2018 Polaris Sportsman 450 Exhaust noise from cowl?

[Panupong Pradchaphet]

I have a 2018 Sportsman 450 HO and from time-to-time I hear what sounds like exhaust noise through the cowl near the gas tank.  Could it be an exhaust leak or am I hearing something vibrating?

[JacobSlabach]

On 2/28/2020 at 5:59 PM, Panupong Pradchaphet said:

I have a 2018 Sportsman 450 HO and from time-to-time I hear what sounds like exhaust noise through the cowl near the gas tank.  Could it be an exhaust leak or am I hearing something vibrating?

through the cowl?  not sure what you mean

[mxracer13]

You might be hearing the shift linkage vibrating. Mine does it and it is annoying. Trying to figure out a way to stop it

 

[huanchaco]

Check the exhaust gasket ring between the pipes,as it wears out it gets thinner till there's only a steel mesh left.

As for the shift linkage vibrating,sand down one or two halves of the shift linkage fibre 'til it makes a good fit.

[ShapeshipGalaxy]

Have you figured out a solution to this problem? I think I'm probably hearing the same noise from my 450 HO. I don't think it's the shift linkage vibrating though.

[huanchaco]

The 450 has it's bad and it's good days,with the hydraulic cam chain tensioner  the main culprit. It makes all kinds of ticking sounds depending on oil temperature and pressure.

You can confuse it with a slight exhaust leak or vibration. I changed the exhaust gasket ring and it solved part of the noise but you can still hear the cam chain under acceleration

While noise disappears when decelerating. I need to convert my tensioner to manual but have to make sure it works, 'cause there's no parts dealer in Peru. You have to

be patient and check/repair items one by one . Most people  switch parts for new ones hoping it goes away but that's rather expensive . I would buy a manual tensioner to start

with and once the chain noise is gone you can finally adress the other sounds.