engine vibration

[kilo3]

Well, I'm officially one of those crazy people that swears they feel a difference with a change of oil brand.

 

I changed back to plain jane yamalube 10-40 from mobil 4t, all is right in the world once again. Shifts are back to normal and the buzz is gone, go figure.
Maybe I got some bootleg oil on Amazon.

[daboo]

15 minutes ago, wordsmith said:

Que?   Puts hands to sleep... this is smooth?   Que??   (No offence intended Chris!).

I'll answer the comment, but I don't really want to get into a discussion of a different bike.  This is a Yamaha forum, and I totally respect that.

My test ride on the F800GT was enough to convince me to sell my current ride...which I had no intention of selling prior to then.  On the demo ride, I kept looking for the horrible vibration that magazine reviewers mentioned.  Eventually, I ended up taking it on the freeway...where it was still very very smooth.  It wasn't till I started downshifting that I found the vibration.  I was either in first or second gear when I hit the vibration bad enough to be what they described.  But who rides their bike at 60 mph in first gear all the time?  That's what the other gears are for.  I think the "professional" reviewers just came off bikes like the S1000RR, and were trying to make the 90 hp F800GT perform like that...by revving it to the redline over and over.  And of course it complained.

And while my GT had been smooth all along on my ownership, it wasn't till I reached the 40,000 mile mark that the narrow band of vibration just under 4000 rpms went away.  It is an incredibly smooth bike now.  (Or maybe I'm just used to it.   )

Going back to the OP's post, that demo ride and my subsequent experience with my bike taught me that you can't always trust professional reviewers.  I'll go back to my earlier comment.  

7 hours ago, daboo said:

There's a lot of really satisfied happy owners of these bikes.

The only thing I've heard about the engine in the FJ09 and Tracer GT is about how great it is.  I think I'd stick with the opinions of the owners, not some reviewer who just got off some liter sport bike that could easily have cost twice as much.  They are jaded.

FWIW, one of the things I've learned over the past couple years, is that if you want to find out about a bike, just look at the mods the owners make and what they are looking for help on fixing.  The last thing you want to do, is to ask, "Should I buy this bike?"  And how many threads are there on engine vibration?

Chris

[bps]

I just bought a 2019 with less than 4000 miles less than two weeks ago.  It now has over 5500 on the clock.  I must admit at first I thought maybe I had made a mistake.  My last bike was a Wee and it was more comfortable and smoother than the Tracer (but not near the fun with the Tracer when you twist the throttle).  However, after some miles I don't think the vibes are any kind  of deal breaker.  I also think what speed you're riding at makes a huge difference.  55 indicated is very smooth, no issue at 65 but over 75 the vibes seem to get worse (but not that bad).  80 also seems to lower the mpg but it's always good so not a problem.  

The real killer for me now is the seat.  I've replaced the stock seat on every bike I've had but to me this is the worst stocker.  The seat is much worse an issue than the vibes.  I will also say that I test rode a Tracer prior to buying the GT.  That Tracer wasn't horrible but it did have more vibes than my GT.  I am also a believer in using a good oil and I've had great luck with synthetic (not trying to start a preferred oil discussion!).  

[autiger]

Update on my 2019 Tracer regarding vibration: After 6000 miles, it has smoothed out a lot I would say. Sometimes it's butter smooth, particularly when pulling out on the road and it's still "cold". After it warms up it usually settles into the current vibration patterns which are usually at higher speeds. I do get the right-mirror buzz on the interstate, but for back road riding, vibration is perfectly acceptable even if it's a bit unpredictable. That is, some times it seems smoother than other times. I've concluded that the problem is the drive train and will be changing the front sprocket to the non-damped variety when I change the tires in the next 2k miles or so. Hopefully this will help.

Overall, I've come to like the bike for back-road touring. I added Shadd  paniers and top case and took a 2k mile round trip to Illinois and back through Nashville and the Natchez Trace south before heading back Atlanta way.  I got a good idea of the bikes personality.

It handles better than I thought it would given the soft suspension and long forks.

Gas mileage is awesome which equates to decent range between fill-ups. ( 56 to 58 mpg for me )

The engine is an awesome combination of power and economy. 

Interstate riding is interesting, or terrifying in certain situations. The front forks and handlebar combination with the hand guards and mirrors are just too susceptible to wind and the wobbles can scare the crap out of you when surrounded by heavy metal going 80MPH.

The windshield is "OK" for fair weather, but when it rains, it's not so good. 

The seat is not that padded and slides downhill into the tank; it's not that comfortable for longer rides. (I have an airhawk cushion but the sliding is annoying as heck)

If Yamaha were to put a real fairing, shaft or belt drive and an extra gallon of fuel on the bike, this thing would be a super one-up tourer. It's really good as is but one can imagine...

[Yamajank]

On 5/6/2020 at 11:06 AM, kilo3 said:

 

I had the similar effect but later on. My bike was running stupid smooth till about 500 miles then it started to get rather buzzy around that 4.5-5.5k mark.  When my carbtune comes back from a friend out on loan, I'll let you know if it clears up and how bad they were off. I'm at 1.7k right now. IIRC.

 

Are we in the territory of a possible recall?  There are too many people describing almost the same type of thing. Possibly a batch of 19's that got a bad part?  

On 5/6/2020 at 6:35 PM, betoney said:

How tight is the chain?  The owner manual spec is too tight.

