My bike's problems: Oil leaks, out of tune carbs, etc.

[bamarama]

Okay, I'm looking for some verification/pointers on some problems with my bike, so here it goes:

1. Fuel petcock frozen. Remedy: I've got the rebuild kit, just need to install.

2. Ground is stained white under my front wheel where I park at night. Could this be the fork oil leaking out? Remedy: Rebuild front forks, new seals, raise the bike back up (lower forks in tripletree)?

3. Entire engine is covered in layer of oil from top (at least where you can see through the fairing) to the bottom, and all the way around. There's no noticeable drip anywhere, but the oil level is slowly decreasing. Remedy: Get angry, then buy *insert yalls suggestions for oil seals*, and then install them *insert yalls suggestions for most likely culprits*. Should I degrease the engine and run it for an hour to try and pinpoint the leak, or is this a tell tale sign of a common problem?

4. Gassy smell after riding hard and sometimes a slight hissing sound. Possibly vent hose clogged up. Maybe something to do with the petcock? Remedy: check vent hose and unclog if needed. i dunno after that.

5. Shifting still clunky feeling (even after clutch cable replacement) and going from second to first with speeds 5+ mph often results in loud gear stripping noises. Remedy: I have no idea. I have a shift kit to install, will that help?

6. Quick deceleration (engine braking) from high revs results in popping from my exhaust. Powerband seems very abrupt (semi-unresponsive to very responsive within 100 rpms or so). Sometimes I think I hear a slight metal tinging sound when my engine is running at idle. Remedy: No clue here either. I'm sure the carbs need to be synced up and adjusted.

That's it for now. If I can get these solved I may be able to get rid of the feeling that my bike is just gonna die on me one of these days. Are these problems fixable myself or should I take to a mechanic? Help with any of these would be much appreciated. Thanks yall.

bama

[The CyberPoet]

Re: My bike's problems: Oil leaks, out of tune carbs, etc.

2. Ground is stained white under my front wheel where I park at night. Could this be the fork oil leaking out? Remedy: Rebuild front forks, new seals, raise the bike back up (lower forks in tripletree)?

Run your fingers over the stain. Is it oily, greasy, neither? It could be from brake fluid, or front wheel bearing grease, or fork oil, or simply unrelated to the bike at all.

3. Entire engine is covered in layer of oil from top (at least where you can see through the fairing) to the bottom, and all the way around. There's no noticeable drip anywhere, but the oil level is slowly decreasing. Remedy: Get angry, then buy *insert yalls suggestions for oil seals*, and then install them *insert yalls suggestions for most likely culprits*. Should I degrease the engine and run it for an hour to try and pinpoint the leak, or is this a tell tale sign of a common problem?

I would never suggest running your engine in one spot for an hour at a time -- good way to overheat it really badly. Clean it, then run it at idle for five minutes, then at 5k RPM for about 3 minutes. You should be able to spot the leak source at this point. Having the fairings off when you do this will probably help.

4. Gassy smell after riding hard and sometimes a slight hissing sound. Possibly vent hose clogged up. Maybe something to do with the petcock? Remedy: check vent hose and unclog if needed. i dunno after that.

Check the inside of the tank to see if someone recoated it previously with some form of tank sealant (stock tanks look like raw steel). Could be the drains are blocked by a sealant that was misapplied. Vent hose gets replaced with just standard fuel line from the auto parts store.

5. Shifting still clunky feeling (even after clutch cable replacement) and going from second to first with speeds 5+ mph often results in loud gear stripping noises. Remedy: I have no idea. I have a shift kit to install, will that help?

Shift harder/faster. Unlike a car, a motorcycle doesn't use any form of syncro-mesh system; this means the MC wants a very hard, fast snap to slap the gears together. If it still is clunky, grinding, there may be another issue at fault (such as a bad rotator mechanism, bad shifter-linkage length, or bad bearings for the shifter).

6. Quick deceleration (engine braking) from high revs results in popping from my exhaust. Powerband seems very abrupt (semi-unresponsive to very responsive within 100 rpms or so). Sometimes I think I hear a slight metal tinging sound when my engine is running at idle. Remedy: No clue here either. I'm sure the carbs need to be synced up and adjusted.

This one I'd suggest cleaning/rebuilding the carbs yourself, then taking it with the fairings already stripped off to a dyno-equipped shop. Pops on decel are a lean idle circuit, unresponsive throttle means that other settings are also off. The exhaust analyzer on the dyno will tell an experience dyno operator exactly what it needs to have changed/adjusted and in what amounts.

