Rattling noise at idle.

[Ghis_imp]

Would you stick with conventional Honda 10w30 or go to Honda's 10w30 full synthetic? Is 750 miles too early to switch to full synthetic?

[emptysea]

Ahh..only 8 posts. I remember those days. The days before I stumbled innocently into the Oil Thread. It was a little like what I would imagine it would be like to lose one's virginity to a prostitute - it accomplished the goal but is not particularly satisfying in the long run. Good luck, my friend. Good luck.

[the Ferret]

Ahhh only 8 posts. I remember THAT day. It was a slow one.

[emptysea]

LOL.

[Lord Popgun]

Oh boy! an oil thread. And so it begins...

[Ghis_imp]

Oh no, not another oil thread, please no. That is where I used to spend my life when I rode Harleys. Conventional v. synthetic blends, full synthetic, Red Line, Amsoil... I don't want to get into that. On my Harleys I would switch to full synthetic on the very service (those big air cooled V-Twins run so hot) as suggested by the Harley dealer every time. However, on my CB, I'm gonna stick with Honda's 10W30. CIP57 suggested I put in Honda' synthetic 10W30, but my Honda dealer says to wait until 8K. So the real question is more like synthetic now at 700 miles or later at 8k or even 4k for that matter?

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Where is the " Popcorn and 3D glasses" smilie?

Cheers.

[Cormanus]

This one?

[Guth_imp]

You know noises are funny. To some people they are glaringly obvious. To others merely normal motor noises. I rode up yesterday and had lunch with an old client. i saw he had a new truck and asked him how he liked it. he said it had a weird motor noise he wanted me to listen to. He fired it up and I swear I didn't her anything out of the ordinary, and he's say "hear it? Hear it now? And I'm like I don't hear anything abnormal. So I ask him what the dealership said, and he siad " they say it sounds normal" but he hears something no one else does. I dunno.

Now, I'm not saying your isn't making a noise. Mine makes all kinds of noises. It may make one of the noises you are hearing, then again yours may be making a noise mine is not. These things have a lot of metal parts moving around inside, and there is no body work to muffle sound, so any noises they do make are easier to hear. Whatever noises mine make it has been making for a year and nearly 10,000 miles. If it was something serious I'm sure it would have surfaced as a problem by now.

I say have a Honda tech listen to yours and see if they feel there is an issue. If they say no, trust that your 1 year unlimited mileage warranty will protect you in case of anything catastrophic.

I think the ferret gets to the heart of the matter regarding noises like this one and others discussed on this forum (and plenty of other forums for that matter).

While my eyes have finally started to give me a bit of grief the past few years my sense of hearing remains very intact and sensitive. I constantly find myself hearing noises that others didn't notice or are completely unable to hear. Not just motorcycle related noises, but with everything.

I can hear my CB1100 making a noise like the one described in this thread after it has been running for a few minutes, then it goes away after the engine is fully warmed up. I notice it with my helmet on — it's almost undetectable with my helmet off. It seems that the helmet filters out some of the frequency spectrum, in effect highlighting certain noises that would otherwise be masked by the full ensemble of noises generated by the engine.

In my case, if I understand the service manual correctly, the noise is generated by the balancer gears. This particular noise can be decreased or increased with the transmission backlash adjustment. I can eliminate the noise, but then I worry about excessive gear whine that occurs until the engine is fully warmed up which strikes me as even more intimidating. So basically, I can still tell the noise is there, even when others can't.

(FYI, I'm running 10w30 oil.)

[CIP57_imp]

Would you stick with conventional Honda 10w30 or go to Honda's 10w30 full synthetic? Is 750 miles too early to switch to full synthetic?

G,

I would go full Synthetic and be sure to change out the filter with an OEM. If you have any hint of the rattle use the first change as a flush and do it again. ( 1 qt stays in the oil cooler ) That Intermittent rattle is not normal and has nothing to do with adjustments, your lower end should be quite and free of any rattle. Let me know how things work out for you.
Steve