Chirping sound

[Old Geezer Richard]

I remember the posting awhile back about the chirping sound coming from the front timing belt cover ....Is it the tensors when dirty make that chiping sound and if so whats the best solvent to clean them ? .... can I spray some carb cleaner behind the tensor or do I need to take them out ? or do the belts make that noise .... it chirps when running and idleing ..... Thanks Old Geezer

[RLD]

Do not get the cleaner on the belts

[Ricky-D]

Without utilizing a stethoscope is is very difficult to identify the culprit.

There are many threads regarding noise coming from a running motor and some noises (chirping) are not indicative of a problem.

Saying the noise is coming from "here" or coming from "there" is not too scientific and more specific information is definitely required.

There are a plethora of noise makers in the front of the motor, cam belts and tensioners not withstanding.

[Scott from FL, now in Maine]

If you pull the belt cover, examine the tensioner wheels for black deposits on them between them and the belt. I had them (burnt belt rubber?) and not only some chirping, but also an occasional smell of burning rubber. Some have cleaned them with acetone but that scared me (didn't want to harm the belts. I found they came off with a little scubbing with a dry plastic scrub pac used for cleaning dishes. Both smell and chirp went away. I do want to add that the post above is right. That may not be were your noise is coming from. It is very hard at times to locate odd noises on these beasts. Good Luck! 

[Old Geezer Richard]

Well MY fAT LADY has about 68,000 miles on her and I never have heard any noises before like this chirping , I changed out the belts around 8,000 miles ago .... it will chirp while ideling and then quit and sometimes when I'm going thru the gears and as I hit 5th gear I don't hear the noise while riding there is no noise while coasting only when running ...... she runs smooth since putting fresh vacume lines, so no performance problems at all ... I'll take the front cover off tonight and take a look see ..... thanks for the input from everybody ..... Thanks Old Geezer Richard

[Black Dog]

Geezer...  Another place to look, might be the 'Slave Pin', as it is part of the clutch.  Been doin' some diggin' in the Tech archives, and if you search there, you will get a lot to read.

It is part #17 in this picture.  You need to remove the kickstand, and bracket to get at this area...  Take off the cover, and put some moly grease on part #17, and put things back together.  If you search the Tech articles, you will see that this has been the fix, for folks asking about the same kind of noise.



Hope this helps.

Black Dog

[LL]

Mine chirpped a bit pending on temperature from what seemed the front of the engine too while changing gears (when I pulled the clutch in and backed off the throttle). Had to listen hard but was there till.........I desmogged it, you never know with all those hoses.

LL

[junior]

yea what black dog said, but before you do any teardowns try this..................while its churping apply alittle squeeze to the clutch lever and see if the churp goes away if it does then its your slave pin and lube it but i used silicone grease (sil-glide)

[Thunderbolt]

I am not there to listen to the noise, but when the lines on #3 and #4 have slits in them from age, they will make that noise.

[Old Geezer Richard]

 Hey you all I took the timing cover off and cleaned all the rollers and the tops of the belts and cleaned all the metal pulleys that could reach and it still churps , now I got real close to the left side right above the v-stacks and I hear that churping from underneath the tank  behind the radiator ..... I 'm guessing that one of those v hoses has a crack or has partially come off of maybe that t-fitting ..... anyway the ol girl still runs smooth except for that churp...... what does the pair valve do when its going out or does it make any noises when its crapped out .... anyway the tanks coming off ..... thanks everybody

[Thunderbolt]

reach behind the center intake on each side, sounds like the one on the left is your problem, but they both should be replaced, and see if the line at the rear base of the intake that attaches to the brass male connector doesn't have a split in it at the bottom.  This is what happens to most of them.  And it will make the sound that you are describing.  There are also caps on 1,2, and 5.  One more vacuum line on 6 goes to the petcock.  Any or all of these can get old and leak or crack.