Cold start Whirr and Wheeze..?

[gareth]

Its very distinctive...
It only happens when starting a very cold bike.
A slow crank from the starter and then a short combination of sounds like a quickly strangled goose.

I was wondering what was happening to make that noise..

Any ideas?

[bikerphil]

The starter clutch is slipping due to thick oil. Thinner oil in winter months is recommended by Yamaha. Not much else you can do other than heat the oil pan somehow to thin the cold oil.

[DiverRay]

If you have the bike parked outside, try an old towel or two over the engine, and a 100W light bulb under the bike. Also an electric hotplate turned to medium heat will work. Light bulb all night, hotplate only takes about 30 minutes.
Real fix is a 5W-30W oil for the cold part of the winter, and change it out late April to 20W-50W for the summer riding.
I am assuming the bike is parked in or near NYC.

[Eastcoaster]

The Goose

I don't know but the goose sound to me was just a quick lube of the starter.
Pull it out 3 bolts lube the armature shaft put it back 10 minutes tops
It honks pretty good lube it up the goose is cooked.

The starter clutch for me was a more high pitched the winy whirr and weeze PIA much like my old girlfriend and not easy to fix.

[gareth]

I was wondering if somehow the spinning gear was generating an airflow that caused the groan after the whirr..
It's a very odd sound.
Like the goose was about to say something then hicupped.

[skids]

It is an odd sound and all 4 of my xs11s have done that. Sometimes it is a whirring sound, sometimes it is the goose sound, sometimes it is followed by a clackity clack or a chunk - or any combination! Warming the oil is the ticket. Follow the recommendations above for oil viscosity for future. Once you get it started and the oil warms-up you will be able to restart it more easily.

[speedlimit85]

Synthetic oil can make that worse. Conventional oil in my bike and it rarely slips like that starting.

[skids]

Agreed. Synthetic blend is a better choice, like 5W30. I have been using dynasaur juice for awhile now and just change it 3000 miles or so...

[motoman]

Agreed. Synthetic blend is a better choice, like 5W30. I have been using dynasaur juice for awhile now and just change it 3000 miles or so...

Synthetic....yikes Sid! You can be sure those clutch disc WILL slip under heavy full throttle situations. Cause of higher altitude of your location causing power loss is only reason your getting away with using synthetic juice. Along with the 5W30...another yikes!

[skids]

Synthetic....yikes Sid! You can be sure those clutch disc WILL slip under heavy full throttle situations. Cause of higher altitude of your location causing power loss is only reason your getting away with using synthetic juice. Along with the 5W30...another yikes!

I have had slipping clutch using 100% synthetic, but have had good luck with blend. I now don't see the advantage for using anything but dinojuice however. I don't go for high intervals, so mineral oils are the way to go...

[motoman]

I have had slipping clutch using 100% synthetic, but have had good luck with blend. I now don't see the advantage for using anything but dinojuice however. I don't go for high intervals, so mineral oils are the way to go...

Agree, along with good ole' 20-50w dino juice. Just couldn't pass up the oppertunity to pick on ya' a bit Sid.

[rangerguy302]

The battleship does the same thing, it's just cold. I lubed everything and it didn't really help much for me. -20 is probably to cold to be screwing with it any way....lol