Bad piston rings question repair or replace

[twigg]

I have had more trouble with the cooling system than with any other part of the bike.

 

When I bought my '86 it wasn't holding coolant. The plastic pipe between the water pump and the thermostat housing was holed from a fall over. A common problem I believe.

 

The I needed to remove one of the cylinder head joints. They are made of cheese and it broke apart. They aren't cheap, but they are available and each one has three o-rings ... replaced.

 

The drain valve was completely shot. Ebay replaced that and I replaced the o-ring. The cylinder plugs were leaking ... replaced.

 

Waterpump housing gasket and o-ring ... replaced.

 

Radiator appears good. It was severely blocked but eventually it all flushed out well. The motor was run with a flushing compound, then reverse flushed for 30 minutes. It appears to now be clean.

 

So ... we went riding and it over heated. Steam and coolant emerged from the right hand side and I suspected the top hose. Very little coolant was lost.

 

Then on one ride I noticed that the coolant in the expansion tank was boiling. That should not happen .... ever.

 

Replacing the radiator cap fixed it completely. $7, job done.

 

The earlier steam was caused by the expansion tank boiling and pushing coolant through the overflow pipe and right onto the rear cylinders. It's fixed now and working as intended.

 

There has been an issue with the motor getting too hot for the fan to deal with in traffic. That was caused by the idle hanging way too high. When the ambient temp is over 100F, and a hot bike is idling at 3000rpm, then the cooling system cannot disperse heat fast enough, and it will just get hotter.

 

Fixing the idle was a time-consuming job involving a good deal of welding on the collector, and a second attempt at replacing the butterfly shaft seals.

 

I think it is finally fixed. In any event, it is now idling correctly even when hot. Under normal conditions the temperature gauge never gets very high and the fan cycles correctly in traffic.

 

Fingers crossed.

[Condor]

My old '83 used to run right at red line when I first bought it. It ran a little cooler when I finally figured out that the drain valve was turned 'on', by-passing the thermostat. The coolant ran thru the radiator to fast and it wasn't allowing it to transfer heat. With the drain valve 'off' it ran a couple of needle widths lower. I also added some 'water wetter' to the coolant and that helped a little more. During the cooler times the guage needle would run about horizontal, and the only time it climbed toward the red was on 100+ deg days. I also removed the chin faring to allow air to get to the fins on the bottom of the engine. Those fins can really get cruddy over the years and will not allow any heat transfer. It helps to keep the bottom of the pan clean.

[bilko1]

I also removed the chin faring to allow air to get to the fins on the bottom of the engine. .

What are you refuring to "chin faring"?

Bilko

[Condor]

What are you refuring to "chin faring"?

Bilko

 

It fits at the base of the radiator on some models. The early style was chromed and looked like a snow plow, the later were made out of plastic with a grid in the center to allow air flow.

[dingy]

What are you refuring to "chin faring"?

Bilko

 

 

You don't want it.

 

They are like a sail, slow down all the extra VMax power.

 

Picture attached is of snaggletooth's bike with the chin.

 

Gary

[Yammer Dan]

My 84 always ran high on the guage. As long as it stays out of the red I wouldn't worry. Lot of slow traffic mine would creep into the red but mostly stayed under the red line. Can't say the same for the Tach....

[Flyinfool]

As far as the chin goes, I have not noticed any difference whether it is on or off as far as cooling goes. What I did notice was the hole in the cooling system that was made by a stone that would have been stopped by the chin had it been there.

[Condor]

As far as the chin goes, I have not noticed any difference whether it is on or off as far as cooling goes. What I did notice was the hole in the cooling system that was made by a stone that would have been stopped by the chin had it been there.

 

Need to know... How does a chin fairing protect the cooling system???

[van avery]

Thanks for the suggestions.

My bike does not have a chin.

I cleaned the bottom of the engine this morning. Took for a ride. Still running at the high end. The Fan comes on as the bike hits the red on temperature gauge. Checked with non contact thermometer at the top of the radiator and got 210 F. Also checked bottom of the radiator was about 188 F.

What Temp range should the engine normally run at?

The owners manual show the fan coming on at 221F +/- 37F and then cutting off at 208F. So sound like I'm OK as the fan is coming on at the low end and the red line on Temp is starting at about 210F.

[Flyinfool]

Need to know... How does a chin fairing protect the cooling system???

 

The kicked up stone punctured the plastic elbow that goes from the water pump to the thermostat. The chin will protect against that.

[Snaggletooth]

The reason I installed a lower chin ('86 model) on my '84 was to protect the spin on oil filter after installing the adaptor.

 

Now THAT is exposed to road debris big time.

 

But I have run with and without the chin in 100 degree weather and have seen no real difference in the engine temp (by the gauge, which IMHO, is not more than a rough guestimate at it's best.)

 

Mike

[Snaggletooth]

You don't want it.

 

They are like a sail, slow down all the extra VMax power.

 

 

Gary

 

And by the way...........this is the only chin I've seen on a Max big enough the slow it down.