82 GS1100E Engine: Has a new whirring/whine noise

[Anonymous]

Need some troubleshooting help here. Have '82 GS1100E with 36,000 miles. Bought it May 2001, with 22,000 miles and has run perfectly. This morning, a new whine / whirring noise developed from the engine as I was riding 35 miles to work. The noise is directly related to engine rpm whether in gear or not, clutch engaged or not, with the bike moving or stopped. Therefore, I do not believe its anything like the clutch basket or anything in the transmission. Nothing has been changed or done to the bike since the previous day when all was fine.

Still runs like always, but that whine is there. At lunch, took it to the Harley, Yamaha, Suzuki shop in the town where I'm working. Mechanic said had never heard a howl / whine like this from a GS before, perhaps alternator, but wasn't sure at all as to what it could be. I'm planning on driving it home (another 35 miles) and will stop at my local shop on the way for their for their opinion.

Has anyone had something like this or have an idea what to look for? Should I even be running the engine, even to get it home until I find out?

Thanks, Stasch

[Anonymous]

Just a thought, could be the starter gear clutch has frozen up and is no longer free spinning.
If it is then the starter is being turned by the engine when it's running.

[saaz]

I agree. The starter clutch freezing can do this. Needs to be fixed before it destroys the starter motor.

[Anonymous]

Now that a little time has gone by, I've found this noise occurs some of the time. Seems to occur less when the weather is hotter, but doesn't seem to matter if the engine is warmed up or started cold. Don't know if this means anything or not.

When the noise occurs, how can I tell if the starter clutch is engaging the gear? Can I remove the left rotor / stator cover and tell from there while the motor is running? Can I check the condition of the starter clutch with the engine off, whether or not it the sound was occurring at that time?

[Anonymous]

Hmm, first you can't remove the alternator cover with the engine running, and you can't start the motor (using the starter) with the cover off.

The starter drive has a gear reduction of about 24:1 (I just did a rough count). This means that for every rotation of the crankshaft the starter would rotate 24 times is it was locked up. If you were at 3k RPM, the starter would be at a screaming 72,000 RPM. I seriously doubt if this is your problem. I've been known to be wrong before however.

If you want to check it without removing the cover, the only way I can think of is to hit the starter with the motor running. If you hear it spin up, then it can't be already engaged.

[Anonymous]

I have had a whinning in my GS1100L 1982 model and it was the secondary gears. the nut that holds the driveshaft to the gear snapped off. then the two secondary hypoid gears chew each others teeth up. I bought these two gears from susuki for somewhere around 400.00.I hope this is'nt your problem. you might be able to pull the rubber boot back at the u- joint enough to see if the nut is broke off.

[Anonymous]

The noise went away and all was fine, until . . . it came back after about 1,000 miles, 2 days ago. (This is a chain drive bike, so secondary gears can't be the issue. Also, tried the starter button troubleshoot that Swanny recommended. Its not the starter either.)

Bike still runs fine and seems to work normally except for this noise.

The noise sounds a little like a bearing going bad. Had a '72 two stroke Suzuki T500 years ago, that had a lot of noisey rattling similar to this due to a bad bushing between the clutch basket and its shaft, although it would fade in and out at different rpm frequencies.

I've put a screwdriver handle to my ear and touched the tip of it it all around on the engine to see if I could isolate the noise to any particular area of the engine. I wasn't able to isolate the noise. It just seems to manifest itself all over. Listening around the bike with the naked ear, it does seem to be more prominent towards the back of the engine, even with the clutch cover, but equally loud on both sides of the engine.

I'm taking it to the shop Monday morning. Meanwhile . . . my worst fears are haunting me, wreaking emotional havoc. Did the oil pump quite working and is this noise a whole bunch of badly worn parts due to bad oiling or reduced oil pressure? If it is going to be real expensive, should I try to fix it or junk the bike? I love this bike and cannot even imagine that option right now. See link below to see why I like it:

http://www.rdmtech.com/files/GS1100E/Suzi_SV_GS1100E_RedRight.tif

I'm seeing guys ride around all over the place in this perfect riding weather, and their bikes are running great, and I CAN'T RIDE MINE UNTIL ITS FIXED. AAAAGGGGGH!!! (Feeling sorry for self here). Is it possible to have withdrawal after not being able to ride for just two days? 8O

I'll wait and see what the shop says. Will try to keep paranoia at bay until then. I'll keep everyone posted with whatever happens in case someone else ever needs to know.

I guess this points out a very real need. I should always have TWO bikes around so that I could always (in theory) have at least one to ride at any given time if one is down for repair. Hmmmm . . . .

[Jethro]

This sounds identical to the problem I had last spring with my 81 1100. Noisy whirring sound- like a bearing gone bad. Turned out to be one of the cam seats (exhaust side) had somehow gotten completely destroyed. Had to buy another head. I also hope this is not your problem, but the way you describe it- identical to mine. Good luck and keep us posted!

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Yep,nice looking bike.Hope you get it fixed for a reasonable price.Got my fingers crossed.

[cbxchris]

I`m sure you will need a tear down to find the problem. Good luck and hope the shop you use is reasonable and know what they are doing.

[Anonymous]

Jethro, Got lots of How were you able to determine that was the problem? Was it hard to find a new head? Did the head come complete or did you have to populate with your current valves and cams and reseating of valves and all the rest? Was your cam destroyed too or just the cam journal in the head? Any advise you can give would be great. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I've started getting the same sort of noise from my '85 GSX1100EFE (GS1150), it sounds as though the bike is fitted with a dry clutch. The noise does appear to be coming from the gearbox, but as was prevoiusly mentioned pin pointing it is very difficult. I had the clutch in bits a few weeks ago so I know the basket is OK, I also fitted new plates and heavy duty springs, the starter clutch which has been giving me some major problems recently, has also been replaced. Hopefully I will try and get the engine out and stripped at the weekend, I'll let you know what I find.

[Redman]

Not a complete answer, but....
My experience makes me think your problem is not the starter clutch. I had the starter motor stay on a couple of times, although it was stuck on electrically, (the starter button hung up). It was more of a growl and engine was slow to rev up, and when it did rev up the growl was more of horrible howling.