I have an '04 Outlander Max and am noticing quite a bit of noise from the drivetrain and am wondering how much noise you hear from your ATV. These units are shaft driven but do have an internal belt system. Is this the belt whine that I hear? At first I attributed the noise to tire howling because it was really noticeable when I was on a hard packed dirt/gravel road when I was cruising a slow and steady 10-15 mph. After I began to get tuned into the noise I hear it in grassy or sandy areas also and the tires can't possibly howl on those surfaces.

Is this normal? I recently changed to Bombardier synthetic oil and am wondering if this might have any effect on the noise. It is certainly more noticeable now that it was before. I now have about 300 miles on the unit.
Thanks for any input.

 

Most belt drives make noise some more than others. My Outty doesn't make that much noise anymore now that it's broken in, sometimes it will make strange little noises then dissapear, I think It's normal , now I don't notice any noises anymore. ATV Frontier has many Outlander owners there plus they have Bomb Tech a great source for technical info.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

Yeah there is a little noise.. not that bad though

 

I took it to the dealer yesterday and he pulled the left side cover to expose the belt and clutch system. At idle there is no noise but in park at higher rpm ranges we heard it loud and clear. It is almost making a metalic chattering noise. I'll post the findings here for your info.

 

Update -

The dealer changed the clutch out with another new Outlander that was in stock. It didn't make any difference. The clutch still chatters and really sounds out of balance. I am going to try to find a customer support number or email address for Bombardier customer support. This has to be in the design of the clutch system and I want them to be aware of it.

 

Hi WeekendWarrior, I bought my 400 Outlander and have a horrific noise coming from the driveshaft too. I took my quad to my dealer and called bombardier to lodge a complaint. Bombardiers senior tech worked with my tech at the dealer to pinpoint the problem. It has been diagnosed to be where the driveshaft connects to the engine, when applying the brake especially in 2 wheel drive the back wheels lock up and the metal clanging/banging noise is caused from the shaft and the coupler twisting back and forth. The Bombardier Reps were at my dealership last weekend and said there has been 3 dealership complaints and UNTIL there are enough complaints they will not come up with a fix. SO US OUTLANDER OWNER'S must take a stance BY LODGING your complaints to force them to come up with a fix. THINK ABOUT IT, when metal to metal is banging and clanging together it is going to eventually wear out and that is maintenance down the road for us. MY DEALER said to follow through with this complaint and keep on them and to tell others that have this noise to lodge their compalint with your dealer and with Bombardier. It is easy, just call 1-800/882-2900 and they setup a case number for you. Good luck and keep me posted on what happens. Thanks Landerlady

 

Hi WeekendWarrior, I bought my 400 Outlander and have a horrific noise coming from the drive shaft too. I took my quad to my dealer and called bombardier to lodge a complaint. Bombardier’s Senior Tech worked with my Tech to pinpoint the problem. It has been diagnosed to be where the drive shaft connects to the engine, when applying the brake especially in 2 wheel drive the back wheels lock up and the metal clanging/banging noise is caused from the shaft and the coupler twisting back and forth. The Bombardier Reps were at my dealership last weekend and said there have been 3 dealership complaints and UNTIL there are enough complaints they will not come up with a fix. SO US OUTLANDER OWNER'S must take a stance BY LODGING your complaints to force them to come up with a fix. THINK ABOUT IT, when metal-to-metal is banging and clanging together it is going to eventually wear out and that is maintenance down the road for us. MY DEALER said to follow through with this complaint and keep on them and to tell others that have this noise to lodge their complaint with your dealer and with Bombardier. It is easy, just call 1-800/882-2900 and they setup a case number for you. Good luck and keep me posted on what happens. Thanks Landerlady[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Hi all, Fourlix here, Driveshaft coupling eh? Are you talking about the rear driveshaft or front? We just couldn't figure out where the noises are coming from. We ran the engine without the belt, (highly NOT reccommended) it still made the horrific noise, We swapped clutches and it still made the noise. We concluded that it must be the engine, out of balance or something. A driveshaft coupling could be rattling, clanging, even though not engaged, amplifying the sound through the other components. We've only had one Outlander that did this. Who was the Bombardier tech that helped you figure this out? We have the entire motor crated to send back, it sure would be nice to figure this out before having to ship this thing back....

 

My Outlander noise is coming from the rear drive shaft when in 2 wheel drive. When in 4 wheel drive the noise is greatly reduced because there is tension on the coupler because the front wheels are engaged. It sounds like your noise is there even when the quad isn't moving. So your problem may be something else. We went on a long ride today and this machine is very impressive BUT that banging, clanging metal noise isn't pleasureable to hear. Otherwise I have no problem with this machine. I just feel that Bombardier needs to come up with a fix, but they won't until enough complaints are filed. JUST LIKE the clicking from the C-clip/washer on the rear suspension, they came up with a fix for that because A LOT of owners came forward. My hopes are that Bombardier will evenutally take care of us. QUESTION: When you tore the quad down that you have was there a lot of slack in the read drive shaft and coupler?

 

I just checked the play in the front & rear driveshafts, with no motor. They both seem normal. Our noise
happens regardless of 2 or 4wd whether moving or not. We've even heard it with no drive belt. It is a horrific clattering, clanging noise, and sounds like it is coming from the clutch, but we have swapped that out with no result.

I think Bombardier isn't so much waiting for more complaints before they do anything, as they are trying to figure out what these problems are. The clicking swingarms were widespread in this last production run, but none occurred in the first run. This left them scrambling to find a fix with numerous dealer's and customer's complaints.

Our problems, whether related or not, are not as widespread, so there is less urgency, as far as Bombardier anyway. I know Bombardier will step up to the plate once the problem(s) is/are diagnosed, but that is the hard part. We simply couldn't figure it out, and I just couldn't keep endlessly paying my mechanic to try and find the problem. We don't get paid to find problems, only to fix them, that is the way warranty work goes. If something breaks, we can fix it, and get paid for it, but ellusive mystery noises can be baffling, time consuming and expensive to diagnose.

Our motor is crated and wrapped and awaiting shipment. It should get picked up this week. So we probably won't know anything for weeks. The worst that can happen is they don't find anything wrong,
and send us back the same motor, leaving us in the same quandry, with a quad we can't sell. The problem may not even be the motor itself, but something related. We may end up sending them the rest of the quad.

With any new model stuff like this is bound to happen. IT just sucks when it happens to you. Fortunately there is no owner to our problem quad, I swapped out the buyer for an XT at the first sign of trouble, a decision I made and stand by, as this quad has been in our shop for two months now. The owner has two Outlanders, a Traxter Max and a Z-400, all of which he purchased from me, and rides nearly every weekend. Could I do any less?