Hi I haven't posted in a while.
Just recently I've noticed a sound coming from under my right side engine...specifically the clutch cover. It sounds like gravel bits kicking around. Nothing at idle but if I rev in gear or unloaded it makes this irratic clicky noise like gravel tumbling? Noise disappears completely when I take off the cover and run it. Put the cover back on and the noise returns. Everything looks great in there...don't know what but is probably nothing but it's quite load...my 6 year old even remarked on the noise. He said it sounds like sticks breaking in there. Is there a way to remove all this electical safety stuff and still have the bike run? Has anyone done it?
Dave

 

How do you relate the stick breaking noise to the electrical safety struff which you are considering to remove? I don't think that's the right way to solve the problem.

Here is what I am thinking.
If you look at the back side (toward the engine) of the drive converter, you will see many fins. They are cooling fins that draw air into the CVT housing because the converter/belt get very hot. Carefully inspect the edge of the fins for any contact with anything. If this isn't the case, I would try another CVT cover.

 

Hi Hayashi....Well I just posed the question about removing the electrical safety bc it's caused problems last year. I took it in for maintenance and the dealer reset the 100 hour belt check but he couldn't get it to turn off. I took the bike in perfectly fine and then he calls me and asks me how long has the bike been in "limp mode". I say 'it's never been in limp mode". THis is a Kawasaki dealer, it took three days to get the bike out of limp mode. He called Kawasaki he attempted to reset the limp mode a dozen times, replaced the belt did many things then suddenly it worked came out of limp mode for no apparent reason. I've never trusted the bike since then and I've taken it very deep into the bush but it's always in the back of my mind. I know it's a safety thing but I'd rather check my belt myself manually once every 6 months or so. I once had a problem with a 1999 Yamaha snowmobile that had a safety cut out system for throttle position verses carb position incase the throttle cable freezes open. Guess when it failed...in -20 degree C weather deep in the trails. The safety failed, she started sputtering and backfiring and then shut down. I was lucky enough to figure out the problem and cross the wires to the saftey and she fired up but not before I nearly lost my fingers to frost bite. My point is that they're making damn near bullet proof engines with what seems to be poorly thought out cheesy safety mechanisms that make the previously reliable engine now unreliable. Here I have two personal cases where the 'saftey' kicks in for no apparent reason and can actually leave you in a rather 'unsafe' position.
I will take a look at the fins that you mentioned, it the drive converter the forward clutch mechanism or is it the rear variable transmission mechanism. I didn't see this fan but I'll double check today. Like I mentioned it goes away completely without the cover on so it has to have something to do with the cover. Goofy thing is how irratic the thing sounds....sort of like when you have some piece do metal clanking around in you laundy dryer.
Thanks for the response.
DaveP

 

Hayashi
Well I took the clutch cover off again today. The fan that you spoke of looked fine. No noise with the cover off , comes back with the cover on....very irratic pace. I'm starting to wonder if its the switch that's dragging on the back of the drive belt? The belt only has about 400km on it but is heavily worked. Looks fine and I've compared it's thickness to a new one and is the same.
If I manually flick the belt light actuator switch forward in the clutch cover to test the switch, can I simply flick the switch back into the 'on' position and not get any of my lights flashing after I switch it back to "on".

 

No, that's not possible in your case.

Mileage doesn't matter. Belt can be worn out, even destroyed within first 4 km, or it can last 4000 km. How the quad was used matters more.

No, just flipping the belt switch will NOT reset the light once it comes on. You must do the 4-pin connectors swap procedure which can be find in this forum. BUT '07 360 requires a slightly different procedure because it has different wiring harness from other year 360. DON'T DO IT ANYWAY. Why do you think the flipping the switch has anything to do with the noise? I just don't get the logic of your thinking. ??? You are asking for more trouble and frustration.

Here is a suggestion.
You will see a metal fork (two fingers) with white teflon tip at the end inside the CVT cover. The fork is attached at the bottom of a rod/spring assembly. That is the engine brake actuator fork which presses against the driven converter clutch cover.
> Inspect the teflon tips for excessive wear.
> Feel the bearing smoothness of the clutch cover that teflon tips would be priessing against.
> Finally, remove the spring/rod/fork assembly from the CVT cover. Reinstall the CVT cover, and then try to duplicate the noise.

Let me know the result on above 3 things.

 

Thanks Hayashi....I did see the teflon on the fork...looks okay but I've got nothing to compare to really. I will try the things that you mentioned . If you don't think it's the little trip switch then it has to be the EB system but I don't really know how it works. I guess taking it out is easy so I'll give that a go. I'll get back to you but I won't get at it till the weekend now.
Thanks for the quick response.

 

Well today is the first day in two weeks the bike didn't make that clicking clacking noise. I was just going to do as Hayashi mentioned and remove the EB mechanism and see if that isolated the noise. At the same time that my bike was making this noise I discovered that the little noisy bit when you turn on the ignition key was no longer happening. I'd turn on the key and the speedo needle dips for a second but no longer was there that funny startup noise that usually happens from the clutch cover mechanisms. So I eventally convinced myself that the bike probably never made the sound at startup and probably only does it at shut down. Well this morning I turned on the key and 'viola' I heard the little start up whine from the clutch cover...then I take it out and the funny noisey clutch noise is absent!
So now I really wonder what's going on there. The EB mechanism is working fine as it did even when it made the funny clutch cover noise. I don't know why the start up sound when the key is turned on was absent at the same time that the funny noise was present.
Confused. Bike running fine btw as it did even with the noisey clutch cover.

 

It sounds to me as if you have something loose or sloppy that can make contact with the cover. You said it doesn't make the sound during idle, so the noise is either vibration or RPM induced. Do you see any drag marks or 'clean' spots on the inside of the cover? Any impact marks? When you have the cover off, check everything for side play. Also check the sheaves for trueness (is that a word?) If they are out of true or out of balance, increased RPMs could cause things to vibrate. Good luck!

 

Question....does the '07 P360 always make the little whining noise from the engine brake actuator every time you turn on the ingition key?

 

The '07 360 is little unique in a couple of ways:
> Wiring harness is slightly different from other year 360 requiring little different belt light reset procedure. Not bad or good, just different.
> Controller (2nd black box) is an older version and the same year (07) KVF650/750 have newer version which is LESS likely to give false actuator signal.

When starting the engine, the EB actuator should not make a whining noise. It should make the noise only when you shut off the ignition. That noise is coming from the stepper motor that is trying to find its home position for the potentiometer. But whether it makes the noise or not, if EB is working and 4x4 is working, who cares?! A lot of times Controller glitch can be reset by unplugging and re-plugging the Controller connector with the ignition key OFF (because there is a live 12V to its memory bank all the time). Or the same resetting can be done by removing and re-inserting the EBC 10-amp fuse by the Controller. Bottom line is if it ain't broken, don't fix it.