Island Hopper
New member
Near the beginning of last month I was out on a ride with Renov8 and I noticed a little steam coming out in the exhaust stream.... This lead me to believe that I had a weeping head gasket or water pump... So I pulled things apart...
Water pump seals still working but I rebuilt it seems as I had it apart...
No water in the lobe pool...
So I pulled the head to investigate further..
Here lies the problem, a small tear in the gaskets inner sealing band....
Because the bike is nearing 85,000 km {45,000 km since the last valve job} I decided to send the head in for some valve work... Shouldn't take too long right?
Something that should of taken 10 to 15 days has now been over a month.... First off I sent my head to the best machine shop and had my dealership forward the valve stem seals to that shop..... When the shop pulled the old valves out they showed quite a bit of wear and recommended replacement.... This was the first week... I then had my dealer order in four new valves + guides and forward them to the machine shop..... Towards the end of the second week the machine shop phones me to say they can't reassemble until they get the stem seals.... So I get in contact with the bike shop and ask if they shipped the stem seals to which the parts guy says "yes ten days ago, but he will check with the shipping girl." A little while later I get a sheepish phone call from the shipping department saying they lost my stem seals and will have to order another set... I'm starting to get a little steamed because this is not the first or second time they have screwed up with my parts as to where it's going to cost me extra..... About ten days later my machine shop receives the parts on a Friday and gets things together in time to ship at the beginning of the next week {last Monday} by bus... I go over by ferry to check the bus depo and no package arrives.... I wait till last Friday and when nothing shows up I started phoning around... I find that the machine shop had by accident shipped my cyl head to Port Hardy and it's been sitting there for 3 or 4 days with my name, address and phone # on the box and nobody thought to call me.... So after arranging things the part was put back on the bus and shipped to Port Mcneill where I finally was able to pick it up last Saturday....
This has been the worst service I have recieved yet and I was thoroughly steamed..... No wonder the whole country is falling apart, customer service doesn't exist any more.....
I spent a good part of last weekend cleaning parts and reassembling....
Head with fresh Valves {old ones beside it}... Also a new inlet rocker arm bearing combo to be installed for extra security.....
The worst part of the job is cleaning away the old gasket.....
Piston and cylinder mating surface all clean
Head ready to go on with some gaskacinch for extra adhesion
Head in place + valve train installed
Valve cover and waterpump glued in place... After that I Set the valves and let it sit for four days to allow the sealant to cure...
I threw the carb back on and assembled the rest of the bike this evening and then started it up.... It started up but was flooding like crazy and spitting fuel out of the tailpipe... I then figured I'd have to tear the carb apart and fix a stuck float.... I tried tapping the side of the carb and this is when I noticed a couple hoses hooked up backwards.... In my haste assembling I had ran the vacuum suction hose to the carb and the fuel pickup line to the port on the side of the engine.... In effect puting raw fuel directly into the engine and bypassing the carb... I reversed the hoses and she now purrs like a kitten....
All is well...
Water pump seals still working but I rebuilt it seems as I had it apart...
No water in the lobe pool...
So I pulled the head to investigate further..
Here lies the problem, a small tear in the gaskets inner sealing band....
Because the bike is nearing 85,000 km {45,000 km since the last valve job} I decided to send the head in for some valve work... Shouldn't take too long right?
Something that should of taken 10 to 15 days has now been over a month.... First off I sent my head to the best machine shop and had my dealership forward the valve stem seals to that shop..... When the shop pulled the old valves out they showed quite a bit of wear and recommended replacement.... This was the first week... I then had my dealer order in four new valves + guides and forward them to the machine shop..... Towards the end of the second week the machine shop phones me to say they can't reassemble until they get the stem seals.... So I get in contact with the bike shop and ask if they shipped the stem seals to which the parts guy says "yes ten days ago, but he will check with the shipping girl." A little while later I get a sheepish phone call from the shipping department saying they lost my stem seals and will have to order another set... I'm starting to get a little steamed because this is not the first or second time they have screwed up with my parts as to where it's going to cost me extra..... About ten days later my machine shop receives the parts on a Friday and gets things together in time to ship at the beginning of the next week {last Monday} by bus... I go over by ferry to check the bus depo and no package arrives.... I wait till last Friday and when nothing shows up I started phoning around... I find that the machine shop had by accident shipped my cyl head to Port Hardy and it's been sitting there for 3 or 4 days with my name, address and phone # on the box and nobody thought to call me.... So after arranging things the part was put back on the bus and shipped to Port Mcneill where I finally was able to pick it up last Saturday....
This has been the worst service I have recieved yet and I was thoroughly steamed..... No wonder the whole country is falling apart, customer service doesn't exist any more.....
I spent a good part of last weekend cleaning parts and reassembling....
Head with fresh Valves {old ones beside it}... Also a new inlet rocker arm bearing combo to be installed for extra security.....
The worst part of the job is cleaning away the old gasket.....
Piston and cylinder mating surface all clean
Head ready to go on with some gaskacinch for extra adhesion
Head in place + valve train installed
Valve cover and waterpump glued in place... After that I Set the valves and let it sit for four days to allow the sealant to cure...
I threw the carb back on and assembled the rest of the bike this evening and then started it up.... It started up but was flooding like crazy and spitting fuel out of the tailpipe... I then figured I'd have to tear the carb apart and fix a stuck float.... I tried tapping the side of the carb and this is when I noticed a couple hoses hooked up backwards.... In my haste assembling I had ran the vacuum suction hose to the carb and the fuel pickup line to the port on the side of the engine.... In effect puting raw fuel directly into the engine and bypassing the carb... I reversed the hoses and she now purrs like a kitten....
All is well...
