[Yellow650Rincon]

My friend has a 2003 Rincon with 800 miles on it now. It started making this chirping-whurring type noise ever since about 500 miles. It only does it when it's cold. It sounds like it is coming from this area circled in the picture, which I believe is where the cam-gear and cam are.
It's pretty loud, but when you rev it it goes away, and then it idles for a second and it comes back, only when it's cold. Anyone know what it might be?

 

[RobG]

Mine does this too. I've heard a number of them do it. As for what it is, beats the heck out of me.

Neat pic of the motor! Where'd you find it??

Rob

 

[Yellow650Rincon]

I found it on a website that did a review on the Rincon when it first came out. Here is the original picture for you.

And here is a picture of the torque converter in the engine casing.

Here is a cutaway of the torque converter.

 

[rinconmark]

Not to worry , that is a normal sound that I heard many of them do oftern

 

[doug]

Mine did it from the first start up when I picked it up at the dealer. One of the tecks said that it was just a quirk some had that honda could not figure out. I just tell people it's all the little gerbils getting read to play in my "utility" 4-wheeler.They laugh until they see what this "utility can do!!!

 

[festus]

hi, any body out there have bad cam where trouble yet i know of 2 that had to replaced

 

[Yellow650Rincon]

A bad cam? What happened to it?

 

[bfulmer]

Do I have a story for you.
Purchased Rincon in April
Within the first 75 miles temp light comes on so I took it back to dealer at about 110 miles. I was told that they couldn't get my temp light to come on but my cam was bad. Rattle in the top end of motor and no top end. Motor would top out at about 44 mph. This was the second Rincon that the dealer had with a bad cam, the other one had about 300 miles on it and didn't have enough power to shift out of second gear. I finaly got it back after 3 weeks. 27 minutes into my first ride and the temp light is back on. Back to the dealer. 2 weeks later I finally get it back with a new thermostat and gasket. 29 minutes into my next ride and temp light is on again. This time I took a digital picture of the light on and sent it to my dealer. So back to the dealer for 2 more weeks and a new oil temp sensor. So far so good but it hasn't been very warm to really heat things up. I do most of my riding with my 2 kids, they have quadsport 50, so most of the time is spent between 10-20 mph. I will admit that honda has been good, I was told that If I ever have any engine problems because of this that they will warranty it. This came direct from Honda and not my dealer.

 

[jswrods]

hey Yellow650Rincon does the sound that your friends quad makes kind of remind you of some one quietly playing with a turky call whith their hand over their mouth. if so than it might be from a vent tube in the crank case. my 450 does the same thing when sitting at idle. its a vent to releave case pressure into the air cleaner box. you can see where it exits near the filter of most quads. when turbulent air passes through or by it whistles like when you blow across the mouth of a glass pop bottle. nothing bad of course but is a little anouying at first.

 

[Yellow650Rincon]

I am pretty sure it's just the torque converter now. Upon further investigation of the sound, I listened to the lower engine casing (right where the torque converter is) and it's coming from there. It's just the torque converter spinning inside the cold oil and the moving parts are making noise. I am pretty sure that's all the noise is.
Thanks.

 

[TrailBoss]

I was paying attention to that noise a couple of times ,and it sounded like the up and down motion of the piston,It is really hard to pinpoint exactlly
where the noise originates from, but it sounds higher in the engine than the torque converter. Here's a theory,maybe it's the piston rings sliding against
that new type of cylinder sleeve that honda has put in the engine?
It sounds like suction to me, like in a high velocity duct system(HVAC)that has a whistle.
Take a shopvac hose, remove it from the vacum,remove any attachments,and spin the hose over your head(carefully)it will make the same noise.

But Yellow650rincon ,you may also be correct.My last bike was a 2001 350cc fourtrax, and if you were cruising it in 5th gear it also had a nice purr to it aswell,so maybe it does have to do with eg; gears,torque converter?

 

[Yellow650Rincon]

Get and engine stethatscope and listen to where the torque converter is. I can guarantee you will hear it there.

 

[TrailBoss]

Yes you are correct, I noticed it yesterday just after I made my reply, but didn't have a chance to re-reply. I was distracted by a small hole in my driveshaft boot,it was blowing grease all over place when the shaft was spinning. I cleaned it up as best as possible , and then put the silicon to it.
it's a tempoary fix but it should work for a little while.

 

[jmanwi]

My '03 does that also. The dealer said it is the torque converter. The oil is warming up, and it goes away.

 

[crazyjz]

Ok, my honda techs may be goofy but some of you guys with the chirping torque converters may want to read my post in "mechanical-drivetrain".

I bought two new Rincons a couple of months ago. After 126 miles on the one, the torque converter started making weird noises at startup. For a while I only heard it at startup. Then, I started hearing it even after the bike was warmed up when making the transition from idle to moving forward. I couldn't stand it any longer since my other bike and the other two guys rincons did not make that noise. I took mine to the dealership.

Immediately upon hearing the noise, the service techinician identified it as the torque converter. He also said that they had replaced several and that what they had found when inspecting the replaced torque converters is that "the races on the bearings within the converter were being worn down" due to inadequate oil being pumped to the area. He attributed it to improper warm up techniques but I always warm mine up first so I know that is not it.

I am no mechanic and I neither support his analysis nor refute it. All I know is that these guys say that this is "not normal". As you can see in my afore-mentioned post, they are replacing my engine. I did not ask them to, they told me that was what they were doing.

Food for thought!