Well this is not how I expected today to go.

"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa) 10/01/2017 at 22:43 • Filed to: None

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Woke up this morning all ready for a scenic cruise I was invited on that winds through the flint hills to a breakfast nook to be joined by dozens of other bikers. Not long after we set off we were just about to go down Thunder Road, one of the closest things to a nice road we have around here, and suddenly the bike started sputtering. I limped it into the nearest town and drained the bowls in case there was some water in the gas. No dice. Bought some new spark plugs, still wouldn’t rev over 6000rpm. Hour and a half limping it home at its new astounding top speed of 40 ish mph and I started digging into it. Popped the seat off and stuck a multimeter to the stator wiring harness and every single value was wildy out of spec. In a CX the stator charges the battery as well as being responsible for ignition timing. Go figure, they fail super often. Go figure x2, it’s inside the rear cover of the engine and requires engine removal to diagnose. Go figure x3, taking the rear cover off means you’re committing to replacing a TON of gaskets if it’s never been done before. Cool.

With the help of a fellow CX500 owner that happened to live in Wichita we got the engine out in a half hour and started digging in to it.

First bugger! The mechanical seal on the water pump is completely toast. This sits in the back of the impeller and keeps coolant from getting inside the engine cover and mingling with oil, and vice-versa. It’s a multi-part mechanical seal.

So at this point the cover is off and we’re swapping over the stator and stuff. I go to autozone to try to find some way to rig the main cover seal back together after it tore into several pieces when we took it off. When I got back I was shown this.

So... that’s my timing chain tensioner. It should look nothing like that. The tensioner bows out depending on the position of that lever with the cotter pin in it. The part of the tensioner that is held by the lever broke and it spoinged from a ( shape to a | shape and isn’t tensioning the chain anyways. The chain, by the way, is also at the end of its useful life.

To recap:

Water pump cover seal

water pump mechanical seal

rear main cover gasket

timing chain

timing tensioner

tacho cable (radiator has to be off to replace, might as well)

stator

Total of $300 in parts. In the meantime my girlfriend is dropping me off and picking me up from work in the Miata. Yay.

DipodomysDeserti > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/01/2017 at 22:59

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I had a friend with an old water cooled Honda. He convinced me to stick with old air cooled Hondas.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/01/2017 at 23:30

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buy an old water cooled bike they said, it will be fun they said.

Air cooled>water cooled. (unless its modern sports bikes)

Birddog > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/01/2017 at 23:43

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Damn! That went south quick.

TheHondaBro > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/01/2017 at 23:59

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You need to stop owning vehicles.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 10/02/2017 at 00:14

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I think most dual sports are water cooled and those are the toughest SOBs in the bike world. I know the DRZ400, KLR650 and XR650R are, anyways.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > DipodomysDeserti 10/02/2017 at 00:15

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In general old hondas are a pile of work just waiting to be done. I had one from the 80s and I replaced a couple of things every season. It’s nearly 40 years old, it happens.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > TheHondaBro 10/02/2017 at 00:19

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if I were to buy a Camry it’d probably do what my friend’s did where the injector stuck on and washed the oil out of the piston rings and trashed the whole motor.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Birddog 10/02/2017 at 00:19

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Indeed.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 10/02/2017 at 00:21

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how familiar are you with harley davidson exactly

PyramidHat > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/02/2017 at 00:30

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Without reading the story, I thought “You got pissed off and took your bike apart...”. Then I read the story...

DipodomysDeserti > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/02/2017 at 00:33

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Oh I know, I split DD duty on a ‘73 CL450 for a while. However, I would never have to take the engine out for anything, and mine is pretty custom. Mine is still purring like a kitten despite it being an “exotic” Honda.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > PyramidHat 10/02/2017 at 00:34

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Being fair I was pretty pissed when I got the bike apart.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/02/2017 at 00:45

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yea they are. But most of them are more modern.

(also dual sport guys usually come from motocross so they take a little better care of their bikes)

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/02/2017 at 00:45

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not much. Ive rode a Buell before.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 10/02/2017 at 00:57

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I wouldn’t say they’re more modern....Most of them still use carburetors and haven’t changed much since the 80s.

And I disagree wholeheartedly that they get taken better care of - they’re usually ridden hard off road and flogged as commuter bikes. I’d argue the opposite - they live the hardest lives and are not really well maintained since low maintenance is a selling point.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > DipodomysDeserti 10/02/2017 at 01:07

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I think the mistake he made is buying a relatively rare honda. The CX line wasn’t exactly a best seller and the model never really had the bugs worked out of it like the CB line(s) did.

Could be worse though....

It could be a CX500 TURBO!

DipodomysDeserti > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/02/2017 at 01:31

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There was a CX500 turbo with low miles for sale on my local CL. I was veeerry tempted.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/02/2017 at 02:45

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i meant compared to the 70's style of bikes.

the few people i know with them take religious care of them. but then one of them is a good amateur motocross rider who rebuilds his motor almost twice a year in his race bike

XJDano > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/02/2017 at 06:56

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How many miles on that?

Where are you going to get the parts?

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > XJDano 10/02/2017 at 08:26

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47k. Parts are coming from David Silver Spares and eBay, where appropriate.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 10/02/2017 at 08:27

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They are living proof that aircooled vs watercooled has fuckall to do with reliability

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/02/2017 at 12:54

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i guess. i know a few harley guys who have not had any issues with their bikes.

Ive dealt with internal coolant leaks or water cooled atv’s and its a pain in the butt. So i bought an air cooled suzuki for my bike