The 19 GT manual says 35-45mm which I believe  is correct. 

 

4 hours ago, autiger said:

I've concluded that the problem is the drive train and will be changing the front sprocket to the non-damped variety when I change the tires in the next 2k miles or so. Hopefully this will help.

So what would you be possibly sacrificing with the different sprocket?  The factory chose the damped version why? And is a non damped sprocket plug and play?  

[OZVFR]

A damped front sprocket is identical to a non one, except for a rubber cushion stuck to both sides of it to slow down the chain hitting the teeth. It is only for chain noise nothing else. 

[nhchris]

16 hours ago, autiger said:

...... I've concluded that the problem is the drive train and will be changing the front sprocket to the non-damped variety when I change the tires in the next 2k miles or so. Hopefully this will help.

In my experience changing to an undamped sprocket made drive train vibration worse on my 09.  I think Yamaha chose damped because they knew that would be the case.

[Wintersdark]

8 hours ago, nhchris said:

In my experience changing to an undamped sprocket made drive train vibration worse on my 09.  I think Yamaha chose damped because they knew that would be the case.

I recently put an undamped front sprocket in to replace my worn OEM one (damped was out of stock at the time) and I've definitely found there's more vibration at certain points.  It wasn't immediately noticeable, but since I've been aware of increased handlebar and footpeg vibration.  Being as that's all that's changed, and it's definitely drive line, and I was going from damped to undamped... well, I figure at least in my case it's almost certainly due to the sprocket.

[Yamajank]

Those of us who are having vibration, has anyone gotten a new chain and noticed improvement?  I’ve taken really good care of mine, but since it was a hold over, I’m wondering if that was one of those things that got affected while sitting.

[roadrash83]

When I replaced the original chain on my GT at around 10,000mi that had bad O-Rings, there was a very noticeable improvement.  

[betoney]

10 hours ago, Yamajank said:

Those of us who are having vibration, has anyone gotten a new chain and noticed improvement?

The high frequency buzziness that I feel through the bars and foot pegs is evident while the bike is sitting still idling as well as while underway and is rpm related.  At least on my bike, it isn't chain or sprocket related.

[autiger]

On 7/31/2021 at 12:10 AM, Yamajank said:

Those of us who are having vibration, has anyone gotten a new chain and noticed improvement?  I’ve taken really good care of mine, but since it was a hold over, I’m wondering if that was one of those things that got affected while sitting.

I was wondering about that as well. Since I will have 8K miles on the clock when I change tires, I think I will just go ahead a get the best quality chain I can find. Hopefully it won't make things worse; I can live with the current vibration levels.

[betoney]

Just an update to this 'engine vibration' issue, in my case I notice it at all engine rpm's and even while idling at a standstill, so not a drivetrain issue. 

As I write this my bike is at the dealers being diagnosed for the vibration.  I just got a call from the service department and they found a small amount of play in the clutch basket and will be replacing it under waranty - FOR THE 2ND TIME. 

We looked through my service history (thankfully my service department keeps meticulous notes) and around 35k miles I brought it in for excess vibration and they replaced the clutch basket, I currently have over 62k miles.

I don't know all of the technical jargon but apparently there are rubber dampers on the back of the basket that wear out and the basket can develop an imbalance or shimmy.  (Someone with more technical knowledge please correct my paraphrasing).

I have 4 months left on my Y.E.S. warranty so the next basket replacement @ 95k-ish miles is on me to replace.

 

[kilo3]

3 hours ago, betoney said:

I have 4 months left on my Y.E.S. warranty so the next basket replacement @ 95k-ish miles is on me to replace.

 

Just bring your clutch basket to a machine shop and replace the dampers with hinson ones, I put a link up a while back, i'll see if I can find it. Basically you drill the rivets out and replace the dampers, then tap and put bolts in the basket and backing plate. I plan on doing this over the winter...

That way you can replace the cushions at will.

I will note that changing the oil did make a sight difference as I noted before, but eventually it went back to "normal".

Here's that link:

https://www.fz09.org/threads/yamaha-fz-mt-09-clutch-buzz-noise-vibrations-how-i-repair-it.49449/page-2

Edited August 6, 2021 by kilo3
found link

[2and3cylinders]

3 hours ago, betoney said:

Just an update to this 'engine vibration' issue, in my case I notice it at all engine rpm's and even while idling at a standstill, so not a drivetrain issue. 

As I write this my bike is at the dealers being diagnosed for the vibration.  I just got a call from the service department and they found a small amount of play in the clutch basket and will be replacing it under waranty - FOR THE 2ND TIME. 

We looked through my service history (thankfully my service department keeps meticulous notes) and around 35k miles I brought it in for excess vibration and they replaced the clutch basket, I currently have over 62k miles.

I don't know all of the technical jargon but apparently there are rubber dampers on the back of the basket that wear out and the basket can develop an imbalance or shimmy.  (Someone with more technical knowledge please correct my paraphrasing).

I have 4 months left on my Y.E.S. warranty so the next basket replacement @ 95k-ish miles is on me to replace.

 

 Don't you have the slip Assist clutch from the XSR?

 I've got almost 50000 and probably 25 or 30000 is on the XSR clutch and haven't really noticed any vibration before or after and early on I put BBs in the handlebar and went to the rubber covered footpegs.

 The clutch is noisy but that's just the nature of the beast but I can cruise along in 4th gear at 70 miles an hour and forget I should shift up