Hitchcocks Forum

Good morning gentlemen (and ladies too).

I have a very ominous sounding rhythmic rattle / vibration coming from my 2000 Bullet's engine. The engine was fine yesterday but after a brisk ride home from work on a duel carriageway there is now a rattle from the engine area. The noise increases as more throttle is applied and is not noticable at tickover. The noise is very rhythmic but does not appear to be affecting the performance of the motorcycle.

Any opinions please?

Regards,

Andy

First things to check - tappet clearances and head steady.

Along the same lines as PeteF, move your hand around the join between the cyliner head and cylinder barrel, and feel for any air escaping.

I had similar symptoms to yours a few months ago and the cylinder head gasket had blown.

It could of course, be something completely different! Good luck with the diagnosis!!

Thanks gents. I've now checked the head steady and it's solid. The tappets are able to turn at TDC but are not loose.

I've not started the engine yet but a visual examination of the cylinder head gasket looks fine; there are no oil stains or signs of deterioration.

Oh dear ...

Andy

Are you certain it's from the engine?----
Check all the bolts and fitting around there as a matter of course, frame, engine etc and next step is to try and locate the exact source, if not noticeable at idle, does it appear when statically revving the bike? If so you could use a sounding stick at various points to discover the source of the noise, if not, then it suggests it's happening under load and could be as simple as pinking which checking/changing the points and setting the timing could cure, maybe a decoke too? Fingers crossed it's a simple one.

"If I worried about all the Noise's I can Here on My Enfield I would Go Nut's"...But "Did you Notice/or Do you Notice That With a Full Petrol Tank Its Quite and With a Low one its B**dy Noisy?,,, Last Wo Daft Guess are "Rattly Key's" (Pinking) or Flapping Centre Stand (Big End)...or! "fIT AN oPEN mEGGA" ;0)

It could of course be a more serious problem, a collapsing piston comes to mind. I suggest you check the oil for swarf and perhaps pull off the head and barrel if you find something there.

Right, I've changed the oil and there was no metal swarf. I was on my way to my mechanic on Monday and the noise stopped when I was half way there. I rode the bike back and forth to work and noticed that there was a growing rattling from the valve train. I adjusted the tappets but the leftmost tappet kept 'loosing off' and required continual adjustment. It's came to a head this evening when the bike cut out on the way home and when I opened the tappet inspection cover the leftmost adjuster was very loose. There was no compression. I managed to limp the bike home but the valve train sounds like a bag of spanners.

I'm going to remove the tank and valve covers. I imagine the valve has gone?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Andy

I suppose if it was valve recession then the tappets would tighten as the valve sinks back into the head taking up the slack.

As this happened dramatically after a spirited run, it sounds to me like a valve seat dropping and jamming hense the slack and then no compression...

Hopefully no great damage done, just rebuild head.