Yamaha XVS1100 whining noise problems

Filed Jun 15, 2022 · Engine, Transmission · 24,000 miles · FL

The contact owns a 2006 Yamaha XVS1100 Motorcycle. The contact stated that while riding approximately 60 MPH, there was a loud whining sound coming from the rear of the motorcycle. The contact stated that moments later the rear wheel locked up and the motorcycle became inoperable. The motorcycle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the mid driveshaft within the transmission had fractured and the engine needed to be replaced. The motorcycle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 24,000.

Filed Dec 14, 2020 · Transmission · 27,000 miles · MN

While driving my motorcycle I suddenly noticed a high pitched whining noise during deceleration. I was close to home and the noise became louder. After further review, I have discovered that the mid drive shaft failed and the nut holding the u joint on had broken off. My motorcycle has 27000 miles on it. It turns out this failure is a common problem with the vstar 1100 shaft drives for many years.

Filed Jun 30, 2020 · Transmission · 30,645 miles · GA

I was driving my newly bought (used) motorcycle, bought it from the previous owner. It has about 30,000 miles on it. Drove it home no problem, by the end of the week I was going up a hill and heard a loud whining noise as soon as I let off the throttle. Look at the bike once I get home and the mid drive shaft that transmits power from the transmission to the final drive had snapped off at the end. The bolt had broke off. While researching forums on the internet this problem has come up many many times with this year of motorcycle. The heat treat on the part mentioned is very uneven and definitely not safe. I was directed to this page to fill out this form as a complaint to have yamaha solve this with a recall. It's going to cost me almost $3,000 to fix when I just paid $2,000 for the motorcycle. There have been multiple people complain about this on the internet so I hope to lead more here to fill out this form.

Filed Jun 17, 2020 · Transmission · 65,213 miles · WI

I was out riding my 2002 yamaha v-star 1100 classic motorcycle that I obtained from my stepdad. While traveling at approximately 55-60mph on a 2-lane state highway approaching a stop light I began to slow down. Upon deceleration the motorcycle suddenly made a loud whining noise from the transmission and I felt the rear wheel start to bind up. I immediately pulled over and took the bike home on a trailer. I later put it in my shop to inspect what the problem was myself. Inspection revealed a snapped middle drive shaft where the yoke/u-joint connect with it. The u-joint is held on by a nut. The end of the shaft with the nut still on it was laying inside the u-joint and was free to move around causing it to bind up within the joint. Researching online shows many people experienced the same issue that lead to a broken shaft. The main cause is the nut does not have an effective "locking" method (such as a pin) to keep it from loosening up over time. This then causes the u-joint to move on the shaft until the assembly snaps. Seeing as this is a motorcycle with only two (2) wheels this had the potential to seriously injure or kill me had the rear wheel locked up completely while traveling at those highway speeds. I am very lucky the rear wheel did not lock up completely. I will be contacting yamaha corp. About this issue immediately as I feel it is a manufacturer defect that is backed by a lot of online reports and hope it will be addressed before anyone can be hurt or killed by it if it has not already happened. The nut that is known to loosen up is not a maintenance item meaning this issue is not caused by a lack of maintenance! This motorcycle was purchased brand new by my parents and has always been brought to the yamaha dealer for service since it was new. Images attached show the broken shaft and damage to the nut from getting caught in the u-joint after breaking.

Filed Jun 15, 2017 · Transmission · 32,000 miles · UT

Mishaft snapped, causing the nut to potentially lockup the drive shaft and rear wheel, potentially causing loss of control and crash. There are hundreds of reports on the motorcycle forums for the vstar 1100 series. Shaft snaps under normal driving conditions and can be distinguished by a high pitch whine during deceleration as the broken-off shaft nut grinds against the drive shaft.

Filed May 29, 2017 · Transmission · 15,750 miles · KY

2006 vstar with 15,750 miles. While slowing down at appx 45 MPH, metallic whining from transmission started. Had never heard this noise before. After initial incident, any time I decelerated or downshifted, same noise was made. As long as I was on the accelerator, seemed run fine. As soon as I let off the gas, grinding/whining started. Spoke with a dealer, had no clue what I was describing. Showed them a page from this website, suddenly "had heard of" but were unfamiliar with the problem. Decided they would need to tear down trans to see what was going on. Wanted $1,100 just to diagnose. Said it may be a $100 fix or $3k. Seems to be related to middle gear shaft nut that has loosened, but not broken off yet.

Filed Apr 19, 2014 · Electrical, Transmission · 52,000 miles · GA

I have a 2004 vstar 1100 custom (xvs11000) with 52,000 miles. I started hearing a whining noise coming from the transmission when I would down shift (similar sound you hear when backing up in a manual transmission car). Soon after the noise started the speedometer quit working. Just as I was getting reading to pull into the gas station up ahead (about .5 miles) to check on it I heard what sounded like loose ball bearings just running around in the transmission. Needless to say I stopped immediately. Took the bike down to the local dealership/service shop and was given a quote for $5200. What ended up happening is the nut on the end of the middle gear shaft had sheared off the end of the shaft and bounced around in the u-joint. That's what had made the terrible noise. In the same process it destroyed the speed sensor and warped the cylinder (part of the swing-arm) that houses the u-joint. Luckily the nut did not lodge itself inside u-joint and cause the bike to lock-up. This is clearly a problem that yamaha knows about, because the new middle shaft they have as a replacement part is made slightly different and is much stronger. Yet they refuse to admit it to us stranded bikers that are having to come out of pocket thousands of dollars for what appears to be a manufacturers defect. It clearly has happened to bikes with only a few hundred miles all the way on up. This could very easily cause fatalities if the rider is doing highway speeds and transmission seizes.

Filed Feb 26, 2014 · Electrical, Transmission · 22,000 miles · OR

While traveling at approximately 45 MPH through curves and hills, with various levels of load on the engine and drive train, a loud buzzing/whining noise was being produced from the engine area accompanied with speedometer failure when engine and transmission were put under load. When engine and drive train were under no load (coasting), the speedometer would operate normally. Inspection of engine/transmission and final drive fluids revealed everything to be within specifications. When the motorcycle was restarted and operated again, there was no noise produced and appeared to operate normally. Three months later the same issue presented itself with the same symptoms, but went away after inspecting the motorcycle. Two months later, the issue happened again and the motorcycle was taken to a mechanic. The mechanic discovered that the nut holding the yoke to the middle drive shaft/pinion gear had loosened approximately three threads.

Filed Nov 7, 2012 · Transmission · 12,000 miles · TX

While riding, I began to hear a whining or siren like noise while decelerating. When I got home I explored where the noise seemed to come from and found when looking through the passage where the speed sensor is mounted that the nut had come off of the middle gear because it had not been staked properly and was not properly secured. Furthermore it has no safety, key, retainer, cotter pin, or any other device designed to retain it should something go wrong, as it did in my case, and so seems to be improperly engineered or at the very least incompetently installed from the manufacturer.

Filed Sep 21, 2012 · Engine · 31,000 miles · NJ

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 yamaha xvs1100 motorcycle. While driving approximately 25 MPH, a loud whining noise emitted upon release of the throttle. The vehicle was taken to an independent auto shop for diagnosis. The technician stated that the drive shaft bolt dislodged into the engine, which caused substantial damage and the engine required replacement. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 31,000.