Whirring Noise After Turning Bike OFF

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Italianzero

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Greetings all,

I've searched but not found any post about a loud medium-tone whirring noise after turning the engine OFF.

81 XS400H purchased recently, sat for a while but starts up on the 1st or 2nd kick. Yesterday as I was riding the normal engine noise seemed to get an octave louder and when I turned the bike off after the engine noise stopped there was a whirring sound which seemed to be originating from the kick starter area but I can't be certain yet.

Any ideas? Thanks!
 
Sounds like your starter solenoid might be sticking? kinda hard to tell without more info. Your start button grounds through the bars, so if that circuit is grounded then it would be the same as holding your start button.
 
SpikeG said:
Sounds like your starter solenoid might be sticking? kinda hard to tell without more info. Your start button grounds through the bars, so if that circuit is grounded then it would be the same as holding your start button.
Click to expand...

What other information would be helpful? I’m glad to provide whatever I can to assist in diagnosis lol
 
Are you sure its coming from inside the engine? Does it still make the noise with key off? battery disconnected? if you put your hand on the starter cover, can you feel it vibrating? When you say starter button is missing, is is broken? Could it be grounding out on the bars still?
 
Definitely coming from inside. The noise didnt happen under after I switched the engine off and it is like a delayed "winding down" that only lasts a second or so after I cut the engine.

The button popped out, so the spring behind it is there, but the part you would push to e-start is missing.
 
I think XsChris is right. Ive had the same problem. It makes a funny sound, its like a noise you can make with your mouth. I think its more of a vibration from a bushing being dry and dirty. I never fixed it though because I barely use the e start and thats when it would happen.
 
New symptom:

Turned the bike in this morning to run it for a bit as I do a couple times per week and the following happened...

1. Turn key to on
2. Turn engine switch to On
3. Bike tries to start on its own with kick or button (which is missing) being pressed

I don’t know enough about these engines yet...thoughts?

Thanks all!
 
The wires for the button must be touching inside. You need to take the housing apart and fix. My guess is this has been happening while the bike is running in the past and causing your whirling sound.
 
Make sense, I ordered a whole new assembly the other day so I will wait until that arrives to mess with it, report back.

Thank you much
 
Having good ground connections is very important too. Just figured id mention that because I was just going through a bunch wiring stuff as I am putting everything back together. The harness, battery, and hand controls need to have a good clean ground.
 

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