viper's letting me down again...

RTYsxv

RTYsxv

New member
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
326
Age
34
Location
Tracy, MN
This morning I went out for a short ride, came back home and went around my grove once. I stopped for a sec and I noticed this loud rattling noise coming from under the hood. I pull it up to the shop and let it idle, and I take a look...theres a very loud rattling noise coming from somewhere on the left side but I can't seem to pinpoint where it's coming from. Appears to be either the PTO cylinder, center cylinder, or something with the clutch. And everything seems to be fine otherwise. Plugs are good, power is good, no idle hang, engagement is right.....All motor mounts, starter ring gear, and everything else I could get my hands on was tight. Right now I'm thinking engine internals...GREAT, more trouble :o| :o| :o| we also have the best snow that we've had all year RIGHT NOW, and I can't ride. And it's all melting away as I sit here. I don't even wanna work on the thing...I've worked on it enough. Only 1646 miles on the sled, 600 of which are mine :mad: Any suggestions???? Or has anyone else had an issue like this?

I got to thinking about things today....my buddy bought his sled the same time as me, a SKIDOO mxz 600. It's pushing 3000mi, is 2 years older, and is a 600 twin against my 700 triple. Yet it has almost the same hp output, is way lighter, WAY BETTER suspension, seems just as quick and has a good topend, handles better and is much easier to throw around, cost less....and he hasn't had a bit of trouble with it. About the only thing that my viper has over his sled are looks and the supposed reliability. He's out riding in this beautiful snow and I'm stuck with the old arctic cat 580. Maybe it's just bad luck..but whatever...sorry for my little vent session here lol but if anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate it.
 
Not sure what to tell you... look into it and let us know what is wrong. If you haven't changed it from stock it should be very reliable. I'm thinking the fake plastic teeth might be the cause. Reduced air flow through the front vent caused something to get a little too warm and that's where your problems started. Sounds from the idle comment that you might have messed with jetting a bit?
 
Do you have a clutch puller. Pull the clutch off and see if the rattle stops. What kind of rattle is it. You say it had 1000 miles on when you got it, if the previous owner didn't fog it you may have lost a crank or rod bearing. My vper had 4750 miles on it and it was'tstock and i had 0 problems motor wise. Check the 3 into 1 manifold and make sure it isn't cracked, that makes a very bad noise too. Maxdlx
 
Yup try it w/o the clutch or a different one and see if the noise is still there, when you had it appart the last time how did the bearings seem?? was there any in question at all???
 
Vipers are junk, just sell it cheap and cut your losses. I'll buy it . . .

Seriuosly though, I have worked on a lot of engines through the years, probably more than 100 by now. The Yamaha triple sled engines are the best built and assembled of all of that I have seen. Sorry to hear of your bad luck, but this is not normal for the Viper engine. I recommend getting somebody that lives close to you to give it a complete diagnosis.
 
so I can pull the clutch off (I have a puller) and run the motor? I thought I read something somewhere that you couldn't do that for some reason, maybe I'm just thinking of something else. I tried to wiggle the starter ring gear and it felt solid but I didn't think to actually check for loose bolts back there. It sounds like a lot more than a loose bolt though.

I was thinking of taking it in to the dealer to see what they think of the noise, but maybe I'll pull the clutch off and try that first.

daman, the bearings seemed to be perfectly fine at the time. I hope it's not the bearings, but hey I guess if it is something that big I have the whole summer to work on it lol.
 
If it's not the clutch, would a bad crank bearing cause a loud rattle? Or...say...hmm..if a circlip came out somehow and the piston pin is loose? I don't know what else rattles in there lol...maybe something with the rod? Maybe I have a broken motor mount? I don't think it's the exhaust manifold at this point, but I don't know for sure. :dunno:
 
A rod bearing will rattle like that. As someone else said if it wasn't fogged one summer some rust could've formed on a rod bearing and now the engine finally ate it for lunch.
 
I pulled the clutch this morning, started it up, aaaaaaand.......no vibration.
So it's clutch vibration. First thing I do is look and the starter ring gear and it's loose. I checked that before but apparently I tried wiggling it in the spot with the tightest bolt or something because it felt solid before. Now that I look, every single one of those suckers is slightly loose, and it's all shiny in between the bolt head and the gear so it's obviously been vibrating. I shook it and wiggled it and was able to get about the exact same noise I was hearing when the sled was running, only softer. So let's all HOPE this is the problem...lol.

I have to go buy or borrow a torx bit now for those bolts, stupid torx head bolts haha...but anyways hopefully I can get it together with some loctite today and see if it fixes the problem. Keep your fingers crossed ;)!
 
RTYsxv said:
I pulled the clutch this morning, started it up, aaaaaaand.......no vibration.
So it's clutch vibration. First thing I do is look and the starter ring gear and it's loose. I checked that before but apparently I tried wiggling it in the spot with the tightest bolt or something because it felt solid before. Now that I look, every single one of those suckers is slightly loose, and it's all shiny in between the bolt head and the gear so it's obviously been vibrating. I shook it and wiggled it and was able to get about the exact same noise I was hearing when the sled was running, only softer. So let's all HOPE this is the problem...lol.

I have to go buy or borrow a torx bit now for those bolts, stupid torx head bolts haha...but anyways hopefully I can get it together with some loctite today and see if it fixes the problem. Keep your fingers crossed ;)!
Click to expand...

I think there was a service update to the starter ring issue...use a hi-strength red loc-tite & torque to 14-15 ft/lbs. let sit at room temp. for 24 hrs, then re install clutch...should be good to go...Oh...yes, don't forget to clean the crank stub & inside clutch bushing with thinner before installing clutch...I made a mistake of not cleaning it once...I spun the clutch & it fused/welded itself to the crank stub...three pullers later & a trip to the dealer, who sent me to a machine shop to have it hydraulically removed...all said & done, it cost me over $100 bucks for that mistake...What they did was set the sled on it side (clutch up) & poured 80 weight syn. gear oil inside clutch cavity, added thread tape to my puller bolt, placed it in the clutch, but before threading it in the squirted grease in & then threaded it in quickly, it only took about 50 lbs. of torque & pop, off it can so easy & simple...a little messy, but it worked...machine shop guy said that it acted as a ram under pressure it more than tripled (or more) the force need to pop it off. I should have taken pic of the stub, but I did not…cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top