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In my service manual the fluids are in one of the first chapters.
I Made a Decision - First ST1100
- Thread starter Horsehead
- Start date
Greetings from Mpls, MN! Congrats on your purchase! I'm new to this forum but have a long history of stalking the elusive STs since their inception. I couldn't afford one back in the day and after owning 30+ motorcycles, I finally got a 2001 with 64,000 miles. In decent shape and heavily farkled. I paid $1,800 and quickly put another $200 into fork seals and wheel bearings. It looks just like that beautiful low miler previously posted, but 20 feet farther away! So far I have already scored the service manual download from this forum and hope to repay the favor in the future. BTW, it came with a 4 gallon auxiliary fuel tank in place of the rear fender. Looks like i will have the option of buying fuel in a low market and sitting on it! Thanks for this forum! Jevers
congrats on the purchase of your ST 1100, enjoy the ride. i'm almost done with my ST 1100 and can't wait to put a few miles on it
OP
OP
Horsehead
Slow Pokin' the Southeast
Well, today was a busy day. Yesterday I ran up to town and got all the essentials for a complete fluid flush/replacement of key systems: brakes, clutch, coolant, and rear drive. I had my work cut out for me.
Armed with the Honda service manual and help from the internet, I was confident I could get it all done.
I began by removing the Tupperware. Holy mackerel. I have never owned a bike with a full faring before, let alone this much furniture! But I followed the step and kept all the fasteners separated in a little tackle box to keep them from becoming hopelessly disorganized. It made me chuckle how different the bike looks without all its “skin”… My kids came out at one point and asked why I was “taking apart” my brand new motorcycle. ha!
With everything off, I got my flashlight and looked around. To my great relief, I didn’t see any obvious issues anywhere. I decided to pull the air cleaner cover and check on the condition of the filter. It was pretty filthy.
Thankfully I have been scouring the forum since joining and seemed to remember seeing a K&N filter for sale. I grabbed my phone and checked. Somehow it was still available! $20 plus shipping? Yes please! I contacted The Cheese right away and told him I’d take it. One problem quickly solved.
Oddly enough, the next thing I decided to do was remove the CB radio system as I have no intention of using it and it’s huge and ugly. I figured now was as good a time as any as I had all the plastic off and could easily see where all the wiring went. After cutting off what felt like a couple dozen zip ties, and carefully pulling all the key components out of their respective routes, I had the majority of it out. All that was left was to remove the antenna, and that wasn’t very difficult either.
Now that the CB system was gone, I noticed there was no fluid in the sight glass of the clutch master cylinder. I pulled the cap and sure enough there was barely anything inside.
Crap. It must be going somewhere… Time to investigate. I wiped everything underneath clean. The bottom of the oil pan was filthy. Covered in an unknown fluid. I figured brake fluid from the clutch, but didn’t figure this much was possible. Turns out the oil filter was barely even finger tight and probably leaking like a sieve. It’s a wonder the engine oil level was right in the middle of the sight glass! So, while I was down there I changed the oil.
Once the oil was changed and the whole lower part of the crank case fully wiped down, I worked the clutch lever numerous times. Sure enough, the seal at the slave cylinder is shot. Note the fluid leaking from the bottom...
Hopped on my phone and ordered a seal kit. I’ll leave all the cosmetic bits off until it comes. Make my life a little easier.
Next on the list was to flush the brakes. With a little free child labor to operate the brake levers, that was relatively painless. Thank God.
Finally, as I was beginning to run out of energy and day light, I replaced the coolant using Ron Major’s method, which I discovered after a quick google search.
I didn’t get around to doing the rear drive gear oil replacement, but that’s ok. I have to wait for the other parts to come either way before I put her all back together.
I also ordered a set of new tires as the ones on it are badly squared off, and have 2012 date codes. I briefly considered using the tires that the gentleman I bought the bike from gave me, but the owner of the tire shop I’ve always worked with suggested that I just get new ones and try to sell the NOS ones if someone braver than me wants to try them. I don’t love throwing money at things unecessarily, but I feel like my sole contact with the pavement isn’t something where I should try to save a few dollars. So I have a new set of Dunlop Roadsmart 3s on the way. I hope to have the rest of the work done so I can ride up to the shop and have them installed next weekend.
Phew! What a day. Time to kick my feet up, grab a book, smoke my pipe and enjoy a couple IPAs.
Thanks everyone again for all your help, both in this thread and via the search feature of the forum. Always great to find a community of knowledgable folks.
Cannot wait to have everything all back together so I can hit the road!
Armed with the Honda service manual and help from the internet, I was confident I could get it all done.
I began by removing the Tupperware. Holy mackerel. I have never owned a bike with a full faring before, let alone this much furniture! But I followed the step and kept all the fasteners separated in a little tackle box to keep them from becoming hopelessly disorganized. It made me chuckle how different the bike looks without all its “skin”… My kids came out at one point and asked why I was “taking apart” my brand new motorcycle. ha!
