ഴ " do you make these stories up ?????

 ഴ the symbol - malayalam letter ' LLLA '

No. Only the names have been  changed to protect the innocent

Elliptical. For the last 3 - 4 months, the elliptical [ purchased 2009 ] has been making a faint ' thunk _ thunk _ thunk ' sound from the front assembly.
The sound starts after about a few minutes. Never worsens.
I started to do research on elliptical machines - new. To replace the current machine, w/ a slightly lower model and type, was around         $ 1 800. The Sole E 55 cost $ 1 800 plus delivery and set up , all in 22 hundred.

Wisely, I checked on a service call from the Treadmill Factory. First hour $ 175 and next hours were $ 125 each. Well, the online form       [ the only way to get  quote ] asked for serial number, purchase date and original receipt number. 
I went searching. Yepper, had the instruction manual and receipt in a box labelled ' Sole Ellip '. Thus, I completed the form.

Near the back of the manual, was a maintenance guide [ never seen before in this house ]. I quote " any noise and vibration is likely caused by a dirty rear rail. Yes, even though that you think the front mechanism is making the noise. Seriously, 80 % of service calls for noise can be traced to the rear rail "

Sure. Didn't believe it !

But. I went to look, in case. There was a line of gray / black on the rollers that run on the rear rail.
EXCEPT, the gray wasn't dust. The gray line was a layer of dust and grease about as thick as my fingrnail. The manual said to use alcohol and a cloth [ maybe a plastic scrapper, guess they knew about my machine ] and remove any build up.
As well, I discovered a nick in the  left inside rail. I did a bang up job and cleaned the rollers and rails.

However, in the box ' Sole Ellip ' was a tube of lubricating grease '.
Huh, where does that go ? Yes, to lubricate the rear rail. Oh, so you need to lube the machine. Wow !

I lubed the rail. I took hard wax and filled in the rail nick.

Saturday, I used the elliptical as normal. Yes, of course, much quieter. There was still a slight sound. Back to the manual.
" after cleaning, any noise can be caused by a mis - levelled machine. Use the tools included in the setup pack and adjust the four corners w/ the wrench. "
Aha. That s what those tools were for in the ' Sole Ellip ' box !!!

Thats our house, new discoveries every minute !