XT660Z Tenere Engine Rattle / Ticking Noise

[David ThorntonMember]

After 12 weeks of painfull waiting and now involving 2 Yamaha Dealers, I thought I would share a story I hope no other Tenere owner ever has to endure.

During the last 250klms of a 6 day 2600klms ride in early Oct 2011, my Tenere engine developed a rattle/ticking noise. After first noticing whilst parked on a corner waiting for others I hopped off and revved the bike checked it over etc but could not pinpoint where it was coming from or what was going on.

The engine had not suffered with any loss of power, not running rough, no vibrations, not doing anything out of the normal at all and bike still rode just like new. The noise was however so loud that it could be heard by another rider when he pulled alongside at the corner even with his bike running from a meter away.

I carefully rode the bike home the next 250klms with no worsening of the noise and still no change in performance etc.

As the bike is still under warrenty and had only done 14200klms at the time, I took it into my local Yamaha dealer the next business day requesting review under warrenty claim.

After 8 & 1/2 weeks, full dismantle of the engine, including splitting of the cases, measuring of all components, replacement of the oil pump, decompressor mechanism and repressing of the oil pickup tube/screen (which was believed to be the cause), the bike was delivered back to me – with the same noise still there. Funny thing is though that everyone kept telling me to just ride it and see what happens.

I did ride it – for 550 klms, and while it didn’t do anything wrong – it sure as hell sounded like it was going to detonate at any time. The noise was also so bad it could be heard by my father following me in his car with the A/C going and the windows up at 60 to 80kph.

Obviously quite annoyed and getting frustrated I contact Yamaha Australia’s Customer Service Dept in Sydney requesting their direct assistance in resolving the issue.

Yamaha Aust were initially sceptical there was a problem (mostly based on poor advise from the first dealer who were simply saying they could not find anything wrong with the engine but yes it was noisey).

Yamaha Aust did however contact another Brisbane Yamaha Dealer who had apparently recently dealt with another Tenere engine with major issues, and suggested I arrange a 2nd opinion from them.

Immediatley dropping the bike into the 2nd Dealer, I gained some confidence that things may start to head in the right direction when one of the mechanics listened to the engine and commented, that’s not normal and that doesn’t sound good at all.

To cut a long story short, the engine has now been fully dismantled for the 2nd time to find the main bearings are the cause of the noise. Best opinion is that one or both of the bearings were faulty from new.

Yamaha Aust are replacing the crank, main bearings and all necessary gaskets etc to correct the problem.

Yee ha for Yamaha’s 2 year warrenty and major thanks to Simon & Travis at Pro Yamaha Slacks Creek for their skill, knowledge and understanding of my frustration with this issue.

I sincerely hope that no one else ever encounters this problem, but in case they do hope that the info above info may be of some help.

If anyone wants any other info or mpegs of the noise please feel free to PM me.

Dave

[Dwayne OMember]

:dry:
Sounds like you had a very anxious time there Dave :blink:

All good though from the sounds of it now ,,,
Haven`t heard of many problems at all previous with the 660Z donks

Good Luck with it mate, should be like brand new after the work

[Nick JacksonMember]

Thanks for the info Dave and glad you’ve got it sorted , I’ll be keeping an ear out for any strange noises on my 10 !

Nick

[GregMember]

EAGLE`02 wrote:

,
Haven`t heard of many problems at all previous with the 660Z donks

I haven’t heard of one yet Beags :blink:

From a mechanics point of view that’s an inetesting story. Faulty from new then after 14k develop a noise and not worsen for the next 500kms as the bearings spin around at say 3000 times a minute ( if the 500km take 5 hrs to do the crank and bearings spin 900,000 times ) and not get any worse :ohmy: ummmm :unsure: Then a mechanic not feel the notchy / faulty bearing when the engine is totally dismantled the first time? Did any of these so called mechaincs check the oil filter for metal etc. Given the so called mechanics that come in for training I am not totally surprised it gets missed :pinch: But a main not worsen I can’t understand but that’s just me

Good luck with it Dave and keep us posted I am told often their warranty is a good thing and with a good mech throwing spanners at it I am sure it will work out.

Any chance on getting the GPX file emailed to me of your trip? Did you use much of the files I sent you?