With everything off, I got my flashlight and looked around. To my great relief, I didn’t see any obvious issues anywhere. I decided to pull the air cleaner cover and check on the condition of the filter. It was pretty filthy.
Thankfully I have been scouring the forum since joining and seemed to remember seeing a K&N filter for sale. I grabbed my phone and checked. Somehow it was still available! $20 plus shipping? Yes please! I contacted The Cheese right away and told him I’d take it. One problem quickly solved.
Oddly enough, the next thing I decided to do was remove the CB radio system as I have no intention of using it and it’s huge and ugly. I figured now was as good a time as any as I had all the plastic off and could easily see where all the wiring went. After cutting off what felt like a couple dozen zip ties, and carefully pulling all the key components out of their respective routes, I had the majority of it out. All that was left was to remove the antenna, and that wasn’t very difficult either.
Now that the CB system was gone, I noticed there was no fluid in the sight glass of the clutch master cylinder. I pulled the cap and sure enough there was barely anything inside.
Crap. It must be going somewhere… Time to investigate. I wiped everything underneath clean. The bottom of the oil pan was filthy. Covered in an unknown fluid. I figured brake fluid from the clutch, but didn’t figure this much was possible. Turns out the oil filter was barely even finger tight and probably leaking like a sieve. It’s a wonder the engine oil level was right in the middle of the sight glass! So, while I was down there I changed the oil.
Once the oil was changed and the whole lower part of the crank case fully wiped down, I worked the clutch lever numerous times. Sure enough, the seal at the slave cylinder is shot. Note the fluid leaking from the bottom...
Hopped on my phone and ordered a seal kit. I’ll leave all the cosmetic bits off until it comes. Make my life a little easier.
Next on the list was to flush the brakes. With a little free child labor to operate the brake levers, that was relatively painless. Thank God.
Finally, as I was beginning to run out of energy and day light, I replaced the coolant using Ron Major’s method, which I discovered after a quick google search.
I didn’t get around to doing the rear drive gear oil replacement, but that’s ok. I have to wait for the other parts to come either way before I put her all back together.
I also ordered a set of new tires as the ones on it are badly squared off, and have 2012 date codes. I briefly considered using the tires that the gentleman I bought the bike from gave me, but the owner of the tire shop I’ve always worked with suggested that I just get new ones and try to sell the NOS ones if someone braver than me wants to try them. I don’t love throwing money at things unecessarily, but I feel like my sole contact with the pavement isn’t something where I should try to save a few dollars. So I have a new set of Dunlop Roadsmart 3s on the way. I hope to have the rest of the work done so I can ride up to the shop and have them installed next weekend.
Phew! What a day. Time to kick my feet up, grab a book, smoke my pipe and enjoy a couple IPAs.
Thanks everyone again for all your help, both in this thread and via the search feature of the forum. Always great to find a community of knowledgable folks.
Cannot wait to have everything all back together so I can hit the road!
Uncle Phil
Site Supporter
Just a note - the manual says you need to remove the right exhaust header to get the clutch slave cylinder removed.
With a little careful, 'gentle' prying you can get enough clearance to get to that pesky bolt to remove it and replace it -
without removing the exhaust header.
With a little careful, 'gentle' prying you can get enough clearance to get to that pesky bolt to remove it and replace it -
without removing the exhaust header.
rwthomas1
Site Supporter
What Uncle Phil said. Remove the 4 chrome exhaust nuts (put penetrating oil on them NOW), order the copper exhaust seal rings too. The header pipes can be pulled down, and away from the engine enough to sneak a 1/4" drive socket/extension onto the slave cylinder bolt. I just went through this. I just purchased a complete slave cylinder rather than mess with rebuilding.
RT
RT
Uncle Phil
Site Supporter
I never had to remove the header - just a little gentle (emphasis on gentle) prying and you can get that bolt out.
But you will need a flat wrench to tighten back.
Good work. A couple small things to check that often get overlooked...
Check the bronze bushing in the clutch lever for wear, #2...
Check the overflow hose as it comes off the thermostat housing. It tends to crack about 1" from the connection at the housing.
Check the bronze bushing in the clutch lever for wear, #2...
Check the overflow hose as it comes off the thermostat housing. It tends to crack about 1" from the connection at the housing.
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carpdm
Site Supporter
Congrats! Beautiful looking bike! Enjoy every mile.
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Leaving them dry will probably accelerate wear of the bushing. I would suggest a light coat of water-proof grease.
OP
OP
Horsehead
Slow Pokin' the Southeast
Well, thanks again everyone for all the suggestions.
