Engine Knock When Warm & Rotten Eggs?

[TechnoGecko]

Ok, two entirely seperate issues but I figure i'd just post them in one thread and save some time. Everything on the bike has been great except two things.

1. Every now and then when I go for a ride and stop I'll notice it smells like rotten eggs, like that disgusting sewer smell you smell now and then. Well, its comming from the bike. I can't tell where from, or what the hell it could be - but it comes and goes. Sometimes you'll take it out and it stays with you the entire ride, sometimes it dosent. At first I thought it was just where I was riding, but after I parked the bike in the garage and came back and the entire garage smelled like it I knew it had ot be the bike. So.. ideas?

2. The engine is making a knocking noise when its warm. Its hard to describe, and I acutally posted a while back asking what it could be and most of you said the clutch plates. Indeed they do make a rattle, but this it not that. It only does it when the engine is warm ( needle little less than half way ) it makes a knocking sound. Almost sounds like a cam knock. It's not very loud, but if you know what the bike sounds like when its cold and warm you'll hear it, but to the average person you might not notice it. You can feel the vibration in the footpegs a little too. Not sure what it could be, but as soon as you take off and the engine cools down it goes away entirely. I'm not too worried about it, but I would like to figure out what it is.

Ideas?

[Pete in PA]

Does your bike have cat. converters?

If it does it's sulfer in the gas burning and smells like rotten eggs. Try a diff. brand gas. They will vary in their sulfer content.

Noises over the internet just doesn't work, if I heard it I could probably tell you that's normal.

This bike makes a lot of noises that come and go. I've learned to monitor them and see if they get worse.

[Hobicus]

Could that sewer smell be the shit eating grin on your face when you're riding???

Seriously.. see if it changes when you buy your gas from somewhere else. All the usual, standard stuff applies, I'd run a fuel system cleaner through, etc.

Oh.. and ... check for rodents in the exhaust. Do you leave your bike outside, where rain could accumulate in the exhaust??

Funny thing is.. I usualy don't smell anything off the bike while I'm moving, it's usually the ambient air around me. I smell things a LOT quicker, and more intense, than when I'm in my cage. But it changes faster. I've thought that if there was a smell coming from the bike, that I'd never detect it because I'm past it while I'm moving.

[TechnoGecko]

No, the bike is always indoors. It's possible its the fuel, I'll try a different gas station from now on and see if that makes a difference. Any ideas on the knock?

[Clinton Horn]

Re: Noise at idle

I do not know how you could have survived this long without at least a dozen people answering but the symptoms are classic for the cam chain adjuster.

This is a weak link in an other wise fine package. Lots of us have replaced them with green dot models and the naked bike 1100 xx had a slightly different model that I installed (import only). It has reduced the problem but I can tell you that it sounds identical to your description. That chain slaps around in the cavity until you get some rpm. God knows what it is doing at speed but at least you can't hear it. The replacements come pre loaded (that is they are a screw jack and spring arrangement. Some rocket scientist should be able to calculate the proper number of turns to increase the tension on the faulty ones. We all have old ones in our garages that are perfect except they just don't pack quite enough punch to tension the cam chain. There are several good write ups on this board. It is a very simple procedure to replace one. DO NOT remove the cheesy little key in the top UNTIL you have it bolted in

[EVLXX]

I go for a ride and stop I'll notice it smells like rotten eggs, like that disgusting sewer smell you smell now and then.

Ideas?

My buddy just had this same problem..... he was complaining about that rotten egg smell.... Sulfer.... Sulfuric acid ..... Battery.... is constantly charging.

You better act quick! Befor eyou fry the whole system, like he did, over a bad regulator.

[EVLXX]

As for the knock.... I would really be afraid to guess....

and would actually be more afraid to tell you what my guesses would be...

if you can feel the vibration in your feet, that's pretty serious, in my book.

