V Star 1300 Noises

I purchased a V Star 1300T about 2 months ago.
I have begun to realize that the trans whine is pretty much standard for this bike.
But it also has a ticking when completly warmed up that varies with engine speed. The hotter it gets the louder the ticking (seems to be coming from the right side)
The dealer is telling me it is an exhaust tick, but it doesn't sound that way to me.
Also, every time I hit a bump in the road, I get a clunk. It sounds like something loose somewhere, like under the tank rattling. The dealer has had to luck finding that either.
Any suggestions from anyone???????  

Correction.
The ticking is from the left side.  

I thought I was the only one. And your right the dealer acts as if it is nothing. I you gone over your 1000 mile mark and had your first sevice? The only thing the dealer said that made any sence was that the oil that is in the bike for the braek in piriod is a lot thiner that what is to go it to it for the rest of the bikes life. I don't think I was any help because i'm in the same boat. I'm glad i'm not the only one hearing the noises.  

I understand that the transmission is pretty normal from all the road tests I have read. But the ticking and the clunk on bumps is driving me nuts.
What kind of noises are you hearing?
Oh, and the thinner oil thing is BS. Typical bike shop.
They really don't want to put forth the effort to really diagnose a problem of give an accurate explaination.  

Same here, same noises clunk, whine and metalic tap that sounds like lifters to me. I purchased a V Star 1300T about 2 months ago also.
The "lifter" noise was more pronounced after the first service. I will be looking into it with my dealer seems to be pretty good guys.  

I have owned a vsstar 1300 about 4 months now and also hear the clunk whin i hit hard bumps the sound is the mono skock underneth the bike bottoming out. as far as lifter noise i havent heard any but i havent had my first service yet so we will see. other than the shock noise i love the bike and its ride.  

I also have a 2 month old VST1300T.  I have heard the clunking as well, but up front.  I checked with a friend who has a Yamaha and he has the same noise, but attributed it to brake pads.  Yamaha has a kit (springs?) that is supposed to eliminate the brake pad clunking problem. So, it could be the pads, but if under tank, something else.
My beef is gears/speeds.  After break-in, it seemed to me that this 1300 does not like 5th gear unless you are at about 110+KM.  It appears to be lugging in 5th at or below 100km, but manual gives a different picture of the gears and suggested speeds/ Anyone else have this problem? Also, slight delay in first when throttling and popping clutch before bike moves and then it really moves?  Anyone else have this delay?  

I am planning on picking up a 1300 tourer for my next bike.  I have read a lot about the noises form this bike, from whining to clicking to clunking.  The clunking is being reported as normal.  I even get that with my V Star 650.  The clicking has been reported,, but may or may not be normal.  Sometimes you are in need of a valve adjustment.  Others have reported that the clicking goes away after they start using a synthetic oil, in fact the whole bike seems smoother.

The lugging is reported by a lot of people who shift at the speeds recommended by the manual.  To begin with a widely reported problem is the speedometer, which appears to be off by 5 mph.  Second, the manual recommendations are junk, and will result in a lot of lugging.  Having no tach really seems to bother some people, but I don't know why.  You shouldn't be relying on a tach to shift.  Instead you should be shifting by feel.  The bike has a rev limiter on it (I am pretty sure), and you should get a feel for where this bike wants to shift, and where you will be power-wise when you shift.  Far too many riders shift when the rpms are very low - too low.  A lot of people I have ridden with assume my bike has a lot more power than it does, simply because I know how to shift where the bike wants it.  I can keep up to a much larger motor with someone who shifts merely because they want that low rumble.  

The clunk is real and is easily fixed with a set of $60.00 Progressive springs..

You can learn all about your VStar1300 here:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/vstar1300/start

Previous 1100 owners complained that they needed a "highway gear", so your bike is a 4 speed tranny plus overdrive.. It's awesome cause you can cruise the Interstate, comfortably, at 85, all day long.. This bike loves the highway..    

Oh, and the progressive springs are easily installed in 1 1/2 hours of ameteur labor..  

I have an '07 1300 that I bought in 4/08 that has the exact same issues.  The ticking just started recently, but the front end clunk has been there since I bought it.  The ticking goes away when I use the clutch.

Plus, there is the lovely clutch rattle when the bike is in neutral (I think that is fixed on the '08 models).  I don't even put the bike in neutral when it is running because the noise bugs me so much.  

Hi,,I have an 07 1300 tourer and it has the same problems...3800 miles and lifters are going wild..If service wasnt so much money it would be ok,,,but 350 a pop...after warm up in neutral you can rev it a little and hear alot of clattering,,,,along with the clutch noise,,almost hard to hear the stock pipes...I hear the dealer will upgrade the clutch to an 08 for free if you complane enough...I guess its a good bike for the money,,wishing service was free...but 10g,wow...a buddy bought a suzuki c 90,,seems better,,self adjusting lifters would make the v-star better  

I have just about 1000 miles on my 2007 V-Star 1300 and I also hear the clunk in the front end.  I have not had the time to try yet but I will be adding a little more fork tube oil.  Many years ago, when I rode much harder than now, I had opportunity to rebuild forks and found that if the oil was just a bit low the front end would clunk.  The clunk happens with the forks recover from hitting a bump.  The clunk happens when the forks are extending back to normal and over extend to their limit.  In the past I found by adding a bit more fork oil the issue was resolved.  

