Gold Member

[sos]

It is cold outside tonight, so I was just going to hook up the starter solenoid that I modified yesterday. It worked well, so I though I would throw the exhaust on and run the fuel lines. That was easy enough, so I filled the gas tank with the gas that I had. Not very much, just enough to cover the reserve screen. I checked for leaks and had a small leak at the tank drain plug. I had put a new copper washer on there so I tightened it up a bit.

Then I figured I might as well see if the fuel pump was working. Check. Well what the hell. Hit the starter button and she started turning over. And over. And over. And over. And ... Over. Nothing. Not even a hint of a fire.

I double checked the discharge line of the fuel pump and there was fuel there. I had already checked spark and double checked timing, so as long as I had compression it should start.

Hit the inlet plenum with a touch of starter fluid and Wahoo!!! She fired, but only for a second. I'm sure you know the drill. So after a couple of times she did pick up on her own. This set of carbs actually has a fast idle, which is nice. But then it looked like this.



I've started enough bikes to know that this is to be expected, but it kept going and going and going and going... I was begining to think it got parked because of a blown head gasket. Not the end of the world, but disappointing at least.

There was a lot of smoke coming from all over the motor. I had sprayed enough PB Blaster and engine degreaser on there to keep the smoke signals going all night, so it was tough to figure out what, if anything, was leaking. On top of that it would stall out as soon as I let the choke open. But I kept going and the motor started to smooth out. The smoke out of the exhaust slowly started to thin out and the temperature gauge finally started to move off the cold peg. It took awhile but the idle smoothed out and the throttle response got better. After the temperature gauge started to get close to NOT I could open the choke all the way and still get good response. I did need to turn the idle adjustment screw in about a turn and a half, but now the idle sits about 1000 rpm with the choke fully open. The smoke stopped out of the exhaust and around the motor, then started around the radiator.

I think the radiator just got hot enough to steam the stuff off because I could not find a leak anywhere. In any case I wanted to watch the radiator fan pick up, but I started running out of gas before the temperature got high enough. There is a short list of issues I came away with though.

Fuel tank drain still weeping a bit. I tightened it up and it seemed to stop, but I'll check in the morning.

The left side exhaust header has a rust hole right where the muffler mounts up. Maybe weld a new piece on???

I had a strange fluid leaking from the bottom of the motor.

Hard to see, but there is a very small amount of rust colored fluid that dripped from a 1/8" hole just behind the water pump drain plug. A weep hole maybe???

I think that is it. Maybe tomorrow I can get the bike hot again, check the radiator fan operation, sync the carbs and then drain the oil. I'm pretty happy so far though.

[Whiskerfish]

Most excellent!! Yes that is a weep hole for the water pump. You might get lucky and it might seal up with use but odds are you will be doing a water pump change out before long.

[sos]

Most excellent!! Yes that is a weep hole for the water pump. You might get lucky and it might seal up with use but odds are you will be doing a water pump change out before long.

Cool. I couldn't think of another reason it would be there, but this is the right place to ask If I need to do a water pump, that is fine. I still need to change the hoses anyway.

Thanks for all your help and all the tech articles!!!

[Cookie]

Mine tend to smoke a lot when fired up from sitting. A lot of guys do some muffler welding, pretty common. Yup, you might need a pump but i'd run it a bit first.

[sos]

Mine tend to smoke a lot when fired up from sitting. A lot of guys do some muffler welding, pretty common. Yup, you might need a pump but i'd run it a bit first.

I will run it in before fixing anything like a water pump. Sometimes we fix what isn't broken.

I checked the drain plug on the gas tank and either it is sealed or the fuel level is too low to leak out. I do have some clean coolant leaking from the bottom bolt on the water pump cover (well forward of the weep hole). I can't tell exactly where it is coming from, but it is probably the lower hose. I was pretty rough with it getting it off to move the radiator when I did the timing belts. Definitely a replacement item regardless.

I did forget to mention that the starter clutch was slipping once it warmed up a bit, but then seemed to catch once the motor was hot. I've seen this a lot on the Honda twins and the fix there is pretty simple. Is this common on the GLs? I'll see how it does after it runs awhile, but I better get the kick start lever that is missing in the mean time.

[Whiskerfish]

If the starter clutch is just intermittent a lot of times it can be fixed with a good case flush. Drain a quart of oil and drop in a quart of ATF while you are running it in the shop. Get a few hours on that and swap it out with cheapo oil for a few hours then your good oil it should respond.

[Roady]

Those radiator hose can be a challenge to R&R.

The easiest way to get it out of the way is to first remove the two bolts on the lower housing. Then you can just push it all out of the way or easily undo the clamp and remove the housing from the hose.



I named it "Lower Hose Manifold" in this pic. Honda calls it "Water Pump Cap" in their drawings. If you remove it you can inspect the front of the water pump and test it for jigglin'.

That pic is from the Front Engine Renewal Project thread.

[sos]

Those radiator hose can be a challenge to R&R.

The easiest way to get it out of the way is to first remove the two bolts on the lower housing. Then you can just push it all out of the way or easily undo the clamp and remove the housing from the hose.



I named it "Lower Hose Manifold" in this pic. Honda calls it "Water Pump Cap" in their drawings. If you remove it you can inspect the front of the water pump and test it for jigglin'.

That pic is from the Front Engine Renewal Project thread.

What can I say? Probably the most detailed and helpful picture I have come across!

[sos]

The carb sync helped smooth the motor out a lot. Definitely worth the time. And I got the motor up to full operating temperature and watched the fan come on. It took quite awhile to get up to temperature, but it was about 12F or 15F out there.

There is still a very small leak at the water pump cover bolt. I wish I had looked up the assembly and seen there was an o-ring seal there before I wrestled the lower hose off. I was getting ahead of myself. Thanks for the detailed diagram Roady.

The leak at the water pump weep hole seems to have stopped. There were a couple drops this morning, but nothing since I started it for 30 to 45 minutes to sync the carbs. We'll see.

Gas tank plug is still leaking a bit. I had to put a couple of gallons of gas in there. Once I get the gas level down and the rear tire on I'll put it on the side stand and pull the plug, replace the cooper gasket and teflon the threads.

I'm still stoked about the motor running well with no significant problems. Now I'll pull the exhaust and see about repairing that right side header hole.

[Cookie]

They are tough old engines.

[Hoosier Daddy]

You really appreciate Roady's detailed pics in his "How To" threads. He is definately the master of the cartoon finger.

[Roady]

You have no idea how many fingers I looked at before choosing that particular set.

[Cookie]

OK, no finger jokes. Roady is serious about his fingers.

[sos]

My buddy stopped by today and wanted to hear the GL run. I gladly accepted and we went out and started her up. Blue smoke rolled ouy both exhausts. What the hell. It ran great yesterday when I synced the carbs.

Standing there wondering what in the world would make it smoke like that I noticed my feet were getting dripped on. ... Gas from the fuel pump! I shut it down and looked at the oil level ... out of sight high

I had left the petcock on reserve and drained a good deal of gas into the oil through the fuel pump. And I just put the second round or oil and filter in there yesterday. Oh well. At least it is a minor problem and and easy to fix.

Any suggestions on the fix? Rebuild? Replace?

[Cookie]

Get a new one from Cresent Moon, a few folks have rebuilt them but no kits are available.