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[harleyguynv]

I have been reading the posts on this site for months. This is a great site for CVO owners!! I finally decided to sign up and give some input.

I have an 07 SEUC. I have the same noise many of you guys have talked about. It only starts making this noise when the bike is HOT and between say 2300-3100 rpms. The noise is not the lifter noise we all know Harley's make. It is not the springs hitting the rocker boxes, etc.. It's kind of the marble/knocking sound many here have posted about. I have been told by the local dealer that Harley states they know about this problem. They say it is the pistons. It is because they had to shorten the pistons for the longer stroke on the 110's. They say you can replace the pistons and once they break in the noise will probably come back. My question is has anyone had this noise and because of the leak issues had the pistons replaced? Did this noise come back?

[d o g o l s]

harleyguynv  welcome aboard 
 
 

[iski]

I have an 07 SEULTRA  it is kinda noisy - makes all sorts of racket.  Kinda like 2 squirrels playing ping pong at times.

Never heard that story about the pistons though. Mine have never been replaced.   

Noise usually goes away after I turn the key off.

[NWbiker]

 My 07 SECU  makes the same noise.   To make the noise go away I just twist the throttle harder.    Love the bike and after riding my CVO I could never go back to a stock bike.

[DavidG]

I had an 07 SE Springer that I traded in on an 07 SE RK. The first thing I noticed on the RK was the top end noise. I never noticed it on my Springer but my Big Radius pipes on the side may have masked it. I finally pulled the rocker housings and both intake springs had been hitting. I put it back together (after grinding the housing) and still had the same noise, more prominent 2000-3000RPM. So I took it to my local dealer and had them replace the older rocker housings with the new. While it was down they also ported and polished the heads since I'll soon be changing cams, and installed the SE adjustable pushrods. They put it back together and noticed a new noise. They pulled it back down and found the rear piston was 0.003" undersized  They replaced the rear piston, rings, and honed the cylinder. They also recommended replacing the lifters so I did. They put it all back together and it still made the same valve train clatter. So they said some engines just make more noise than others....No surprise there. What's amazing is last night I changed the oil (Syn3) and replaced it with M1 VTwin. The engine still makes more noise than I like but it did quiet down considerably! Today I took it to an indy shop to have them listen. In their opinion they said mine was quieter than some of the 88s they had in the shop. So I guess what many say is right on, the engines do make noise. I just hate that sewing machine sound when I ride with my windshield. Maybe I'll install a gear drive when I change the cams (assuming runout is OK) to try to drown the valve noise.

[Gecko]

This just sucks.  Some do, some don't, some do between 2200 and 2500 rpm, others between 2500 and 2800 rpm, others between 2800 and 3000 rpm.  The factory comes up with hypotheses about why it does it, and all of them come back to it being "normal".  First they say it is valve springs hitting the rocker boxes, but can't explain why it would do it only within a few hundred rpm range.  Why wouldn't they discover this during what is supposed to be engine development?  So we have our rocker boxes ground out and it doesn't help.  Then they say it must be those "short pistons".  Problem is there are pistons with less skirt that don't make the noise.  After all that the answer is, "well, some engines make more noise than others" and we are supposed to be happy with that.  If things had been assembled at the factory within what should have been tolerances that anybody who has an ounce of pride would allow, there shouldn't be such a wide range of normal.  Why can every other manufacturer make engines that sound the same, perform the same, and have the same quality control, while a company that has been in business over a hundred years keep making stuff that has to be passed off as "character"?

I've been a Harley fan and supporter for decades, but their products lately just plain suck.  I have an '07 SERK and it is embarassingly short on quality once you get past the chrome bits and silver leaf paint.  I'm glad I still have a second bike to ride while this one is in the shop.

[RJW]

I have a 2007 SECU it made the same sound. I would not hear it all the time; sometimes it seemed louder then others about 2800 RPM. I had the heads ported and polished not decked. And put in Wood TW-7HD-7 cams. After 1000 mls. I put Mobil 1 in. The noise is not there for now. Good Luck they all make funny Chitty sounds.

[harleyguynv]

When they did the 0905 enhancement on mine I talked to HD customer service about giving me new pistons, rings and cylinders. They did not want to do it because normally they will only change the cylinders if the sleeves have slipped .006 or more and my rear cylinder had only slipped .045. They told me the noise is piston slap due to short skirts and the noise is normal. They ultimately gave in and agreed to give me the new pistons, rings and cylinders. They said the only reason they were doing this was for customer satisfaction and the noise would still be there. When I got the bike back the noise was completely gone. I rode it for about 3000 miles and the rear cylinder started leaking again at the base. I talked to HD about this and asked for a new engine since this was going to be the 4th set of gaskets on this bike in 10,000 miles. They said no and wanted to install new gaskets and put a sealer on the new O-ring's to stop the leaking at the base. I finally agreed to this and when the dealer tore the engine down they found the front (new) head was leaking oil back into the intake manifold. At this point HD decided to put a new engine in the bike for me. I now have about 300 mile on the new engine and I think I can hear this same piston slap a little. It is at different rpms then the original engine and I think it goes away when the engine gets completely warm. It's too soon to say for sure cuz I'm still breaking it in and it has been cold outside. I hope the noise really is gone once the engine is warm. I do feel HD took good care of me. The only concern I have is my warranty expires in 3 months. I talked to HD about the warranty issue and they said they will not extend the warranty, even on just the engine but it is noted that I have had issues and they will take care of me. I have my fingers crossed that I will not have anymore issues with it.

[Unbalanced]

I have been reading the posts on this site for months. This is a great site for CVO owners!! I finally decided to sign up and give some input.

I have an 07 SEUC. I have the same noise many of you guys have talked about. It only starts making this noise when the bike is HOT and between say 2300-3100 rpms. The noise is not the lifter noise we all know Harley's make. It is not the springs hitting the rocker boxes, etc.. It's kind of the marble/knocking sound many here have posted about. I have been told by the local dealer that Harley states they know about this problem. They say it is the pistons. It is because they had to shorten the pistons for the longer stroke on the 110's. They say you can replace the pistons and once they break in the noise will probably come back. My question is has anyone had this noise and because of the leak issues had the pistons replaced? Did this noise come back?

HarleyGuyNV,

On my 07 O/B I had this noise and after the 4th tear down for the oil leak I put in the 10.5 to 1 pistons made my Mahle for HD.   With these new pistons all the noises went away.  Figures huh.  In my 09 Ruby I again have the noise :*( and so it goes.   I was hoping after break in it would quiet down, but it is very very noticable from 2300 to 3300 in first through 3rd gear and easy to reproduce.

[iski]

HGNV - Put the 10.5 compression HD pistons in my 07 & so far so good re: noise.  Runs better, too.

[DavidG]

Regarding the install of the 10.5:1 pistons, were these HD parts? If so, how much? Any work required to ensure valve clearance with the pistons ? Thanks

[harleyguynv]

Did you guys with the 10.5 comp. pistons use the same cams? I wonder about the tq/hp. Have you guys had your bikes dyno tuned?

[iski]

HD 10:5 pistons, 251 SE Cams.  No clearancing.  Do not have the price with me - on these as I recall I got a 15% discount.  Runs good.