I have a 2009 Street Glide with 54,000 miles. It has a "clatter" that only seems to happen when it's under a load and varies @ between 3000 - 4000 RPMs. Brought it to the dealer on Friday. 3 different techs road it. 2 didn't know what it was and the 3rd one said compensator. They replaced the compensator and the inner primary bearing. They said everything else looks good in there Spent the money and it still has the same noise. What else could it be? We are totally baffled!

 

what did they replace besides the compensator....there 's a primary chain tensioner, the rotor, (which sits behind the compensator) or the clutch pak itself......don't mean to be a downer but with them miles I would of done all 4.

 

Could be clutch slippage, just throwing it out there!

 

Sounds like it might be pinging. With the mileage you may have a carbon build up on the pistons.

 

That was my first thought as well but those RPM's go way beyond the pre-detonation phase.

 

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Whats outside temp when the motors making the noise?

What octane fuel are you running?

What grade & mfg's oil is currently in the bike?

Well from what you say/describe it sure seems as though it could be an issue with detonation esp with 50k miles & crankcase breather is still hoked air cleaner ingesting hot oil soaked mist all those miles causing excess carbon buildup increasing comp ration etc.

Also,valve/lifter noise or clatter that can be worse depending oil being run and outside temp too because valve train can be noisier in warmer outside temp
due to excessive heat the an HD v-twin produces thinning the oil.

So with that said 1st run fuel tank low or drain it and refill with fresh premium 93 octane fuel along with Chevron Techron (concentrated version as stated on label) @ dose ratio of 1.5 oz per gal fuel to cleaen some of the excess carbon from the comb chambers. (so thats 9-oz techron concentrated version to 6 gals fuel.)

Run that tank of fuel thru the motor and if that stops the noise then it showed that excessive carbon buildup and higher octane fuel was needed too.

Now if that doesnt stop or reduce/change the noise then it may be valvetrain related and my stock 09 96" had plenty of valve/lifter noise (esp in summer heat cond) when i got it with 9700 original miles in 2014.

Long story short is i 1st reduced valve/lifter noise some by going with spectro 20-50 oil for hd's which was nice but did completely stop the valve/lifter noise.

For bad case of valve/lifter noise could eve try spectro's 25w-60 oil for hd's.

But what totally stopped all the valve/lifter noise (esp in summer cond) was what i did (installed Ultracool oil cooler with elec cooling fans & Wards cooling fans both @ the same time) that reduced oil temp on my bike 50 deg f which was huge!

That greatly reduced thinning of oil due to the excessive heat lrg disp air cooled HD v-twins produce along with again going with spectro bike 20-50 oil for HD's too.

I say that because when i tried running HD syn3 syn (couple other bike oils too) that the valves/lifters were significantly noisier vs spectro oil (std/semi-blend or full syn) when motor was @ norm op temp which was annoying because the non aggressive stock mile hyd roller cam/lifter setup on our HD's should not being very little to no noise,period.

Also keep in mind the valve train does make more noise depending on oil being run (esp in warmer outside temp cond )that i found on my 09 hd w-96" motor to be when outside temp was approx 70-75deg f or higher & or when oil temp hit approx 220-225deg f & higher too.

But post installing the oil cooler with cooling fans & wards cooling fans & my bike being just shy of 26k miles the valves/lifters on my bike are now dead quiet all the time no matter if i am riding in 50deg f or 95+ deg f when the motor is at norm op temp for cond being ridden in @ the time.

I now have approx 16k miles on the ulracool oil cooler with elec cooling fans & wards cooling fans that have both worked well @ cooling the oil & motor in summer cond along with the spectro oil also being an important cog in quiet valve/lifter operation too.

It's those 3 things working collectively together that resulted resulting in dead quiet valve/lifter operation operation in my stock 09 96" vs when it used to sound like an old singer sowing machine prior to doing those 3 things that stopped the valve/lifter noise.

But when motor/oil is cold & at its 20w rating for cold start that very thin/light 20w base oil makes the valves/lifters a bit noisy till the multi visc oil gets to it's norm op temp where the oils at its much thicker full 50w grade hot rating thats needed to quiet the lifters/valvetrain in general.

