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Noise from the Instrument cluster?

3118 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Lumberjack, 
L
So I brought my 100 mile-old Z1000 to the dealer today about the vibration, and they tightened up the mounting bolts and such, which seems to have reduced it a bit and to the point where it seems comfortable - I'm happy about that..

The noise though is still there - turns out it's coming from the instrument cluster/housing - the mechanic at the dealer told me there's nothing you can do about it - the noise is part of all Z1000's - they have to leave the instrument cluster free-floating because if it was mounted, the vibration from the engine would harm the electronics inside, is what he said..

Is this right? The noise is fairly loud when I get above 5k rpm - he said it's from where the instrument cluster is attached to the adjoining bar - plastic on plastic or plastic on metal or something.. I can turn the bike on and rev it to 5-6k in neutral and hear it just fine... It's from right where the instrument cluster is, though when I'm riding seems more biased toward the right/throttle side of the center instrument cluster..

Has anyone else encountered this or know a way to fix it? It would seem like something that wouldn't be too hard to fix and I'm having a hard time believing that it is supposed to make that noise (which is a high-pitched/frequency buzzing/rattling sound) and that they couldn't have found a way to eliminate it... It's a terribly annoying sound..

The mechanic over at the dealer acts very confident and is not particularly friendly about fielding questions - he's just like "nope, that's what it is, can't do anything about it" - end of story.. But he spent like 5 seconds examining the noise and making that final statement..

It is the instrument cluster though - when I'm riding, and it starts, I can grab the instrument cluster with my hand and the noise stops..
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ER^NPILOT
People have been trying to fix this on their own... I know there have been posts here and on the Kawi forum where they have a homemade fix.

They all bounce, the instrument clusters, mine on my bike does too... I just dont have an associated noise.
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bakwheeltango
a salesguy that has the same ride told me to lube the pin that adjusts the angle of your speedo display.
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M
I cut a small piece of thick fabric and tucked it under the bar at the base of the panel that it rotates around. Can't see it or know that it's there, but no damn buzzing rattle, works great. Your mechanic is a lazy piece of crap who's shoveling some of what he's made of.
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drewboy
If your zed is doing the same as mine, which it sounds like, it's the pin vibrating in the hole where you select the tilt setting. Cos the pin is only spring loaded, it has room to vibrate in the hole (metal on metal) Just take the pin out all together, select your tilt angle, and put a bolt all the way through! Below is a link to a previous post where i explained more of how i did mine, plus pics! After that mine doesn't make a sound!
http://www.riderforums.com/showthread.php?t=60500
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L
Heck yea - thanks Mr. Pink and Drewboy for the info - gonna do this stuff this weekend!
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M
My fix was just a temporary lets see how this does type of fix that still gives me the option of rotating the cluster. However I never rotate the cluster so I will probably look at doing drewboys in the future. Although I have no more buzzing and you can't tell the fabric is there so who knows I may leave it how it is for a while.
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R
This is the part number of the piece that my dealer replaced and the noise went away. part number 55028-0286-660, Description cowling, upper left hand.
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L
Drewboy - I'm trying to do this today and am having trouble getting the spring-loaded bolt out of there - can you explain more how to do this? I get that I need to replace that spring-loaded contraption with a regular bolt, but just can't get the other one out of there...

thx!
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L
Ok I seemed to have fixed it!

I dunno how you'd get that spring loaded bolt out so I just squished some of that liquid rubber stuff into every part of it I could - it's the stuff that you can dip the handle of a tool in and have it come out rubber-coated when it dries..

So, I'd pull the spring-loaded pin all the way out, as far as it would go, then use a knife to slide a gob of the liquid/goo rubber into the hole that contained the spring-loaded pin.. Also smeared it all over the other side of the pin, the side where the adjustment handle is - this seems to have cured the buzzy rattling sound and also reduced the vibration through the handlebars :)
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