Heat, expansion, unloaded engine..... :shock:

[MaXX]

You need to know, owning the XX is like owning a 200 piece orchaestra. This fucking bike makes knocks, pings, bangs, farts, spits.... Then it stops doing it all together, then it starts again. Nature of the beast. I have 60,000 miles on mine, did it from mile 1.

MaXX

[speedygeezer]

Sulphur smell = battery/alt/rectifier problems. Probably why your other battery shot craps, too. Even tho they (said they) replaced the reg/rec, it is not uncommon to get a new part that is also bad, so they'll have to check it again. It is a good practice to always ask them for the parts they replaced, just in case they are playing games with you. Not that they would, of course...... :wink: Trust, but verify.

How many miles on your bike? Did you buy the bike new? If not, do you know the history of it? The cam chain tensioner LIFTER does cause vibrations and noise, but this usually occurs between 4,000 and 5,000 rpm, and some bikes are more afflicted with this than others. The lifter can start making racket and vibes anywhere from 2,000 miles on up to 30,000 miles. If you're getting a definite knock at idle WITH the clutch lever pulled in, try to isolate the source. If you're checking for this by yourself, tie the clutch lever against the clip-on with a piece of rope. Then place a long wooden dowel or a long screwdriver against the motor and stick the other end in your ear. Probe various places on the motor until you find the source. Check both sides of the motor. Once you know better where the noise is coming from, then you can make a better diagnosis of what might be wrong. Play with the idle screw or, if you have a helper, have them increase rpm's gently to see if/when the knock changes in frequency or sound. Determine when the noise stops or at what rpm you are unable to hear it. Let us know what you find out.

[TechnoGecko]

I haven't taken a real indepth look in to finding the noise yet but I will this weekend. As for the smell, I acutally didn't even put two and two together, but after my battery died and I replaced the R/R the smell never came back... Guess that answers my question about what was stinking!

I replaced the timing chain tensioner as soon as I bought the bike knowing it wasn't worth risking. I know the bike has had a relatively hard life before I owned it, the guy I bought it from would brag about he "stood it up" and would "kick the shit outta dem Busa's". So, yes the bike had been ridden hard there is no doubt about that. But it being a Honda and myself not finding anything that really worried me I was confident with the buy, and still am. Again, its not loud enough that it worries me and you can barely feel it through the pegs. It's not like the engine is knocking, and as someone said before it may just be "one of those noises". I'll take a more indepth look this weekend, but I was out on it tonight and she was riding great like always.

[Guest rockmeupto125]

Jason.....When does it and when does it NOT make the knock?

Try to equate the knock and thud that you might feel through the pegs with the things going on in the motor at the time. Acceleration, deceleration, which gear, idle, off idle, rhythmic or not, consistant with engine speed, or road speed. That will help in narrowing your choices of culprits.

[VeloXXiraptor]

I agree, probably was the battery giving off the "rotten egg" smell. Sulfuric acid doesn't have any odor at all, but the redox chemistry going on inside a lead/acid battery produces small amounts of hydrogen gas and hydrogen sulfide (both pretty combustible, hence the warning on batteries!). It's the latter that you smell as rotten eggs and is readily detectable at 0.13ppm (ppm = parts per million). At 20ppm it becomes a mucous membrane irritant and is generally VERY nasty stuff at exposure levels above that. The amounts of sulfur in fuels is pretty minimal any more because of emission limits, and pretty unlikely to be a source of hydrogen sulfide to the point that you can smell it. At 150ppm, you can't smell the stuff any more due to it acting as an olfactory paralyzer and at 700ppm or greater, your relatives will be in line to fight over your bike and the rest of your estate. :fart:

[TechnoGecko]

Well, I can only hear the knock when the bike is sitting (ie at the stop light) because god knows the bike is too loud when its running for me to hear it! But it dosent get louder when you rev it up if thats what you're asking.

[AQUAMAX]

SELL IT & BUY A V-MAX!

