Why I do my OWN maintenance!

[GeoBandit]

I bought my first B12 about a month ago.  It ran 100%. for 10 days.  97 model. 17K miles.  Previous owner was anal.  He even had the box some little accessories came in.  His garage had everything label.  He did the small maintenance (chain, oil etc.) but for the big (his words) jobs (valves etc.) he took it in.  Had paperwork.  Thing is showroom.  I have owned Yamaha 11's and v-max., goldwings, Honda cb750's.  And a variety of dirt, dual sport bikes.  Have always done the maint.  myself.  But this one I am a little concerned about.  I did not own it long enough to know what it is suppose to sound like or run like.

A noise developed on the lower left engine, at first thought I thought it was the alternator bearing.  Sounds like pennies bouncing around a tin can.  Not piston slap, lower end bearing or anything in that area.  But like when a water pump is about to go.  Plus it does not like to run less than 3000 rpm.  This make city driving bad.  Either it is stalling or people look at me like I am A-hole.  The choke works but seams to reach a point as it get turned back where it just is off 100% or 75% on.  It take (on cool mornings 40's) about 15 miles to warm up.  Everyone says it is known to be cold blooded, but 15 miles.  Plus the valves are load, nothing like the other big fours I owned.  I am waiting for gaskets to come in to tear into it.  Any thoughts.  When it is warm and running above 4k hang on.  OH one other thing.  Is there a mercury switch that kills the engine in an emergency, like laying it down?  The few times I had to brake hard the engine died.  My Yamaha had a switch that would kill the engine.  But you had to lay on the brakes, this one, and a two figure hard brake will kill it.

[Bob Holland]

I didn't see that you found the parts, sorry.

[Red01]

GB, no mercury switch. CA models (at least on the 2G's) have a tip-over switch that is supposed to keep fuel from exiting the vent hose in a spill, but it's sensitive only to extreme left/right leans, not fore/aft.

It is normal for this motor to have more valve noise than any of the bikes you listed since it has more valves than the air cooled bikes you listed and is based on a racing engine, where a noisey valve train is tolerable.

Is it possible your noise is coming from the chain? A chain going bad will start making noise as it wraps around the front sprocket.

You other issue sounds like a carb issue. If the bike sat for an extended period, the gas could have gone bad and gummed up the tiny passages.

Since you're familiar with wrenching, check simple things first (plugs, air filter) - just because the guy was meticulous, doesn't mean the shop(s) he dealt with were.

[GeoBandit]

That is good to know about the valves.  I was planning on adjusting them soon but they sound just as described by yall.  But I do know the most troublesome noise is not valve, chain related.  It is present when setting in the drive way in neutral, 1st, 2nd, etc.  It does not change pitch with the clutch lever in or out, in gear or out.  It is a light ratttle with a certain freq.  As the rpm increases so the freq.  If the throttle is twisted quickly and let of quickly (reved up and down) the Rattle changes from a rat tat tat to a rattttttattttttattttt.  And as the engine deacerates it turns into a rat/buzz like the windscreen (before I put friction tape [USN aircraft tape] at the matting surface).  At first I thought it was a bearing under the left cover, or from some area under a cover on the left.  The shop mech, thought it might be the alternator.  But from the left side there is no way for the alternator to make that noise.  The gear drive is on the right.  I had to rebuild my 02 F150 complete brake system fore and aft.  Last bit of parts are due in today.  Then I can start on the B12.  

The fuel is not bad.  It has had four tanks run through it, he always put Stable in the fuel.  Could be sediment, I suppose in the tank.  But I think it has something to do with the choke/choke cable.  I have a manual, but it does not realy address the choke all that well.

If you ever want a good manual get the Haynes UK model, it is hard cover and in more detail, but you have to know metric and speek Brit.  Silencer = muffler for example.

So any other area to look this week end would be great.  All gaskets have to be ordered.  The only thing they ride in this area is Harleys and four wheelers.

[Red01]

Well, the alternator does have two bearings and one of them is at the left end of the alternator. Sounds can also travel thru gears and down shafts and end up tricking you where they are actually coming from... and the alternator is driven off the clutch basket which is mated to the mainshaft. I wouldn't necessarily rule out alterator bearings just because of which side of the bike it's on.

[GeoBandit]

Got my truck back on the road now its Bandit time; sort of.  Been two weeks and still waiting on side gaskets.  Does anyone know of a mail order and/or internet site where the parts can be ordered.  It would have to be quicker than this shop.

[Bob Holland]

http://www.bikebandit.com/

[Red01]

Bike Bandit is good - and they give a kickback to the site.
Ron Ayers is just as fast, if not faster, and cheaper - but doesn't give us a kickback.

[GeoBandit]

Thanks Ron Ayers is dramaticly lower in price.  But I have dificulting locating the gasket on both sites.  Some are easy to locate some I have not.  But will keep trying and they are certainly a help.  What ever the problem is I should be able to find the part.

Question:  Why does a alternator cost 500 to 700 (two sites). Is it first bought by the US Airforce then resold.  Because they are the only ones that I know of that buy parts at 1000% above the production cost.  Muffler $400.????

[Red01]

Alternator gaskets? I haven't disassembled my alternator, but I have had it out of the bike. There's no gasket where the alternator goes into the trans, just an O-ring. I can't imagine any need for a gasket and don't see one on the parts fiche.

[Red01]

Question:  Why does a alternator cost 500 to 700 (two sites). Is it first bought by the US Airforce then resold.  Because they are the only ones that I know of that buy parts at 1000% above the production cost.  Muffler $400.????

One word. Volume.

Car alternators are usually common thru several makes and models, so they are literally making millions of them. Bike alternators are often not only make unique, but model unique, so their numbers are only in the thousands, and the need for a replacement being infrequent, makes them far rarer, therefore the price is much higher. Internal workings will be fairly common electrical parts, so a specialty shop that reworks alternators can probably fix your m/c alternator WAY cheaper than just buying a replacement (also contributing to the high cost of a replacement).

As for the prices the Air Force pays, while a scattered few exposed by the media ARE outlandish, if you look at parts prices commercial air carriers pay for their parts, the USAF isn't paying any more or any less. A stainless steel crash axe found on any Boeing commercial airliner costs $800 (or did last time I looked, which was 10 years ago). You wouldn't want one either, unless you want to hack thru an airplane skin - they aren't very sharp. Another thing that drives the price of aircraft parts sky-high is the certification process they have to go thru.

[B6Matt]

I shutter to think what might have happened if that sucker fell down the cam chain galley.

My mechanic dropped a bolt into an oil galley when he was adjusting the valves.  He had to drop the pan to get it out.