Hearing aid panic inducement

Thomasa

Thomasa

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May 28, 2022
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Last week I fired up the Atlas to keep the sump empty(ish) and while the engine was idling warm enough to be off the chokes, I began to hear a nasty rattling sound coming from the area of the barrels. As the engine warmed up it got louder until it really disturbed me. Then I remembered I was wearing my new, fancy hearing aids. I don't usually wear any hearing aids around motorcycles. Anyhow I shut the engine down after I figured the oil tank was full and the engine was more than warm enough to idle. Next time I will leave the hearing aids on the charger and wear my usual ear plugs. Yet, I can't un-hear that rattling sound.

OMG, I think. Should I tear the engine down and check the pistons now or wait till it gets worse and risk a broke piston ruining a bore. These pistons were suspect when I put them in new several decades ago. They were Australian-made and i remember that they came from Rabbers Parts Mart. The pins were so tight that I refitted them on our pin-fitter till they felt like new Hepolites.I don't remember what wall clearance I used but I have a vague memory that these weren't cam ground and were fitted on the loose side. I probably wrote that figure on the build sheet but I'm a day's travel away from that right now. Once in the engine and running, it always had a little piston slap until it warmed up. In recent years I haven't heard that at all, I suppose due to hearing loss. But now...?! I have not babied the engine all these years but I haven't racked up huge touring mileage either.
 
The best thing about having a belt drive primary is it removes the sound of the triplex primary noise and it allows you to get accustomed to the rhythmic sounds of your engine. After I switched to a belt drive, I had the bike idling in the driveway doing a safety check before taking off, and out of nowhere the engine started making a noticeable clacking noise. I didn't have to hear more than 10 seconds before I shut it the bike off. Without any doubt, the bike was coming apart to see what was making that noise. When I pulled the barrels I saw one of the stellite pads had de-laminated from a cam follower and was sitting in place on top of the cam lobe. The amount of damage that would have caused if it had pinballed around inside that crankcase is anyone's guess.

As a rule, If it sounds bad, then it's coming apart to see why... Just like a bomb, after it goes tick, tick, tick comes the thing you least want to hear BOOM! So, looking before the boom is a good policy

* BTW all I did was replace the followers on that side because the cam was not damaged at all...
 
Thomasa said:
Last week I fired up the Atlas to keep the sump empty(ish) and while the engine was idling warm enough to be off the chokes, I began to hear a nasty rattling sound coming from the area of the barrels. As the engine warmed up it got louder until it really disturbed me. Then I remembered I was wearing my new, fancy hearing aids. I don't usually wear any hearing aids around motorcycles. Anyhow I shut the engine down after I figured the oil tank was full and the engine was more than warm enough to idle. Next time I will leave the hearing aids on the charger and wear my usual ear plugs. Yet, I can't un-hear that rattling sound.

OMG, I think. Should I tear the engine down and check the pistons now or wait till it gets worse and risk a broke piston ruining a bore. These pistons were suspect when I put them in new several decades ago. They were Australian-made and i remember that they came from Rabbers Parts Mart. The pins were so tight that I refitted them on our pin-fitter till they felt like new Hepolites.I don't remember what wall clearance I used but I have a vague memory that these weren't cam ground and were fitted on the loose side. I probably wrote that figure on the build sheet but I'm a day's travel away from that right now. Once in the engine and running, it always had a little piston slap until it warmed up. In recent years I haven't heard that at all, I suppose due to hearing loss. But now...?! I have not babied the engine all these years but I haven't racked up huge touring mileage either.
Click to expand...
Thomas,
Have you jumped into the shower with your hearing aids on yet!😩
Mike
 
IN the shower with hearing aids and got as far as washing my face with cloth when I realized they were still in my ears. No damage though. I'll fire up the Atlas later today without hearing aids and see what it sounds like. I've probably had hearing loss since before I built the engine 25 years ago. But then I could still hear my wife.
 
I've got $6000.00 worth of em in my ears and still can't understand what my wife says to me...but I can hear OK now ;)
 
Thomasa said:
Hmmm..... much of what she says makes no sense. Maybe it's not my hearing aids malfunctioning.
Click to expand...

My hearing aids amplify the noise but don't always make it easy to decipher whats being said, especially at certain frequencies.
 
Thomasa said:
Hmmm..... much of what she says makes no sense. Maybe it's not my hearing aids malfunctioning.
Click to expand...
You need hearing aids that have a feature to translate woman talk to sensible talk. Or a pair that automatically mutes what you dont need to hear...
 
BERT said:
You need hearing aids that have a feature to translate woman talk to sensible talk. Or a pair that automatically mutes what you dont need to hear...
Click to expand...
Top tool bar features spousal mode
Hearing aid panic inducement
 
MikeG said:
I've got $6000.00 worth of em in my ears and still can't understand what my wife says to me...but I can hear OK now ;)
Click to expand...
My wife sent me to get a hearing test to see why I kept missing things she'd told me.

Tester found there was nothing wrong, we concluded that I was only hearing what I wanted to hear, and filtering our the rest. The tester asked if I wanted a certificate to prove my hearing was good, but I thought what I really needed was for my wife to only say things I wanted to hear. I did suggest that to my wife, but didn't catch her reply :)
 
Yesterday I fired up the Atlas without hearing aids. Selective hearing is a real thing it seems. I could not hear the alarming sounds of a week before. Sounds perfectly normal now. I think I won't take is apart. But still, I can't make sense of my wife with or without hearing aids. I want that bridge to Hawaii.
 

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