I've never had either problem you describe. :grin:

[Animal Mother]

Every time I hear V-Max I think of "Re-Max(sp)" the real estate agency

steve

[Jojo - Germany]

did you examine the open-loop system tension adjuster once?

[P51Mstng]

On the kknocking, I'm surprised no one asked you about what octane gas you are using! Regular 87 octane is maybe not good enough for the Blackbird.

With my XX, I was always running hot. Then, maybe they downgraded the gas or something, my red FI light started to come on. Uually, this came on after about 15 minutes of riding and it was intermittent. Diagnosed, it said it was the knock sensor. So, I did not worry about it.

After awhile, I figured that it might be the reason I always got such bad mileage; maybe the fuel was being set too rich and the timing was off. So I did the diagnostic thing again and that time it looked like it was maybe the CPU itself! This sells for $558! Well, I decided to just try changing the gas I was using before doing something so drastic. Sure enough; 93 octane gas cleared up the problem, and the red light never comes on anymore.

[Northman]

It's made to run on 87 octane, and as long as the knock sensor is doing it's job, will never ping.

Mine, at over 13:1 compression, runs fine on 91 octane fuel, but runs better on 93, and even better on race fuel.

I suspect your knock sensor is faulty, indeed. Replacing it should allow you to run on 87 again, and take care of the light.

[P51Mstng]

It's made to run on 87 octane

I suspect your knock sensor is faulty

Of course, they say i t will run on 87 octane, but I know for a fact that it runs and sounds much better on 93 octane! In fact, I want to try Sunoco, because they have a 94 octane blend.

My point is that 87 octane might be so marginal, that anytime they get the formulation wrong, we could have a problem. My engine had always tended to run too hot, now it does not do that anymore. I had been gettting terrible gas mileage, now it seems o be much improved.

[Guest rockmeupto125]

I believe Jason had said that he would try another brand/grade of fuel.

And as far as the knock sensor, isn't his a '97?

Jason.....you said you can here the knock at an idle.....but when you rev it, does the knock speed up? Is it regular? And does it continue if you pull in the clutch lever?

[AQUAMAX]

Every time I hear V-Max I think of "Re-Max(sp)" the real estate agency

[KomaToast]

Well one thing could be causing both the smell and the knock.

If it isn't fueling correctly it will cause a knock and a bad smell.

I'm from the old school, used to ride a KZ900 in the '70's.

If the carbs were out of sync it would knock because one cylinder was trying to outrun the others and it would make the crank knock.

It would only do it at an idle and at low RPMs, once fast enough the knock would go away.

If one of your injectors is bad or dirty it will have the same symptoms.

My old Scoot

I used to pick the front wheel up in first gear and not set it back down until it was strung out in 5th gear as fast as it would go.

I was an adrenaline junky then.

Sometimes my memories scare me. :shock:

KomaToast

[TechnoGecko]

The smell is resolved, it was the battery dying as a result of the R/R that failed. As for the 'knock' its still there when the bike get warm. I've always run 91 octane fuel in the bird, so it's not the fuel.

As for the noise, pulling the clutch lever in releives the typical clutch plate rattle but not this knocking sound. If you rev the engine up it seems to go away almost immediately, it doesnt get louder or faster when revs. Of course, its diffucult to hear it when the engine is revving.

Hope that narrows it down...

[cbrxxquad]

just an idea i had was the adjustment on the counterbalencers section in the manual sounds like this,could try the running adjustments and see if it cures the knock and vibraton.

maybe yes mabe no

just a thought

stan :???:

[TechnoGecko]

Its weird because it only does it when its warm ( needle half way on the temp gauge ) and never when it's cold. I havent been on the bird in two weeks however, its been too cold and rainy here in AZ.

I sync'd the carbs as close as I could get them, I adjusted them for a good 30 minutes trying to get them as close as can be, but I have a feeling theyre still a little off.

Mabye thats it...