Good Luck!
=-= The CyberPoet

[paradoxmd]

cyber, your knowledge is unreal. are you part computer?

[The CyberPoet]

cyber, your knowledge is unreal. are you part computer?

Only the hard drive...

Just been doing this for enough years to know. If you keep riding, you'll probably come to know about as much over time.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[bamarama]

Thanks for all the great info CP. It looks like I might have to hold off on alot of this till summer though, as the combination of living in a condo and trying to finish up my masters thesis so I can leave for my job doesn't give me much free time or any workspace (so carb rebuild is definitely out of the question for right now). Will it hurt my bike to continue running lean and with a slight oil leak for another several months? I'm going to have to at least rebuild the front forks I think, cause the looseness and the fact that the tree bottoms out on top of the fork tubes (previous owner lowered it) with any significant bump scares me sometimes. I can at least pinpoint the location of the oil leak though, and if it appears bad enough I may have to grin and bare it and take it into a shop. I dunno, the next free weekend I get (hopefully within the next month), I'm gonna put in the 1100 shock I got, raise the front back up to stock height, change the oil/filter, and put in the shift kit. I'll clean the engine at the same time and see if i can pinpoint the leak. Then on some other future free weekend (hopefully within two months) I'll look into rebuilding the front forks and getting those back to a non-scary state. If any of yall see something that is extremely urgent and needs to be taken care of immediately (either by me or shop), please let me know, as I'm new to the whole motorcycle game.

thanks again, bama

[The CyberPoet]

I live in a condo as well (next to USF :P )
The carb rebuild is easy to do indoors. Personally, I cheat -- I order a spare set off eBay and rebuild those then just swap 'em out.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[bamarama]

I live in a condo as well (next to USF :P )
The carb rebuild is easy to do indoors. Personally, I cheat -- I order a spare set off eBay and rebuild those then just swap 'em out.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

hahahaha. When I suggest to my wife that I need to a)order anything else for my bike or b)bring stuff inside to work on it, I get some very nasty looks which basically mean "If you do that, you ain't gettin any for a couple of months." I'd rather my bike run poor than myself run poor, if you know what I mean .

[Black_peter]

Bama

Leaking fork seals will show them selves in two ways:

High tide line.
Extra oil on the fork sliders will attact dirt and dust
showing a clear "ring" of crud at the max travel point.

Bake dust cakeing.
Fork oil on the calipers causes the brake dust to
cake up on the calipers.

Dirt on the fender.
Fork oil dripping on the fender will collect dirt.

To my knowlage niether fork oil nor brake fluid will show white. (although oily residue in combonation with water will be whiteish. Has it been misty/rainy??)

Popping on overrun (engine braking)
Can be normal.. Unburned gas can fire off in
the hot exhaust pipe popping..

Gassy smell after hard riding.
Running rich, or stuck float.
Hissing can be caused by fuel boiling in the carbs
or intake boots. Blocked vent can cause gas to
be forced into the carbs by expansion in the tank.
Gas vapor boiling in the exhaust can also hiss.

Hard 2nd to 1st..
1st gear is always a bit problematic in all the bike I have owned. I don't useually go into 1st untill fully stopped.

NOTE:
**If you don't know when your fork seal have been changed they may need to be changed.
I plan to rewite the replacement how-to.
(I've done them 5 times.. dont ask why!!!)

**On a 95 you are also due for new brake lines and
a caliper rebuild..
Bike bandit will sell you just the seals
(4 for each caliper + the o-ring)
While Ron Ayers sells a kit including the dust seals.
(these you may not need to change.
Bike bandit per part were more expensive but only buying the
parts I needed came out cheaper in the end..

**Buy your parts a little at a time.
I know what it's like to have a budget!
Don't discount the stealership for the parts.
They might not be off the mark price wise and in
the example of caliper seals you can buy one caliper's
worth at a time and you won't pay shipping..
I have used after market fork seals and found them
to be high quality (local non-dealer bike shop $20 a pair) I'll dig up the brand if you want.
(I was OK using them as this shop rebuilds several
pairs of fork a week... If the seals sucked they wouldn't use them.. The shop has an A+ rep!)

** You can rebuild your carbs in a parking lot..
(ask md86 !!) but any clean, level surface will work. I have a few tips on that too if you like.
I rebuild mine in my nasty tin shed in january..

