docw1
Bill Rankin
I just had my experience with Larry, It is an educational experience but also an experience in humility. Once he gets hold of your bike, he'll finds things that you should have done, but didn't, or things that you did do, but incorrectly. It started after I took my 150,000- mile bike out after the winter. I had done some maintenance but on the first ride, it seemed to me the clutch was not engaging until the lever was almost all the way out. It didn't feel like it used to. It was still rideable, however.
It just so happened that I had an opportunity to be in the Tucson area, so I contacted him to see if he could check out the bike. His first suspicion of the clutch was that is was the clutch slave cylinder. I wasn't sure, but went ahead and bought the parts to bring with me. Over the phone, he had me go through checking out the SMC. Its seemed to work as I've read on her about how it works. It moved a couple MM and the rear wheel did stop when I pressed it in. However, I did have to recently replace the rear disk because its fell under the acceptable thickness. I already had a new SMC on hand, due to the problems I've read here, and also brought it with me.
So, I rode the 1500 miles to his place and my wife drove the "beer wagon". His first inspection, just after I drove up in his driveway showed that the bike was excessivly hot. I knew it ran hot, but had done so for a while, and, from reading about this on this forum, I thought it was just something to deal with. The other thing he found right away is that the left front wheel spacer was installed backwards, and the front tire has some stange wear on it. I had rebuilt the forks over the winter, so this was on me. When he was able to do a more detailed inspection, he also found the upper fork pinch bolts were situated a little to high on the fork tube, clamping down on the threads, but, more importantly, the lower pinch bolts were not tightened, other oversight on my part.
Before I left, I had bled the clutch fluid. I ran several bowlfuls through it. When I arrived at his house, there was practically no fluid in the clutch reservoir! With these three things, it's amazing the bike even made it.
When we got into it, Larry has the tools and experience to do this difficult job without too much swearing. The slave cylinder was not working properly, but didn't look as bad as the one in a previous post. The clutch reservoir had some fine particles in it, as did the brake reservoir. Keeping these scrupulously clean is key to preventing these systems from breaking down. The SMC has a very tiny hole that can get pugged up easily. The slave cylinder is a place where these particulates can accumulate until they gum things up. He also replaced the SMC and we bled all the air out of the lines. He found the rear brake reservoir was almost empty and had drawn down the diaphragm and over-stretched it. He could fit it back in, but it wouldn't vent like it should (something that I would have missed). Fortunately he had another diaphragm available, which we put in. The clutch works well now and the brakes also work, and now I can spin the rear wheel with my foot so it goes through several rotations instead of the 1 to 1 1/2 previously.
Not content to stop there, he wanted to address the heat. He balanced the starter valves, so they were practically even, having to go back and forth, as adjusting one would affect the others. The starter valves are often thought of as affecting only the idle, but, as I understand it, if they are not balanced, then the next step will be off and so on up the line, so it's important to get it all even at the outset. After that, he looked at the PAIR valves. This is not a Honda procedure, and it is possible to mess it up, but, from what we found, at 150,000 miles, it should be a routine procedure. . They were coated with a dark thick organic crud which took a strong solvent and lots of scrubbing (be careful, there is a fine screen inside) to clean and verify that the screens move as they should. The PAIR system is thought of as an emission control system, but if it's not putting oxygen into the exhaust, apparently the O2 sensor reading will be off and this will change the mixture and affect the temperature of the exhaust.
So, the next day I took it on a 600-mile test ride around Arizona. No more hot seat (after i turned off the seat heater!), and I think it it getting much better MPG, but it's hard to say just yet, as I was in a much higher elevation than that in which I usually ride.
A few other things he found: the coolant reservoir bottle was discolored due to heat, and had some small cracks, so far, not dripping, as well as it wasn't fully in its place. It needs replacing. Some very small leaks from coolant hoses- not enough to drip on the floor yet. Also a front fender bolt was missing. Must have fallen out, as I didn't have any left over after maintenance. He replaced the front tire with one I had brought, after he trimmed off all the little rubber mold spikes (hence the name OCD Garage)
He has plenty of old failed parts to show how bad things can get, and many stories about dealer mechanics and obstinate owners. Also knows a wealth of details that would probably escape tyro mechanics such as myself. Things like which way to orient the crush washers on banjo bolts. A great educational and humbling experience. I hope I can keep us the attention to detail that he exhibits and keep the bike running well.