TB

[David ThorntonMember]

Hi TB, I share your thoughts re the skill of many mechanics and in this case have come to the conclusion that the first dealers mechanic should only be used for doing oil changes and cleaning air filters, and then probably only under close supervision.

Mind you after dealing with many car mechanics through my job I could say the same about 95% of the so-called mechanics in car dealerships.

I had a listen to the main bearings yesterday at the 2nd dealership and it would seem that it is most likely the right main bearing that is the main cause but it is difficult to pinpoint as the crank was still in the partially disassembled engine.

Please bear in mind I am only going off what I am told, but I do feel the guys that have the bike now have it under control. Anyway, heres hoping they have diagnosed it correctly and this will be the end of it. What ever they have to do, I dont care – I just want my bike back!!!!

TB I used quite a lot of the trails you sent me – the info was very helpful, many thanks.

I have a huge number of track files for Northern NSW, I will convert the 2600klm trip into gpx and send it to you in the next day or so.

If you dont mind I will also send you a couple of mpeg files of the engine noise – if you have any way of attaching them to my post I am sure it would be useful for anyone else who may encounter a similar problem and I am sure you will find the noise a challenge to pinpoint.

Cheers, Dave

[GregMember]

I am happy its under control Dave it must be very very a huge piss off :angry: I look forward to the file or files mate. We have a GPS file system here at OBT Chris has setup that at this stage only the mods can see. I will be getting it sorted soon and start uploading files, contributing members will get access to the file network after getting a password when it sorted fully

TB

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Trailboss wrote:

EAGLE`02 wrote:

,
Haven`t heard of many problems at all previous with the 660Z donks

I haven’t heard of one yet Beags :blink:

TB

Ya have now.

[GregMember]

Scotty wrote:

Trailboss wrote:

EAGLE`02 wrote:

,
Haven`t heard of many problems at all previous with the 660Z donks

I haven’t heard of one yet Beags :blink:

TB

Ya have now.

:laugh: :cheer: :pinch: :laugh:

Thanks Scotty I figured that

TB

[malleeMember]

Hi Guy’s,
You would of thought the first so-called Tech. would have,
1. done a bit more testing first eg compression test etc. before me fulled it down.
2. should of been metal in oil, oil filter and bottom of sump.
3. there Must of been movement in the con rod connected to that big end????.

I get the shits here when one of my Tech’s. spend hours looking at something and it is still not right :angry: or they go “I don’t know”. Thats when I say “Why do we spend money and time training you??”

I have noticed a lot of blokes comming through that can find why am SRS light is flashing real quick but find a “Back to base fault” they don’t have any idea.

Mallee

[Steve FarrellMember]

From what I read it is the main bearings not the big end that is at fault. I dare say the first mechanic has pulled the top end down and not split the case? Pretty rare for it to be a main bearing failure on any bike so I would excuse him for not finding it initially but if it were me would not have let it go back out with a noise like that.
Steve

[seanMember]

hey mate seems as yours bike is rooted can i have your radiator

[David ThorntonMember]

16 weeks 2 days since the saga started, I finally have my bike back with a noise free engine.

When I collected it I asked if the faulty bearing/s had been pinpointed, but only got and answer of the main bearings were the problem.

Whilst I would love to know the exact cause, the how and why, it seems the 2nd Dealer and Yamaha Aust dont care. No one also seems to be bothered about the $3 to $4k bill from Dealer 2 or the $1600 odd from Dealer 1.

In the end I got a complete new crank assy and every bearing and seal in the bottom of the engine. Along with me paying for a new set of rings, which really weren’t required, I should have a motor that will last another 50k without to much bother – or here’s hoping anyway.

While I could make plenty of comments about the way this matter was handled, the time it took and the at times lack of customer service, in the end I got my bike back fixed and without a cost to me so I will leave it there.

Many thanks to the Service Dept at Pro Yamaha Slacks Creek for their assistance, skill and understanding of my frustration at times. I would highly recommend their work on Tenere Engines, this is now the 2nd major Tenere engine problem they have handled for Yamaha here in Brisbane.

As i said at the start – I sincerely hope no one else ever encounters a similar problem.

Dave

[David ThorntonMember]

I’ll shout you some pepper bud!

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