I got home from work this evening and had to walk past the bike to get in the house. I couldn't help but think "Hmm, I wonder if I can get that slave cylinder off to see if I just need a new one or if it's just seals..."
I've read all about having to undo the right side exhaust manifold, and even Uncle Phil's "gentle pressure." But I wanted to give it a go as is. So, armed with an 8mm box end wrench I got down to business. Surprisingly enough, it came right off without much fuss. The seal is definitely shot.
Headed inside to clean off the old gasket and consult the shop manual about disassembly.
Unfortunately the piston is good and stuck in the housing. The shop manual says to use compressed air in the banjo fitting port, but my compressor is at my parent's house. So, I opted for an overnight soak in some penetrating fluid.
Hopefully that will loosen things up a bit.
My goal is to have the slave cylinder in tip top shape so as soon as the seal kit comes I can get it installed. Time will tell!
I got home from work this evening and had to walk past the bike to get in the house. I couldn't help but think "Hmm, I wonder if I can get that slave cylinder off to see if I just need a new one or if it's just seals..."
I've read all about having to undo the right side exhaust manifold, and even Uncle Phil's "gentle pressure." But I wanted to give it a go as is. So, armed with an 8mm box end wrench I got down to business. Surprisingly enough, it came right off without much fuss. The seal is definitely shot.
Headed inside to clean off the old gasket and consult the shop manual about disassembly.
Unfortunately the piston is good and stuck in the housing. The shop manual says to use compressed air in the banjo fitting port, but my compressor is at my parent's house. So, I opted for an overnight soak in some penetrating fluid.
Hopefully that will loosen things up a bit.
My goal is to have the slave cylinder in tip top shape so as soon as the seal kit comes I can get it installed. Time will tell!
Thanks for the tip, I will put a little grease on it.
OP
OP
Horsehead
Slow Pokin' the Southeast
Well my overnight soak in penetrating liquid was successful. A little gentle persuasion from a non marring hammer got things moving and I was able to get some finger purchase on the piston and pull it out of the slave cylinder. All it took was a bit of 400 grit wet sand paper to knock the varnish off and a small pick to get some of the more difficult junk out of the corners. Overall it's not in bad shape at all. There a tiny bit of pitting in one or two spots, but definitely nothing excessive. The seal kit should be here in a day or two and we'll get her all back together and installed on the bike. Then she gets a new pair of shoes and we should be good to go!
OP
OP
Horsehead
Slow Pokin' the Southeast
Well this sucks... My seal kit came in yesterday from Brakecrafters. I was busy with other things so I didn't open it immediately. Got it out today and put my slave cylinder back together. Everything was gravy. Then I go to install it back on the bike and realize they didn't send me the right gasket that fits between the housing and the slave cylinder! Hell, they didn't send me a gasket at all... I don't know what it is supposed to be for, but it's a piece of 1/8th inch black plastic that doesn't even match the bolt pattern. Really frustrating as I was hoping to get everything out back together today. 
I called Brakecrafters up and they immediately recognized the error. Said apparently there are two different parts that honda called by the same name and the picker for my order screwed up and put in the wrong one. But he's getting the right gasket in the mail today.
Oh well... not much I can do but wait another week for the post office to get it here and then the time to get it all installed and all the plastic back on.
I called Brakecrafters up and they immediately recognized the error. Said apparently there are two different parts that honda called by the same name and the picker for my order screwed up and put in the wrong one. But he's getting the right gasket in the mail today.
Oh well... not much I can do but wait another week for the post office to get it here and then the time to get it all installed and all the plastic back on.
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rwthomas1
Site Supporter
I couldn't figure out what that thin gasket was actually for. The engine oil is sealed in by the seal on the clutch pushrod. The clutch fluid is sealed in by the seals in the slave cylinder. And that space the gasket is "sealing" has a relief at the lowest point so clutch fluid or oil would seep out if there was ever a leak. So what's the gasket for anyway? I put one in, because I ordered it. But damned if I could make sense of why it was there. If anything it's there to keep water from the front wheel from dribbling in? Thin layer of RTV would do the same.
RT
RT
OP
OP
Horsehead
Slow Pokin' the Southeast
I admit I haven't investigated.it very closely. Theyre mounted on the bottom side of the rear view mirrors, presumably with some sort of reinforcement? IDK...
OP
OP
Horsehead
Slow Pokin' the Southeast
That's a good point. I admit I hadn't thought much about it. Like you it was one of those "well there was a gasket there because I just had to go to town with a razor blade to get what's left of it off the housing." And "well it comes in the kit so I must need it"... Maybe it does nothing more than prevent the slave cylinder from adhering to the housing due to corrosion?
kiltman
Site Supporter
Yes they are special brackets. They bolt on via the lower bolt for the mirror assembly. One also has to cut out a portion of the mirror cover.. I weep when I have to do it. The brackets are no longer available