Left the Harley dealer with new 2008 Heritage and after about 20 miles of riding started getting this loud rattling or dull knocking noise coming from the left side of engine or maybe transmission. So I took the bike back to the dealer and was told 3 different stories why the bike wasmaking the noise.One guy said he didn't hear anything, one first said it was a tensioner and then changed his mindto it's normaland one guy said it was just breakin noise and that when the 1000 miles service was done the noise would go away. This is where it gets confusing, after more than 1000 miles nowand the service was done the noiseis getting louder and now the engine is surging really bad and getting hotthe shop says all this is normal. This all sounds like suspicious to me since I've been riding bikes for over 40 years and never was this stuff happening. Is this some thing that is normal or is there a problem. Surley this noise is not normal for a new motorcycle.

 

Check the front pipe mount.....right in the middle under the motor..right side.....that could be loose???? I have had that problem

 

Everything seems to be tight. This noise is coming from inside the engine or transmission on the left side, and not as loud when cold or idling but really gets loud and starts rattling noise when riding bike.

 

Take it to another stealership!!! Ride Safe Doug

 

The knocking sounds like it could be a loose componsator nut. I found mine last week but knew something wasn't right for a while. Just got worse. Yours doesn't have many miles on it but could be loose from factory. I thought my knock was coming from a blown clutch bearing but was in fact componsator. The surging and running hot should not be affected by a loose componsator at all which doesn't add up. How ever you could have 2 completly diff. problems. Stand on left side of bike with your ear close to primary and listen with motor idling then kill it, restart, kill and see if you can narrow down to a region on the bike. By the way incase you do not know where the componsator nut is located it is on your crank shaft inside the frount part of primary behind yellow arrow. Not calling you dumb just do not know how much you know.

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Take it back to the dealer. They should fix it no problem.

 

Started the bike this morning after two days of sitting and there was no noise and engine was very quietbut surging was still there. After running the engine for a few minutes I started to heara dull knocking or kinda rattle noise coming from the left side of the engine andsounds like it'scoming from inside the primarycover. The noise is very faint when idling the engine but if I raise the rpm the noise gets louder. IfI ride the bike the noise really gets bad and starts a whining noise too also clunking noise when shifing.I've had several bikes in my time and they all made some noise but this sound is very different and sounds like something is loose or going to break. I have several friends who have a Heritage bike and none of them have this noise this is one reason I am suspicious of what the dealer is saying everything is ok. I am going to do more inspection today and maybe locate where noise is at. Thank you very much for your help.

 

First you have to decide what you want to do. If you try and find/fix the problem your self your dealer may try and void your warrenty. Sounds like I would not want them to touch my bike my-self. But thats your call. If it is a loose componsator nut it could eat threw your primary cover (best option and cheapest) or chew up your crank shaft splines (worst option and expensive). I do not know your back ground and this IN NO WAY REPLACES A GOOD SHOP MANUAL but the primary cover is a piece of cake to remove. By removing it you will be able to see every thing in that department and see if you can find any thing loose or broke off. This is for an 88 twin cam but I do not thank there is any differance except did away with inspection cover on yours. Post a quick question under primary/trans. forum to make sure there are no changes. I assume you know how to drain the primary fluid so do that 1st. Next remove the 12 allen bolts that hold the primary cover on. Carefully remove the whole cover. There are 2 dowl pins to help you replace it and line it back up and will also keep it form easly falling when yoy remove the last bolt. Take care not tear the plastic covering on the big primary gasket and it can be reused many times. I am on my 3ed and have over 50k on it. Look for any thing loose or slack. Grab every thing in there and twist, pull and push to see whats loose. If every thing is tight great. Now you know its not in there. That may not be a good thing as primary cheapest fix compared to engine. Retorque bolts to 108-120 in-lbs. I always torque to low side of spec. Don't want to strip something! Retorque in order I show listed in pic. Remove clutch inspection cover replace fluid and good to go. Still should not effect the surging and heat issue but will eleminate some possable issues.

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I will be taking the bike to a different dealer tomorrow for another opinion, but after reading many threads aboutthe Harley dealers it sounds like they try to avoid warranty work and many will tell you anything to put you off. If this is true then I will remove the cover and inspect for myself just for self satisfaction. Sounds like tightening something that may be just loose now will save alot of grief and down time for me if something should come loose or break. And yes I am very mechanically inclined at this sort of thing and have a broad assortment of quality tools. I have always been able to fix anything with the help of a repair manual. I call it read and react. Thanks for your help in this matter.

 

I tookmy bike to a different Harley dealer today and theysaid there is a knock coming from inside the primary. They then wheeled my bike into their shop and closed the door behind them. About 45 minutes later they wheeled my bike out front and said that the compensator was a little loose so they tightened it. Hoping the bike was fixed I then drove the bike home which it started the knocking once again as it always has after it warmed up. The noise almost seems louder now and the transmission is getting harder to shift. I checked the primary tonight my self usinga stethoscope and the noise sounds like it is still coming from the compensator. If these guys tightened the compensator as they said they did then the compensator shouldn't be making a noiseunless something is wrongshould it? This running back and forth to the dealer is hard to do since I live over 100 miles from the nearest one. I have been thinking today it may be cheaper for me to take the bike back and get another one. Three dealers now I've taken the bike toand none knows how to fix this problem maybe they will never fix it until something bad breaks.