Karmahootie's back!

For the past week and a half, I've been buzzing around on a BMW F650
loaner bike with no storage.

It all started when a carb float bowl fell off my bike last December.
I noticed that the pin was bent that holds the floats. I replaced the
floats, which were a bit soggy, straightened the pin, noticed one of my
throttle cables was frayed, replaced that.

The bike started farting and quit idling. I adjusted the throttle cables
and flushed the carbs. That seemed to help, but I don't really know what
I'm doing. If only there were an Idiot's Guide to R series Airheads!

Also, the rear main seal leak kept getting worse, so I finally took the
bike in last week to get that fixed. Turns out the points were fried,
and they also said the oil leak had ruined the clutch. OUCH.

Well, they replaced the points, balanced the carbs (one of the floats
was sticking, maybe I shoulda bought a new pin rather than straighten
the old one) and one of the float needles had lost the clip that
connects it to the float assembly. They did this before breaking in to
fix the oil leak.

Since the 1979 R65 is the only one which has clutch parts particular to
that model, they ordered the wrong parts twice before deciding that the
clutch was still within spec and a good cleanup and reassembly would
solve the problem. Without the new clutch parts, my final bill wasn't as
much as they'd calculated, and I got the bike back yesterday. After
riding that F650 around, my bike seems sluggish and mushy. Acceleration
and brakes aren't nearly as snappy as the F650. Acceleration in
particular seems sluggish, but if you watch the speedometer, it seems
that the bike only FEELS like a slug. 60 feels like 75 on the F650. 75
feels like 60 on the R65. I guess it's a design thing. The boys at the
BMW shop did a good job, but I'm thinking they could have saved
themselves a lot of trouble by just cleaning up the clutch in the first
place. I'm happy to have my bike back. The loaner was a lot of fun to
ride, but my stolid old German can carry my fishing tackle and
groceries, plus it's a lot of fun to ride too. With the Spitfire tires,
it's as nimble as the F650, plus I can reach the ground with both feet.

--
Barb
Chaplain, ARSCC (wdne)

"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to
have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous,
ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can
produce."

--Molly Ivins

 

Maybe I'm too picky but that doesn't sound exactly like a good job
to me.

I can believe that the clutch could probably be cleaned up, but
then why try unsuccessfully to order clutch parts twice before
they decide this ?

I guess I'm getting spoiled by my recent dealings with Beemershop
but these guys sound kinda iffy.

 

I agree that they SHOULD have known that the 1979 R65 is unique in
several ways. Well, they know now! I'm guessing that not too many of
them are still around down here. Alas, I have to take it back to the
shop today. It still ain't "right." Getting some backfiring, and a soggy
place on the power band during wide open acceleration. Both heads don't
fire up at once, one seems to want to stay in bed and snooze. Could be
points. Might be a carburetor thing. (see, don't I sound like I know
what I'm talking about?) Could be a valve adjustment.

Since all this trouble started when I replaced the oil filter, set the
O-ring in so very carefully and failed to notice the paper gasket was
folded, I'm disinclined to "do it myself." I'm pretty sure the rear main
seal leak was a direct result of the paper gasket incident.

If the O-ring isn't seated properly, they call it the "$2000 O-ring," as
the bike will blow every seal on it.
You can call this the "$900 paper gasket." Ouch!

To add insult to injury, my friend who works at a BMW shop says they
just throw those stupid paper gaskets away.

--
Barb
Chaplain, ARSCC (wdne)

"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to
have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous,
ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can
produce."

--Molly Ivins

 

I only read this thread because I wondered who or what "Karmahootie"
might be...

Well, a tight valve here or there might just cause the engine to run
lean, so would a leaky head gasket.

But I suspect that the idle passages and idle jets in your carburetors
are just gummed up and you can screw on the idle mixture screws as
much as you want and see no immediate results.

Profe$$ional motorcycle mechanic$ don't like the idea of chemical
cleanup$ of carburetor$, they prefer to di$a$$emble, mechanically
clean, rea$$emble and $ynchronize carburetor$.

I recommend that you run down to Wal*Mart or a NAPA auto parts store
and buy a $3.00 can of Berryman B-12 Chemtool Choke and Carburetor
Cleaner.

It comes in aerosol or liquid form. It contains xylene, methyl
alcohol, toluene, acetone, etc, and it will clean all but the most
stubborn gum and varnish out of a carburetor.

Anything B-12 can't dissolve is probably calcium carbonate,

I prefer the liquid B-12 if I'm going to pour it in my gas tank, but
the aerosol kind works too.

Just pour 4 or 5 ounces of B-12 into a full tank of gasoline and go
for a slow ride to make the carbs suck the gasoline/B-12 mixture
through the idle jets and passages instead of past the jet needle.

After several miles, you may notice that the engine is idling quite a
bit faster.

Since airheads have carburetors on opposite sides of the engine, there
is no interconnecting linkage, so you would have to turn down the
individual idle speed screw on the side of each carburetor and then
the way some BMW riders resynchronize the two carbs is to attach a
clear plastic tube with some automatic transmission fluid in a loop of
the tube hanging downward.

You hook the two ends of the plastic tube some kind of spigot or
vacuum hose fitting downstream of the throttle butterflies and run the
engine at idle only, you don't want to open the throttles wide enough
to suck the ATF into the engine.

When the ATF is at the same level on both sides of the tube, the carbs
are synchronized, without $pending time and money at a $tealer$hip...

 

Actually, no. It doesn't blow every seal. It eats its
rod bearings. I'm hard pressed to believe you caused
the oil leak either. That seems most likely just old age.

You can get oil leaks from the rear engine seal,
the oil pump O ring and/or the tranny front seal.

Yep. That's sure what I do.