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Hey all, finally cracked the cover off & pleased to see there's a Screamin Eagle compensator already in my '09. Nothing seems loose & not much debris on the magnet. Should I do a dry start & watch the chain & tensioner? Stock auto tensioner still in here.
The first thing I would say to check is that who ever installed the compensator either glued the plastic oil scoops inside the outer primary cover, or that they installed an updated outer primary cover with the oil scoops as part of the cover, meaning they are aluminum and part of the outer primary cover.
Without oil being directed to the T70 torx bolt the compensator will fail as did the earlier SE compensators. Then they become noisy.
Another reason some become noisy is the springs for the compensator become weak and require being shimmed.
Yes the plastic is definitely attached inside. Can't move anything by hand as I've seen in some videos when the older comp is totally shot. Kinda wanna fire her up but running it dry is unnerving...I suppose it's not gonna hurt anything for a minute or two?
Main issue is hot restarts & hot idle sounds really odd. Otherwise she's running & feeling just fine.
You can run it without lube for a short period. You most likely won't see anything that looks abnormal. What you describe is exactly what a loose compensator sounds like, poor hot starts, noisy at idle. I've never installed a new compensator that didn't benefit from shimming.
You can run it without lube for a short period. You most likely won't see anything that looks abnormal. What you describe is exactly what a loose compensator sounds like, poor hot starts, noisy at idle. I've never installed a new compensator that didn't benefit from shimming.
Is that in addition to new springs or just add the shims & keep current springs?
What is meant by "poor hot starts"? What are the symptoms?
I ask because a friends bike when hot and especially after a quick stop make a noise when you hit the starter button that sounds like the starter bendix is not properly engaging with the clutch basket ring gear. It's as if the bike fires for one revolution (but does not fully run), then throws the bendix out and then you get the noise until you release the starter button. Sometimes a few pushes of the starter button are required then it engages and starts fine. Not sure what Touring model, but it is a 2008 TC96. If the symptoms are not related to the comp., let me know and I'll make a new post. My '07 FXDB also gets this at times, but not as bad sounding as his. He has about 70K+ miles and I'm at about 20K.
EDIT: I wanted to add that this does not happen all the time. Might just be every few days, once a week or not for a few weeks.
Ok thanks! Didn't catch the 'new' part. Think I'll put her back together, refill & see if that changes anything. I'll look into the shims, just wanted to verify nothing was getting terribly bad. Quite happy its a screamin eagle. Shoulda known, the PO didn't plenty of upgrades but I didn't see a receipt for a replaced compensator.
Edit: BTW the chain slack on top is 1/2"-5/8" right now, does that sound about right?
Last edited by Pantera99; Feb 24, 2024 at 03:06 PM.
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Compensator noise
