Engine to loud?

[rover75]

Hi all

Just purchased my first LT. Almoust new(-04), and only 4000km. My wife and I just love the machine.
We was riding a Honda Pan European until last Saturday. What a differens!!
But why is the enginge making such noise? Not plastic rattle or something like that which you can expect at that type of motorcycle. Not from the exhaust I think. Just a low frekvent hum which penetrate my helmet. Quite annoying. Over 2500rpm it seems to almoust disappear but not entirely.
How to get rid of that?
Keep the engine over 2500rpm?

Thomas

[bghubr]

These engines love to run. The sweet spot seems to be between 3500-4500 rpms.

[BobbyLT]

Its called "K-whine". A trait of the brand.....and harmless.

[Newf]

Over 2500rpm it seems to almoust disappear but not entirely.
How to get rid of that?
Keep the engine over 2500rpm?

Thomas

YES unless you want to STOP

[was]

Hi Thomas, first of all welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new bike. I think you will continue to find it quite different from the Pan European. BobbyLT is absolutely right that many K bikes, not just the LT, have an RPM band of noise/vibration that is commonly referred to as the "K-whine" or "K-buzz." Most folks find that band to be in the 3500 - 4500 range, however, with distinct vibration felt at the hand grips, while your noise seems to be in the 1000 - 2500 range. bghubr is exactly right that the K-LT bike "loves to run," but many people would say that the "sweet spot," or the range where torque becomes really strong, is in the 4500 (some would say 5000) - 6500 RPM range. If you stick in the 3500 - 4500 RPM range you may experience the K-buzz, and you will be below the max torque (and thus, acceleration) range. In answer to your question, yes, absolutely keep the engine above 2500RPM, well above 2500RPM. The bike will respond like an overweight pig if you accelerate from 2500. I do a lazy cruise at about 3500, and some folks would say that is too low in the RPM band. I never get out of 3rd gear in town, and often I'm in 2nd gear. But when you want to go, just drop it a gear so the RPMs jump to 4000 or so, roll on, you'll be out of the K-buzz in a second, and you will feel suddenly like you are on a different bike, one that has shed about 300 lbs and gained a jet engine afterburner. Try it, you'll like it :D.

As to your noise at 1000 - 2500 RPM, I think it probably is normal. The bike seems more noisy when you are sitting on it than when you are standing next to it, in part because the noise is reflected off the inside of the windscreen and back to you. However, I noticed that your bike is an '04 with 4000km, which means that it was not used much. If it sat for a long time you might have injectors that have gotten gummed up and/or a lot of oil sludge. Try running some injector cleaner through with the gas. Changing your engine oil to synthetic often helps to quiet the engine down too. Good luck.

[pcra]

Good day & no worries mate

What I did, and the result is astonishing, brilliant!

1) get BRISK sparkplugs (www.brisk.de) = increases firing spark
2) Use Cerasafe CS1 in the engineoil, Transmission Oil and Final Drive = reduces friction (www.aamoto.com)
3) synchronise the carburators in idle with an electronic carb synchroniser = smoothens the ride allover the band

check it out mate!

best regards
Patrik

[rover75]

Thank you Patrik for your advice. I will start with synchronise the carburetors.

Thomas(rover75)

[rglassma]

Thank you Patrik for your advice. I will start with synchronise the carburetors.

Thomas(rover75)

Hello Thomas,

Welcome... The LT is fuel injected . Hence there are no carburetors. I would definately change fluids and run some fuel injector cleaner through the fuel system. As far as the synthetic oil in the engine goes, I would wait until at least 6 - 9 km on your odo before doing that. All dealers that I have experience with here in the rocky mountain region of the US recommend 18K miles on the odo before changing to synthetic oil... That may be a little conservative, but it can't hurt. I would definately change your final drive and tranny to synthetic.. You will probably notice a difference if you do.

The wine is definately normal for a K engine. I have an '03 and it too has some interesting sounds below say 3500 rpms. But, once you raise the engine speed, it sounds very nice. I agree that the majority of the torque on the LT is above 4K rpms. Also, I wouldn't do hard acceleration below 3K. Cruising above 2.5K rpms is fine with downshift necessary for torque.

Do you have a service history on the bike?? That would tell you what has been done when.

Enjoy your new ride. I can't stay off my '03..

[pcra]

rglassma wrote:
The LT is fuel injected . Hence there are no carburetors.

Of course it is fuel injected mate, BUT it can get synchronised in IDLE, the rest the computer will self adjust. IT IS A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE. The factory settings are not fine adjusted but standard for all machines the same. If you can read or get someone to read German, then you see that loads of European K1200Lt riders are now doing the same. They are not wrong mate. The result prooves the point. You should ty it yourself to see the difference.

here's a link on how to:
http://wiki.bmw-bike-forum.info/index.php/Motor_syncronisieren

http://www.bmw-bike-forum.info/

Best regards
Patrik

[StillJustJerry]

Use http://babelfish.altavista.com/ to translate the URL from German to English. ;)

Engine syncronisieren
From BMW Bike forum
Changes too: Navigation, search
The guidance is only for people with engines is been versed and absolutely on own danger!!

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So the engine vibrates and does not take not correctly gas at and with the gas gives comes the engine with a jerk. I times smartly made yourself and again and again on the Syncronisieren of the engine came. Allegedly is not to be necessary with the thicknesses, but four butterfly valves fixed on a wave not sit, but are adjustable... walk after tolerances.

[rover75]

The bike has gone only 4000km and have no service history yet so I don´t think the trottles have been synhronised.
I will do that asap and se of there is any improvement. Just now I am working on my house also to get it finished before it gets to cold to work outside. Sweden is a cold country in the north of Europe! I plan to to synchronise the throttles beginning next saturday morning when I have the whole weekend to work on the bike.

Thomas