Creaking noise solved by cleaning and re-torquing the motor bolts (Sduro)

[Kaelidoz]

It's all in the title, if you experience creaking noise in the BB/motor area and if you've already check the cranks, pedals and chainring then the noise is probably simply coming from the motor bolts.

Just clean every threads in & out and torque the bolts at the correct Nm (22) with a bit of blue Loctite.

 

[Jackware]

Good grief - motor out completely!
Was there a reason you didn't leave the motor in situ and just take one bolt out at a time to clean and Loctite them?

 

[Beekeeper]

I guess you took the whole thing out to get rid of any debris / dust or particles. Loose mounting bolts was the issue with my Bosch also.

I’ve heard two theories why this happens and it can happen after very low mileage.

Firstly if the motor is mounted on a painted frame the paint compresses over time and this leads to movement in the motor,

Secondly, some motors have a foam strip between the frame and motor which is meant to stop vibration. This foam will compress over time leading to a rocking movement eventually which places even more stress on the foam strip.

The solution therefore is to keep an eye on any suspicious creaks from the motor area and check the torque of those bolts occasionally.

 

[Kaelidoz]

Yeah I definitely wanted to clean everything inside the frame, the motor, inside the bashguard... Especially the outer and inner threads, the points of contacts frame/motor. It's a really quick job to dismount the motor and put it back on this bike. It wasn't even that dirty tbh, no shows of corrosion or anything.

Yup I noticed compressed paint under the bolts heads.

 

[deksawyer]

Coincidentally, I've just removed the left side crank arm and the 2 torx bolts weren't fully nipped up. I never torqued them but just nipped them up a bit. The external allen bolts on the other side were fine.

Let's see if that stops the noise.

 

[CarbonMan]

It's all in the title, if you experience creaking noise in the BB/motor area and if you've already check the cranks, pedals and chainring then the noise is probably simply coming from the motor bolts.

Just clean every threads in & out and torque the bolts at the correct Nm (22) with a bit of blue Loctite.



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I have a Trek Domane+ HP that creaks only when I press on left pedal and only with my cycling shoes on. The sound seems to be coming from the right side of the motor/crank area, but I get that it can transfer through the structure to wherever it decides to go. I've tested with hiking shoes (soft rubber soles, no cleat etc) and there's no creak, and this is repeatable. I teflon-sprayed the bottom of the shoe and it helped a little but the creak returned, presumably after the lube wore off. I presume there's some vibration from the shoe moving on the pedal that causes the sound. I had previously checked mount bolts and they were all tight. I haven't thought to pull the motor out, maybe that's needed too? Also maybe pull, check and reinstall cranks, anything else? Thanks.