It just so happened that I had an opportunity to be in the Tucson area, so I contacted him to see if he could check out the bike. His first suspicion of the clutch was that is was the clutch slave cylinder. I wasn't sure, but went ahead and bought the parts to bring with me. Over the phone, he had me go through checking out the SMC. Its seemed to work as I've read on her about how it works. It moved a couple MM and the rear wheel did stop when I pressed it in. However, I did have to recently replace the rear disk because its fell under the acceptable thickness. I already had a new SMC on hand, due to the problems I've read here, and also brought it with me.
So, I rode the 1500 miles to his place and my wife drove the "beer wagon". His first inspection, just after I drove up in his driveway showed that the bike was excessivly hot. I knew it ran hot, but had done so for a while, and, from reading about this on this forum, I thought it was just something to deal with. The other thing he found right away is that the left front wheel spacer was installed backwards, and the front tire has some stange wear on it. I had rebuilt the forks over the winter, so this was on me. When he was able to do a more detailed inspection, he also found the upper fork pinch bolts were situated a little to high on the fork tube, clamping down on the threads, but, more importantly, the lower pinch bolts were not tightened, other oversight on my part.
Before I left, I had bled the clutch fluid. I ran several bowlfuls through it. When I arrived at his house, there was practically no fluid in the clutch reservoir! With these three things, it's amazing the bike even made it.
When we got into it, Larry has the tools and experience to do this difficult job without too much swearing. The slave cylinder was not working properly, but didn't look as bad as the one in a previous post. The clutch reservoir had some fine particles in it, as did the brake reservoir. Keeping these scrupulously clean is key to preventing these systems from breaking down. The SMC has a very tiny hole that can get pugged up easily. The slave cylinder is a place where these particulates can accumulate until they gum things up. He also replaced the SMC and we bled all the air out of the lines. He found the rear brake reservoir was almost empty and had drawn down the diaphragm and over-stretched it. He could fit it back in, but it wouldn't vent like it should (something that I would have missed). Fortunately he had another diaphragm available, which we put in. The clutch works well now and the brakes also work, and now I can spin the rear wheel with my foot so it goes through several rotations instead of the 1 to 1 1/2 previously.
Not content to stop there, he wanted to address the heat. He balanced the starter valves, so they were practically even, having to go back and forth, as adjusting one would affect the others. The starter valves are often thought of as affecting only the idle, but, as I understand it, if they are not balanced, then the next step will be off and so on up the line, so it's important to get it all even at the outset. After that, he looked at the PAIR valves. This is not a Honda procedure, and it is possible to mess it up, but, from what we found, at 150,000 miles, it should be a routine procedure. . They were coated with a dark thick organic crud which took a strong solvent and lots of scrubbing (be careful, there is a fine screen inside) to clean and verify that the screens move as they should. The PAIR system is thought of as an emission control system, but if it's not putting oxygen into the exhaust, apparently the O2 sensor reading will be off and this will change the mixture and affect the temperature of the exhaust.
So, the next day I took it on a 600-mile test ride around Arizona. No more hot seat (after i turned off the seat heater!), and I think it it getting much better MPG, but it's hard to say just yet, as I was in a much higher elevation than that in which I usually ride.
A few other things he found: the coolant reservoir bottle was discolored due to heat, and had some small cracks, so far, not dripping, as well as it wasn't fully in its place. It needs replacing. Some very small leaks from coolant hoses- not enough to drip on the floor yet. Also a front fender bolt was missing. Must have fallen out, as I didn't have any left over after maintenance. He replaced the front tire with one I had brought, after he trimmed off all the little rubber mold spikes (hence the name OCD Garage)
He has plenty of old failed parts to show how bad things can get, and many stories about dealer mechanics and obstinate owners. Also knows a wealth of details that would probably escape tyro mechanics such as myself. Things like which way to orient the crush washers on banjo bolts. A great educational and humbling experience. I hope I can keep us the attention to detail that he exhibits and keep the bike running well.
