wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
I discovered this some weeks ago on the floor of the garage
I also found a coating of grunge on the side of the bike. This is after making an initial cleanup effort:
Tracing possible paths of drippage, I discovered a pool under the starter:
Some may recall my starter issues last fall, wherein it was determined that I had a bad starter which drew an incredible load from the battery, and I got a replacement from another forum member. Apparently the o-ring isn't quite up to snuff, or I don't know crap about putting it back together.
I've been putting this off for a while: I actually found oil on the bike back on Thanksgiving, and decided it was easier to clean than to fix.
Well, decided to go ahead and fix today. Having been down to the starter a couple of times already, I knew what would be involved, and was not looking forward to it. Tank off, tool tray out, fuel rail off, air box out, throttle bodies off, then you can access the starter. When the starter was out, this is what I found (most of the liquid is coolant, from removing the lines feeding the fast idle control):
You can see the oil grunge at the edges, though, and the film on the surface.
I took out the starter, removed the o-ring and put on the o-ring from my original starter, and coated it with some grease rather than just oiling it as I did before. If it fails to seal, I'll go find a new o-ring.
Running bike to starter in hand, one hour. Starter reinstalled to running bike, one hour fifteen. Yes, I've done this before. And I did find the other end of that hose on the bottom of the air box this time. Before, I squeezed my little giant hand into the tiny little space and eventually got it reattached to the airbox. This time, I followed it down and for some reason was not stumped as I'd been last time. It's a vent, clamped to the sidestand mount. Pulling it up makes it a lot easier to put back together, then you just drop it down into place as the airbox goes back in. Saved me about 20 minutes compared to previous efforts! I really cannot explain why before I thought that hose disappeared into the frame and I'd never find the end of it.
I also found a coating of grunge on the side of the bike. This is after making an initial cleanup effort:
Tracing possible paths of drippage, I discovered a pool under the starter:
Some may recall my starter issues last fall, wherein it was determined that I had a bad starter which drew an incredible load from the battery, and I got a replacement from another forum member. Apparently the o-ring isn't quite up to snuff, or I don't know crap about putting it back together.
I've been putting this off for a while: I actually found oil on the bike back on Thanksgiving, and decided it was easier to clean than to fix.
Well, decided to go ahead and fix today. Having been down to the starter a couple of times already, I knew what would be involved, and was not looking forward to it. Tank off, tool tray out, fuel rail off, air box out, throttle bodies off, then you can access the starter. When the starter was out, this is what I found (most of the liquid is coolant, from removing the lines feeding the fast idle control):
You can see the oil grunge at the edges, though, and the film on the surface.
I took out the starter, removed the o-ring and put on the o-ring from my original starter, and coated it with some grease rather than just oiling it as I did before. If it fails to seal, I'll go find a new o-ring.
Running bike to starter in hand, one hour. Starter reinstalled to running bike, one hour fifteen. Yes, I've done this before. And I did find the other end of that hose on the bottom of the air box this time. Before, I squeezed my little giant hand into the tiny little space and eventually got it reattached to the airbox. This time, I followed it down and for some reason was not stumped as I'd been last time. It's a vent, clamped to the sidestand mount. Pulling it up makes it a lot easier to put back together, then you just drop it down into place as the airbox goes back in. Saved me about 20 minutes compared to previous efforts! I really cannot explain why before I thought that hose disappeared into the frame and I'd never find the end of it.
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