heck away from that dealer. Second, what is the dealer's name? Rest of us might be travelin' through and it'd be nice to know who to avoid.

Two things come to mind after reading all your symptoms, etc. Lifters are headin' south, and/or chain drive cam stuff is wearing early. Have you tried pin-pointing location with a stethoscope? Might be too late in the process as if it's getting really bad the noise will sound as if it's coming from everywhere. If it was mine, I'd want all new lifters. And since you're gonna be so close, have 'em look at the wear on the cam chain adjusters. Some bikes go forever, and some seem to wear 'em out way too quickly.