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Rattle from front of motor

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Crs443

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Mar 12, 2021
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Bmw 18
I noticed on start up and sometimes during idle there's a rattle from the front of the motor. Has anyone had this issue in the past? What did they find? I won't be able to get the bike to the dealer until the spring, they just salted the roads
Video 1:
Video 2:
 
All I hear is one or more valves a little on the loose side ... does the noise change as the motor reaches operating temperature?
 
Nope the R18 has solid cam followers and is a relative noisy valve train ... now it could be still something more ... but first impression is a 'loose' valve ... not to worry ... valves on the 'loose' side are just noisy not harmful ... too tight ... now that can be a problem :)
How many miles/km on that engine?
 
4400 miles are on the bike. It's just very noticable at start up, but appears to go away once at operating temp
 
That is (IMO) pretty much normal .. do you do your own wrenching? ... If so check the valves next time you change your oil .. it is not hard to do and it will give you piece of mind ;)
 
I do my own work on my truck. But I won't touch a bike. If I mess up something on the truck It will just leave me on the side of the road. But If I mess up a bike, it will also leave me on the road... Minus some skin. I just spend the money and let the shop do the bike work.
 
I see ... well you may change your mind down the line ... the maintenance on these bikes is quite easy ;)
This said ... have your mechanic check the valve lash ... if I remember right that will be the case on your next service anyway.
 
Sounds like mine upon cold start up, once warm it goes away. Bit like Ulrich says, there’s a lot of heavy metal flying around and because the engine is air/oil cooled (i.e no water jacket to dampen sound), and so exposed (no fairing or other stuff in the way) we hear everything. My bikes been serviced a couple of times now and the BMW dealer hasn’t raised anything as an issue so I’ve decided to ignore it as character.
 
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