2010 430

Took off the oil pan and pump from my ’83 CB550SC. This is what I saw in one of the parts (it’s not the strainer, it’s not the pump itself, it’s not oil tube, I think you’ll recognize the part).

It was almost totally gunked up with some rust-colored goo. No idea what it was. But I’m pretty sure it would be at least hard, if not totally impossibly for oil to pass through effectively.

Any idea what this stuff could be and whether or not it might be a sign of something to worry about?

fyi, this motor was sitting for several years after having its oil drained. I did find a single small fleck of metal stuck in the oil strainer. Not sure if those tidbits will help diagnosis.

Thanks!

Looks like you had some water in there somehow. You can get some condensation in a motor, particularly if it’s stored with no oil in it, depending where you keep it. If the temps drop low in the storage room condensation can definitely happen.

For long term storage, put fresh oil in the motor, then put a piece of tape over the air intake and the crankcase breather.

In the photo.. Where do tubes ‘A’ and ‘B’ go, and how can I clean them out..  I can not pass cleaner or air through them.

The bike had sat for 8 or more years due to me having a stroke.  Now time to get back to riding…If I can get her running again. I wish I could afford to just send them somewhere and have them done.. But I simply dont have the $$$. So, must do it my self.

A is the choke circuit. It sucks gas when the choke is one. B is the pilot jet, it sucks gas at idle and below 1/4 throttle. If either of these are clogged the bike will barely run or start. They are essential to proper running. Just give me carb cleaning article a read – you can definitely do it yourself very cheaply.

1955 2 stroke. Fresh fuel. New plugs. Carb and air filter cleaned. Points, condenser, and coils are very old but have no miles. Timing checked (no spark advance on this bike). Spark seems very good. In neutral bike starts and revs good. When I try to accelerate in gear, bike lurches terribly.
Any advice on where to look?

On a bike that old it could really be anything. What model?

Is it lurching because the throttle sticks or because it has a light flywheel?

Odd as it sounds – what condition is the chain in? – Commonly overlooked.

The cycle is a 1955 Adler MB200. The throttle is not sticking. The chain was removed, cleaned, oiled, and reinstalled and properly tensioned. In neutral the bike revs fine. By lurching, I mean that when I accelerate, it feels like the engine totally stops firing for a fraction of a second, then resumes power right away, causing the bike to jolt. This happens every couple of seconds until I get up to about 20-30 MPH, when the jolting stops. I hope that I am explaining it sufficiently.

Those are sweeeeeet bikes!    Lucky!

You could have an electrical issue. But you are riding a 50 year old air cooled 2 stroke, so it could be anything!! Haha. Sounds like a lose electrical connection to me. Pull every connection, clean them, lube them, and put them back together. And double check every wire for damage.

my xr650 2000 stalls out if i rev it from idle 2or3 times had new needle and seat put in that stopped    petrol  pissing out the overflow but hasnt stopped  the stalling could it be the jets

Sounds like a flooding issue to me. What is your float height set at?

Hello Evan,

I was recently replacing the top bolt on the front fork of my 1975 Honda CB550K. The old one was pretty rusty, and I was replacing it with a new one. I ordered the part offwww.shspowersports.com and it is the correct OEM part. Problem is that the one I took off is threaded on the bottom/inside, and the one I ordered is hollow there. On the old one, there is a rod that runs down through the spring, and connects the top bolt with a nut/cap/piece that threads right into the bolt.  With the replacement part, it is impossible to thread it in, as it is hollow.

I called the parts guy at SHS and he thinks someone might have put in a different type of spring years ago…but that is curious to me, because it threads perfectly into what seems to be the correct top bolt.

Any idea what I have going on here, and what the solution might be if I want to replace that rusty top fork bolt?The bolt is seen here on the schematic as #37, but I don’t think I see the rod there. Also attached is a picture of the replacement bolt.

Thanks,
mcrouser

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fork cap bolt that was threaded on the inside. They normally just pop right off and are smooth on the inside like the ones you are holding in the photos.

I’m trying to remember the last set of CB forks I pulled apart. They definitely did not have an interior thread, I’ve never seen that, but they might have had a special washer on the top of the road which sits against the face of the cap (preventing the rod from sitting all the way into the hollow hole).

I would think you’re OK as is, but I’ll do a little searching and see what I can find. I’ll try and locate some of my photos from a recent fork disassembly.

I have a Honda CB650C, about 30,000 miles it just started burning oil when hot, I have had for 3 years and put on about 7000 miles, oil changed about every 1500 miles, any sugestions

Hey Cliff – Burning oil is a very typical symptom of any motor with some miles on it. In general it doesn’t mean impending doom, just that the the motor has some wear. It means you’ll need to do a top end job in the near future.

I would wait until the motor is burning more then 1 quart per thousand miles before you get too concerned.

Good day sir, just a general motrocycle question for you. I have a 74 Jawa 350 that has never been driven, and just assembled a few years ago. It was running fine till I was stupid and mixed the 30:1 two stroke in the tank.. Now this is the only year that has the oil tank to do the two stroke mix for you and I didnt know that at the time. So after I realized, I drained the tank, put in new fuel, and tried to kick it over, but my battery had no juice so I put that on for a few hours(4-5hrs) still no luck. Now I will admit that I am not mechanically minded by any sense of the word but all I can guess is that either my battery is completly dead, my carb is gummed up with oil, or both. If , from this wandering story, can give me any hints it would be Greatly appreciated..Also may look into a bike maintanance course so I dont have to keep bother folks like you lol. Thanks for your time.

I bet your spark plug is fouled. If you had oil premixed in the gas and the oil pump on you likely just had too much oil and the spark plug got saturated. Pull the plug and put in a new one, I bet you’ll be good to go.

When riding a 2 stroke its always a good idea to keep a spark spark plug (or two) under the seat. Even in perfect conditions it’s still common for the plug to foul once in a while.

Hi evan,

So I believe im having some problems with my carbs. When I accelerate a little harder the bike seems to gargle, then pick up. Would this be a mixture problem? or possibly the floats being all wacky? haha im not too sure.

I just looked at all the plugs and cylinders 1 and 2 are a nice golden brown while 3 and 4 are sooty. that makes me believe its the mixture on those two carbs.

If you could let me know what you think and what I can do to fix this problem, it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Pat

It could just be sticky floats allowing the bowls to fill up too high. Pretty common problem that results with the cylinders being flooded with fuel.

Has it always run like that?

Time to yank the carbs and have a look!