Engine rattle?

[lawman]

As everyone should know, I have meticulously nursed an '04 F back to health.  I had to changed the valve shims A LOT to get it there.  Now that it's running - beautifully, I might add - it has an engine rattle at high rpms.  I thought at first it was the key.  Not the key.  I though it might be cam slap.  Shouldn't be.  It shouldn't be the shims, and even so, it doesn't sound like that sort of rattle to me.  Thoughts?

[XealotX]

Is it more pronounced at any particular RPM?

[fred]

As everyone should know, I have meticulously nursed an '04 F back to health.  I had to changed the valve shims A LOT to get it there.  Now that it's running - beautifully, I might add - it has an engine rattle at high rpms.  I thought at first it was the key.  Not the key.  I though it might be cam slap.  Shouldn't be.  It shouldn't be the shims, and even so, it doesn't sound like that sort of rattle to me.  Thoughts?

My bike was rattling recently and it turned out to be the starter motor cover. It is only held on by two bolts, and one of them was loose. That cover is big enough to make quite a racket... If you have a friend to help out, just have the friend rev the bike while it is on the center stand while you walk around the bike and listen to find the rattle. Once you've located the source, you'll find the lose bolt or whatever is making the annoying noise. If the engine isn't too hot, you can even confirm that you've found the rattle by touching the suspect part. If the rattle stops when you're holding it, you're there...

[lawman]

So no one thinks it's shims?

[fred]

So no one thinks it's shims?

You might need to adjust your valves, but if you just did the adjustment and didn't leave any of them super loose, that's probably not it. There are so many parts on the bike that can make rattly noises, it is hard to predict which one is your problem without poking around and figuring out where the sound is coming from. My bike has a non-stock headlight that has lock washers on the bracket holding it on that make a terrible screaming sound at 2000 rpm. It took me forever to figure out what the noise was. If you isolate the cause of the noise, you'll probably find it coming from some loose part that is trivial to fix.

[sledge]

One of these will help you.....if you can borrow or find one.

http://www.altecweb.com/home.asp?cat=SubcategoryMechanics+Stethoscope