I do my own maintenance and am close to pulling the tank to adjust the valves, etc. and will be checking the oil level in the tubes and either adding a bit more 10W or changing to 20W fork oil.  

I am certainly no expert but have had to deal with all the problems mentioned here.  I noticed a chatter coming from the engine once it was warmed-up, it is really pronounced when the bike is placed in neutral and left to idle.  When you pull back the clutch lever it stops.  This problem is common on the 2007 V-Star 1300, Yamaha even put out a memo to all its dealers advising of the problem and a free fix to any one who complains.  I bought my 1300 in June 08, Yamaha advised me and the dealer that they had produced clutch basket kits to resolve noise problems back in 07' but are out of them now and will have to special make one for my repair, that's been 2 months ago and still no kit.  Yamaha assures me this is only an annoyance and nothing mechanical that will cause harm to the bike or the rider, lets hope they're right.  The banging noise up front is also common to the v-star 1300 and Yamaha says they are working on a fix, sounds like folks here on the blogs have beat Yamaha to the punch so thanks for the advise.  I did purchase a set of Jug Huggers from BUB which eliminates nearly every other noise but great sounding exhaust.      

Since my earlier post I now have about 2000 miles on my V-star 1300 and have made a few adjustment myself with some success that may be of interest.

The front end clunck is resolved by adding a bit more front fork oil.  I jacked the bike up (level) with the front tire just off the ground, loosened the top tripple tree clamp bolts, removed the tube caps (used a 7/8 in wrench) and measured the distance from the top of the tripple tree to the oil in the tubes.  The stock oil level was 9 1/4 inches down.  I added 2 oz of 20w frork oil (stock oil is 10w) and the clunck is resolved.  Caution, when measuring I bent a coat hanger into a "L" shape about 12 x 3 inches to ensure that it could not fall into the fork tube.

The engine noises that I am experiencing are coming from more than the clutch.  I have been able to reduce the noise with a couple of adjustments.  

First, I rebalanced the throttle bodies.  Manual calls for 240 to 280 mmhg at standard idle speed.  I found the rear cylinder at 240 and the front cylinder at 280.  They are now both at 270 mmhg.  Caution when adjusting that you don't cause the engine to run on the rich side - it causes the engine to stall when coming off the line after idling for about a minute.  Yamaha recommends identifying the low vacuum cylinder and adjusting it up.  I did note that the adjustment (rich or lean) is directly related to engine backfire when decellerating - found this out by setting the throttle bodies a bit rich - but had to lean them a bit to clear up the stalling - tight adjustment window between no backfire and no engine stall off the line but can be done.  I also did not disconnnect the tank as the manual calls for.  I simply removed the 2 anchor bolts, slipped the tank back just enough to uncouple the righthand front support, and rolled the tank over a bit - to access the vacuum hoses.  I placed a small block of wood between the frame and bottom of the tank to prevent scratching.  I also unbolted the air filter housing and held it in place manually between adjustments.  Rev'ed the engine between adjustments.

Second, I readjusted the drive belt to 7 mm deviation (using a 10 lb. weight as recommended in the manual).  I made a "U" shaped wire to hang over the belt and then attached the weight to it.  I adjusted the belt with the rear tire off the ground - the manual calls for a deviation of 4 to 6 mm as measured with no weight to 10 pounds added.  Note: Measure the belt tension at the tightest point.  I did find that setting the belt closer to 4 mm (I set it at 4.5 mm) did cause a slight increase in belt wine.  I have readjusted the belt to 7 mm (yes, a bit looser than spec) and the belt wine is less.  I used an El-cheapo 3Ft. level as a straight edge, set against the inside of the rear pully, as an alignment aid.  I painted a small yellow strip on the inside side ring of the engine pully to make it easier to see.  Note: the engine pully is wider than the rear pully - adjust the alignment accordingly.  I verified using this alignment method that the factory marks to align the rear wheel are off a ***

In the process of belt adjustment I removed the engine pully cover and noted that the metal is very thin and that Yamaha added sound insulation to help dampen the noise.  I'm considering replacing the foam insulation with a heavy plastic insulation.  The type that can be purchased to coat tool handles.

As for the clutch rattle - yes, it's there for me too and like some others I keep the clutch pulled in when stopped.  However, I do think the clutch contributes to the engine noise when driving.  Second however, I called Yamaha customer service and was told that there were no clutch upgrades for 2008 to address noise.  I will call the dealer and ask about the basket upgraded mentioned above.

I realize that some readers may not have access to some of the tools that are needed but I can say that the adjustments are much easier than may be preceived.