[bamarama]

Thanks for the help BP. The stain has been there for many weeks (and i honestly don't remember if it was there before I got the bike, although I have a feeling it wasn't), so it's been rained on and whatnot. As far as the signs of a fork oil leak, I haven't seen any, although that could mean that there's no longer any oil (or very little) left in the forks if that's what dumped under the front wheel. I could imagine that the oil is gone, cause my front end feels like it has no damping whatsoever. If I hit the brakes hard or hit a bump at speed, the front end dips harshly and/or slams the tree onto the dust seals on top of the fork tubes (which were cracked and busted looking when I got the bike). Although I know very little about bikes, I have a feeling the front end is supposed to feel more substantial and stiff than it is right now.

As far as local stores go, the only place I know of is a motorcycle repair place that carries many parts. However the guy there is a jackass and I don't really enjoy giving him my business. Granted I don't know much, but he had an opinion on everything I told him I needed (everytime the opposite of what I said). I was getting stuff for an oil change and a new clutch cable and the pressure lube thing. I told him I needed a new drain plug washer. He told me I didn't need one and that they were reusable. When I told him I wanted one anyway, he claimed they didn't have any (which I found hard to believe considering all the other shit they had). I was just gonna get my oil from auto zone or something, but he asked if I needed any oil. I told him I was planning on getting it from the auto store, and he said their oil was crap and I needed to get good quality motorcycle oil. So I said ok (to save me a trip across town) and asked for synthetic. He says "you don't want to put synthetic in there", then proceeds to pull out a container of synthetic oil. WTF? I'd rather order online than give that jackass any more of my business.

[bamarama]

Another question:

Do they sell rebuild kits? Or do you just have to know what individual parts to get and whanot? It'd be much easier to just have a kit with all the seals that needed to be replaced than to have to pick and choose and risk not having the right part once you got the thing disassembled (especially when you have a single afternoon on the weekend to get it done and have it driveable by the next day).

Thanks, bama

[Black_peter]

Well that sucks.. (about the jackass)

I got my Kat at the local dirtbike shop.
They also sell a few used street bikes as well as service them. They are really great guys.
Super nice and helpful! I guess I'm lucky.

If you take off the fork cap (22mm)
and shine a light in there you can see the fork oil.
Mine was leaking a long time and I still had 90% of the oil left, so your's would have to have leaked for
a year (?!?) for there to be no oil left..

I had to prioritize the repairs on the Kat..
I went:
Brakes
Carbs
Valves
Suspension..

Keep in touch Bama..
I know what it's like to be;
budget/time/space challenged!

[bamarama]

I'll take a look at the fork oil this weekend to see if there's any in there. It's possible it has been leaking for over a year and that there was very little oil in tehre when I bought it (2 months ago). It was my first bike purchase, so I didn't really know all the stuff I should inspect (but my next bike purchase I'll be like a hawk).

Prioritizing is good, and since my bike is running well and getting around 50 mpg (with stage 1 jet kit), carbs and fine tuning the engine will prob have to wait. The front suspension dive and complete lack of rear brake pad pushes the suspension and brakes to the top of my list. I am going to try and at least track down the oil leak though. Once I'm done with this goddamn thesis and graduate school, I get my weekends back. Yay!

[The CyberPoet]

I told him I needed a new drain plug washer. He told me I didn't need one and that they were reusable. When I told him I wanted one anyway, he claimed they didn't have any (which I found hard to believe considering all the other shiate they had).

Local auto parts store, or any honda & toyota dealer. Many honda's and smaller toyota's use the same 14mm washer a Kat would.

If you visit fumotovalve.com, you can find a drain valve that replaces the stock drain plug for about $25, and never worry about the drain washer, stripping threads, etc. again.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[bamarama]

I told him I needed a new drain plug washer. He told me I didn't need one and that they were reusable. When I told him I wanted one anyway, he claimed they didn't have any (which I found hard to believe considering all the other shiate they had).

Local auto parts store, or any honda & toyota dealer. Many honda's and smaller toyota's use the same 14mm washer a Kat would.

If you visit fumotovalve.com, you can find a drain valve that replaces the stock drain plug for about $25, and never worry about the drain washer, stripping threads, etc. again.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

Are those track legal? Cause I'm looking into doing some track stuff once I get back to alabama.

[The CyberPoet]

Are those track legal? Cause I'm looking into doing some track stuff once I get back to alabama.

Depends on the track and the mod. Generally, most tracks require a special drain bolt capable of being safety-wired into place (PartsUnlimited carries them) -- and then that they be safety-wired, but I can't see why the fumoto would wouldn't be permissible (esp. if you safety-wired the latch), since they are latched rather than just straight-turn petcocks. Check with the track authorities for a final ruling.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet