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SuzukiSavage.com
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1622887460 Message started by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:04:19 |
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Title: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:04:19 I got a call from a local Savage owner who wanted some repairs done. The bike had been sitting outside for a couple of years and needed repairs to get it going again. The battery needed replacement, the fuel tank was better than I suspected but it had a little rust and a lot of stinky fuel, the carb would need cleaning.......and the engine was coated in oil from a head plug leak. It also would need tires - but we agreed to get it running first. The owner is not mechanically inclined and bought the bike used - they had it to a Honda dealer once to get some "tuneup" work done. As I pushed the bike to the trailer I heard the belt making some noise that wasn't normal - it sounded like the belt teeth were rubbing on something. The first thing the bike got was a bath to clean off the dirt and oil, then it got a thorough "blow dry" and was pushed into the sun to dry. I started on the carb cleaning......it had pretty typical gunk in the float bowl. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:05:44 The juts were equally as cruddy. The slide and/or needle was glued into position and I soaked the carb with penetrating oil to get things softened up....eventually it came free. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:07:13 As the carb parts were in the ultrasonic cleaner - I started on the work to replace the leaky head plug. As I removed the breather hose.....I saw this steel wool sticking out of the breather pipe. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:08:52 When I got the head cover off it became obvious what had happened - they put the head cover on without the oil screen. The steel wool evidently as an attempt to fix the issue without removing the head cover again. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:11:56 For those member who don't know what the oil screen looks like - here is what the "proper" factory screen looks like. (I had a used one and put in in the proper place for the photo - this is before the head cover was cleaned up). |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:13:41 The next surprise was the head plug. The last "mechanic" that was inside this engine attempted to "seal" the headplug with mass quantities of sealant. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:14:13 Another sealant shot. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:14:57 Here is the head plug = there was so much sealant it ran down the side of the cam chain housing. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:15:46 All cleaned up with a new "Verslagen" head plug installed. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:17:50 The head cover was replaced and the valves were adjusted - and while the Suzukibond sealant was setting up I decided to find out why the belt was making noise. I discovered the pulley was loose. The pulley splines were damaged, and the shaft has a little wear as well. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:19:31 I put on a good used pulley that fit much better on the splined shaft. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:20:51 Red thread locker and a new locking tab with "3" corners bent up.....it should stay in place now! |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/05/21 at 03:23:43 The battery is installed and everything but the fuel tank and seat are back on the bike. The remaining work to be done is cleaning the fuel tank and petcock, installing new fuel line, and firing up the bike and adjusting the idle air/fuel screw. After the engine is fired up and running - then an oil and filter change. Once the bike is running and proven to be worthy - it will get new tires and the front brake fluid will be changed. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Ruttly on 06/05/21 at 11:47:01 Super Dave’s Savage Restoration Don’t forget the before and after pics Bring another back to life , that’s a good hobby |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Gary_in_NJ on 06/05/21 at 18:21:22 Thumbs up Dave. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Armen on 06/06/21 at 04:47:51 Great work, Dave! |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by LANCER on 06/06/21 at 13:34:13 Dave is open for business ! |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by rong on 06/06/21 at 13:40:42 Great job Dave! You've helped me many times with your suggestions. This brings up a point. My bike works great now. But as time goes on, I'm sure there will be mechanical issues that I wouldn't feel comfortable fixing on my own. Wishing you or some mechanical person in my area would be available so that I could pay them to do the repairs. I live east of the San Francisco Bay area. As indicated, my bike is running great right now. Ron G |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by DragBikeMike on 06/06/21 at 15:36:16 Looks to me like the "Local Savage Owner" was very fortunate. You're a good man Dave. What sort of solution do you use in that ultrasonic cleaner? Do you have any pics of the carb parts after you were done cleaning them? I've been thinking about getting one of those cleaning contraptions and would like to see what sort of job they do. That steel wool plug in the breather nipple was innovative. As tightly packed as it was, I suspect it did a pretty good job of blocking oil mist (and air too). Do you think it might have aggravated the oil leak? Was the wear confined to the drive pulley or was there significant wear on the output shaft too? What you've done so far sure looks nice. In a few days, she will be purring like a kitten. :) |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/06/21 at 18:45:15 Thank for your kind remarks......my idea on this thread is to show newer members what they might expect when they buy a bike that has not been well maintained......or was repaired previously by a person that didn't understand the Savage. (This particular bike was bought used and ended up sitting for a few years). I got the engine and carb all buttoned up and started on the fuel tank. The bike had been sitting outside under a cover for many, many years - and the tank actually looked better than I expected. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/06/21 at 18:56:57 I began the tank cleaning by rinsing out the old gas with a pint of gasoline. I removed the petcock and made a small plate and rubber gasket to seal the petcock hole. I put in a pint of gas and shook, then removed the petcock plate and drained. I repeated this a couple of times. I then put the plate back on an poured in about a pint of Simple Green and a handful of metal stud drywall screws. I shook and shook until I was tired....then shook some more. I then added about a quart of water to the Simple Green and shook some more. I then removed the plate and drained out the cleaner - but left the screws inside. (Drywall screws have sharp edges and work far better than nuts and bolts). Then I added 2 gallons of Evaporust and set the tank out in the hot sun. Evey half hour I would shake the tank to coat the parts of the tank that were not submerged. The Evaporust is good for many tank cleanings.....I think I have cleaned 2 tanks with this Evaporust previously. After about 6 hours I dumped the Evaporust back into the plastic jugs it came in - and I used a magnet tool to retrieve the drywall screws out of the tank. I then dumped in a quart of E85 to flush out the Evaporust. They say to use water to rinse - however I always get flash rust when rinsing with water - the E85 doesn't flash rust. The first rinse came out looking like Pork Gravy....I repeated the rinsing until the E85 came out clear. Then I repeated rinsing with gasoline and drained it into a clean stainless steel pan, and I kept rinsing until the gas came out clear without any rust bits. The Evaporust loosens the rust particles - but it does not dissolve them.....so there are a lot of rust flakes to get flushed out. I didn't keep track - but I likely rinsed 5 or 6 times before the flakes were gone. You can re-use the gas for flushing as long as you don't put any of the rust flakes back into the tank. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/06/21 at 18:57:56 This is what the tank looked like all cleaned up. (My phone isn't great at taking photos through a filler neck). |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/06/21 at 19:02:20 The Raptor petcock had a broken filter screen, and the screens were very soft to the touch. Ethanol fuel (E10) is hard on Nylon.....and some motorcycle tanks are made from Nylon and they get soft and well when E10 fuel is used. I would not be surprised if these filters are made from it (Nylon has the same milky white color as the filters). NOTE: The filters are stained orangy from the stale fuel that was in the tank - the new filters are off white. I put in a new Raptor petcock before I put the tank back on the bike. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/06/21 at 19:13:32 Today I fired the bike up and it ran great. I took it for a lap around the block and then when I got the bike warmed up I adjusted the idle mixture screw and set the idle speed. When I shut the bike off and looked things over I got concerned, as I saw a bit of oil/water at the right rear head stud cavity next to the carb. The oil/water was not there before the ride. After studying it for a bit I realized that the oil/water was left over from when I cleaned the bike a couple of weeks ago. There is a cavity around that stud and the oil/water emulsion that had been in that cavity for 2 weeks was now coming out as the engine boiled the water off. (This is exactly why I never wash a bike and put it away wet.....I always ride my bikes after I wash them to get the water baked out of their hiding places! I cleaned off the oil/water and went for a couple more rides - no more messes anywhere and the Versy head plug cured the leak. The owner is coming to pick up the bike tomorrow. The bike needs new tires as the front tire was made in 2003 and the back tire was made in 2006. The tires are OK for a few small rides around town - I will get tires/tubes ordered and put them on in a couple of weeks (I wanted to be sure the bike would run before I put tires on). Overall the bike is in good shape - it just suffered from a botched head plug repair previously, and sat too long with fuel in the tank. I think that is all behind this bike - the owner will likely take much better care of the bike from now on! For the record......I spent about 20 hours on these repairs! |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by verslagen1 on 06/06/21 at 20:12:17 013A3720313D26203B333E21520 wrote:
I hope you charged an apple pie an hour 8-) |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by DragBikeMike on 06/06/21 at 23:47:46 That fuel tank came out beautiful Dave. The owner is really lucky to get such fine work. Thanks for sharing the project and the pics. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Tocsik on 06/07/21 at 11:18:47 Strong work, Master. I need a Dave near me! |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Dave on 06/10/21 at 06:02:16 My ultasonic cleaner is from Habor Freight. It works well on any parts that fit into it - for the carb body I need to roll it around and submerge different sides to get everything clean. It has a heater that can get the cleaner really hot - that helps dissolve some crud. I have used it quit a bit and it seems durable - however it is a bit hard to neatly pour out the cleaner and get it into another container, as the rounded ends seem to make it nearly impossible to pour without spilling it everywhere! I avoid using any flammable cleaners - however if you don't use the heater I suppose you could use mineral spirits or some similar fluid reasonably safely.....outside! I never use anything like gasoline, acetone or lacquer thinner in it. Water based cleaners work really well and can be diluted significantly.....25:1 can still work a a cleaner. The majority of the water based cleaning products are caustic and they can etch aluminum. For the cleaners like Purple Power or Simple Green they work well on carbs that are filthy and perhaps a bit corroded - don't let the aluminum parts sit in the fluid for hours or days and you likely won't notice any issues. If you have a relatively new carb that still has the bright finish and slightly iridescent sheen on the surface - be aware the cleaner will ruin that. The Krud Kutter Parts Washer cleaner is supposed to be safe on aluminum and may be better suited for aluminum - don't use the heat function or the stuff turns into a worthless gel! For jets it still is a good idea to poke something through the little holes to make sure they are clean - the tiny hole in the pilot jets seems to need a bit of prodding to get the gum out of the jet. Guitar strings work well for this - be sure there is no burr on the end that could scratch the jet. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Edub on 06/10/21 at 23:18:18 Fantastic work, Dave! I’ve seen far too many horror stories, and experienced a few at the hands of dealers myself, even worse than what you discovered here. This is exactly why I do as much work myself as is possible. You’re doing a great service for this owner, and I hope they understand it. Keep up the great work! |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by DragBikeMike on 06/10/21 at 23:41:04 Watch out for that "oil eater" stuff. It will eat your skin off. Years ago, I used it to clean a brake master cylinder. It turned that master cylinder into junk, and my fingers into a burnt offering. Practically dissolved the master cylinder. The simple green is pretty tame. That's an excellent product. I wonder how Pinesol would work in the ultrasonic cleaner? I think I'm gonna search around for one of those contraptions. Thanks for the info Dave. |
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Title: Re: Bike Blunders.....A Repair Tale. Post by Gus on 06/14/21 at 19:06:56 Nice blow by blow Dave. With good pointers too. |
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