Cooling the oil 50deg f along with going to spectro oil also increased hot oil pressure in summer cond by 10-12psi along with stopping detonation too.

Installing the 2 cooling mods that reduced oil temp 50deg f now allows the motor retain the pwr/trq & throttle response it always lost in summer cond prior to installing the 2 cooling mods which is great!

And it also made hot starts like post fueling up faster/easier due to starter/battery/motor being less heat soaked along with a bit less heat hitting the rider-s too.

Doing those 3 things was an all around win win for much improved engine perf on mult lvls (as stated above) along with with also improving rider comfort a bit too due to less heat & no more noise to hear from valves and detonation anymore and much better/10-12psi higher oil pressure etc too.

Good luck.

Scott

 

Changing your fluids and putting cooling mods on the bike is almost definitely NOT the answer to your problem.....Urrgh, this guy with his cut and paste posts!

 

That and we don't even know if she's talking about valve train clatter, pinging or something else.

 

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" rrgh, this guy with his cut and paste posts! '

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!

You opened the door so here go's.

Have you every tried what i rec ,likely not making what you suggest in this case total BS!

And or maybe you dont have enough experience wrenching bike engines to even realize your air cooled hd's perf go's in the toilet in summer heat cond loosing a lot or pwr/trq along with much lower oil pressure etc too.

Guess not because your uniformed comment backs that up.

But thats why i addressed & fixed that issue (excessive heat air cooled hd's produce) on my Hd soon after getting it.

I on the other hand actually did what i posted not only on my bike but for a couple other people too with same great results every time like i already stated.

Go's to show what you truly dont know about engines,esp how air cooled v-twin HD engine perf suffers in summer cond which is why hd installed oil coolers but also introduced water and oil of heads over the past few yrs too.

I do have 4.5 decades under my belt wrenching cars/bikes inc building & modding motors to draw on which is where my rec come from being 1st hand exp with results & not just BS like you.

I go by results & facts and the fact is i got 5-6 great improvements in engine perf and rider comfort post reducing oil temp 50deg f post installing the 2 cooling mods so i have actual pre-post info to go by:

" unlike you that have absolutely nothing to go by at all on this subject because you never installed & tested it like i have mult timeson mult bikes putting me in a position to make statements about it vs making you full of BS talking out your you know what not ever testing it only posting negative comments on something you have no experience with thats not useful or positive for anyone here in hdfiums ".

Actually try/test something mult times to gain 1st hand exp before you post your opinion on it here in hdforums that came from absolutely not experience with it (cooling hd v-twins) and then you will have something positive and useful to post for those that care to read it taking the time to absorb & understand whats being said & or suggested coming from someone that in fact saw pre & post testing results right in front of thier own eyes and also experienced/felt it 1st hand riding their bike pre & post doing mods like i did mult times with respect to cooling air cooled HD v-twins.

Enough said & Happy Motoring.

Scott

 

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You correct,we dont know if ops talking about ping/valves etc but when doing this on a laptop you have to go by what op says and take it from there.

The hd shop already did some extensive repairs which didnt change or improve the noise she's hearing at was it 3k-4k rpm at times.

Well that 3k -4k rpm where all the timing is all in and is often where/when the motor starts to detonate if its going to for what ever the reason .

Thats rpm is also where the valvetrain noise can be more noticeable in some cases too and making either of those 2 suggestions not a bad place to start doing minor not expensive things like fresh 93 oct fuel with a techron cleaning to see if that stops the noise/possible detonation.

And if that dosent stop the noise then rec trying the heavier 25w-60 oil spectro oil mfg'd with hd's experiencing more then normal valve noise etc in mind too eihter of which would not be bad things to try before that wont hurt a thing before going any deep money wise on a 50k mile hd.

Its the old " KISS " method, (" Keep It Simple Stupid " ) thing to do before spedning a lot more time & money going deeper & the dealer like for example installing new lifters,pushrods & hi perf oil pump if it's truly valve train noise her bike has or something else.

Scott