Whining noise when decelerating

[Greg7]

Noticed last night there's a loud whining noise when decelerating. If I pull the clutch in it seems to go away.

Just recently replaced the clutch plates and maybe put 50 miles on it before the noise started. Everything else seems fine. Runs good, idles good. Oil level is good. Have to check gear oil level but I just changed that 3 months ago. Hoping it's something stupid but I feel like there's a more serious issue. The bike is an 82gs1100 with 7500 on the odo. Any thoughts?

[Brendan W]

Open the oil filler, put the bike in gear and rock back and forth to see if the clutch basket moves in and out.
Afaik there are bevel primary gears and in drive the basket is pulled in but if the nut is loose the basket will be pushed out on the overrun.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Before you tear into anything, it's easy to check if your tach or speedo is making noise first. Remove the tach cable, go for a ride. If the noise goes away, you've got a noisy tach or tach cable. If not, repeat with speedo cable.

[Redman]

When pull in clutch it “seems” to go away, meaning? It really doesn’t completely?

do you feel any vibration along with this whining?

47 hundred miles?

[Greg7]

When pull in clutch it “seems” to go away, meaning? It really doesn’t completely?

do you feel any vibration along with this whining?

47 hundred miles?

75hundred miles. It definitely gets a lot quieter when I pull the clutch in. I was close to home when it started happening so I didn't keep riding around to test out different scenarios because I thought maybe it was just low on oil and didn't want to keep riding and cause damage. There's vibration over 3500rpm but it was like that before this issue and I think that's carb sync issue that I still need to do.

[Greg7]

I'll check clutch basket and speedo/tach cable tonight

[Greg7]

Open the oil filler, put the bike in gear and rock back and forth to see if the clutch basket moves in and out.
Afaik there are bevel primary gears and in drive the basket is pulled in but if the nut is loose the basket will be pushed out on the overrun.

No outward movement when I rock the bike in gear.

Also noticed a leak around the shaft boot when I was checking gear oil levels.IMG_20200908_221729656~2.jpg

[salty_monk]

The drive at either end of the shaft would make that sort of noise on the overun if it was run with no oil in it... adding oil may or may not make the noise go away if that was the case. You might get lucky.

[Greg7]

The drive at either end of the shaft would make that sort of noise on the overun if it was run with no oil in it... adding oil may or may not make the noise go away if that was the case. You might get lucky.

There's gear oil up to the overflow screw. That was with the bike slightly leaning to the left but I still think there was sufficient oil in there. Going to replace the oil again anyway and drain the primary also to measure how much was actually in there. Still have to check the noisy tach cable scenario but I don't think it's that.

[Greg7]

Before you tear into anything, it's easy to check if your tach or speedo is making noise first. Remove the tach cable, go for a ride. If the noise goes away, you've got a noisy tach or tach cable. If not, repeat with speedo cable.

Tested this out. Unfortunately it's not a noisy tach or speedo cable.

[Greg7]

The drive at either end of the shaft would make that sort of noise on the overun if it was run with no oil in it... adding oil may or may not make the noise go away if that was the case. You might get lucky.

Just changed out the final drive fluid. There was about 7 to 8oz of gear oil in it. It's raining pretty heavy at the moment so I'll have to wait to take it for a test ride tomorrow.

[Brendan W]

No outward movement when I rock the bike in gear.

Also noticed a leak around the shaft boot when I was checking gear oil levels.[ATTACH=CONFIG]61662[/ATTACH]

Go back again. This time pull the clutch lever repeatedly and see if there is movement of the basket.

[Redman]

There's gear oil up to the overflow screw. That was with the bike slightly leaning to the left but I still think there was sufficient oil in there. Going to replace the oil again anyway. . . . . . . .

You seem to be speaking in singular terms. But there are two gear oil reservoirs on 1100G.
THe final drive at the rear wheel (fill to level of the fill plug).
..... And the secondary drive at back end of engine/transmission. Take off the cover over the shift lever, and can see the "fill level" plug. THe fill plug is on top of the engine/transmission case.

. . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .and drain the primary also to measure how much was actually in there...

Okay, you are aware there is another gear oil reservoir. See details I mentioned above.

[salty_monk]

I would expect that sort of noise if the backlash wasn't right in the drive... as it's determined by shims I can't see how that would suddenly change though... weird one! If you've tried removing the Tach cable, have you also tried removing the tach drive? There have been isolated cases on here of the drive getting messed up.... (Mostly on one of the other models where half of it is in the valve cover though so the gasket is important on those ones).

Also I don't suppose you (or an inquiring young mind.... daughter, grand-daughter - it's always the girls, at least in my house ) has had a fiddle with the chain tensioner? That knob with the spring on makes an enticing target..

[Grimly]

I would expect that sort of noise if the backlash wasn't right in the drive... as it's determined by shims I can't see how that would suddenly change though... weird one!

Oh, it changes rapidly if the bearings start to collapse. Not good. The noise in that case is a fairly early warning.
Now, having said that, there are some bikes that just like to whine, but the GS isn't one of them, usually.