Old fart buys old CX500

After several years of illness and financial embarrassment I've
recovered. Found a running Honda CX500 at less cost than it would take
to get my Guzzi V50 back on the road, so I bought it. 1981, 35,000
miles. At worst it will give me transport until I get the V50 going,
which needs new carbs, hardened valve seats and top end rebuild, and
probably a shaft drive strip and rebuild.

Am assembling a checklist of problems CX500s of that kind of age are
prone to. So far I've got rear swing arm internal rusting and battery
charger. Any more suggestions?

 

I've heard of the cam chain tensioners being trouble on some.

 

8<

Cam chain tensioner, IIRC.

 

Worn cam chain and tensioners (this is the MAJOR CX500 weak spot - if not
sorted can cause the cam chain to start chewing through the crankcase -
listen for clatter), stripped thread on cam tensioner adjuster (unless its
automatic), mechanical seal (internal water seal - look for drips of water
under engine), alternator (first symptom is usually inability to get much
over 50mph), leaking camshaft oil seal (look for oil seepage from behind fan
and down the front of the engine - quite easy to replace not a major
problem)

Parts are easily obtainable and not outrageously expensive. Bike is quite
easy to work on. Generally the engines are pretty bomb-proof so its
unlikely to have major mechanical problems.

I suggest that you visit here
http://www.cx-gl.org.uk/
http://groups.msn.com/cxglmcc
http://www.elsham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/cx500/

Tony

 

Can be fixed easy by putting in a larger threaded bold, just tap and
done.

the 'Mk2's was fixed and the Silverwing 650s, but that's irrelevant to
you

change head bearings for tapper rollers,

progressive fork springs and new rear shocks help as well and check
carbs.

That's all I can think of.





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That might cure a stripped thread problem with a tensioner bolt (although a
helicoil with the original bolt is better) but it won't cure a badly worn
tensioner (and the almost certainly knackered cam chain if the tensioner is
worn) will it? Also it isn't quite so "easy" when you look at the problems
accessing the damned thing in the first place (engine out).

Tony

 

The swingarm and the alternator are the main probs on old ones.

Camchain - as a 1981 model, it'll be an A or B and they were fixed by
then, so if it isn't rattling, ignore the doomsayers elese where in this
thread and just ride it.

Check the rad - they tend to corrode and leak at high miles. Water leaks
from the pump seal. The rest is just the usual stuff - chrome, bearings,
fork seals, etc. etc. The engines run for ever.

 

See other post - they had it sorted by 1980.

 

If it's a Eurosport (don't know which year they came out) then the
pro-link bushes do seize if not maintained, but because the bolts
simply rotate instead of the bushes, there's no obvious symptom until
the back end collapses. This happened to a colleague.

Check the rear wheel splines.

A knackered rear wheel bearing can spin in the hub wearing the hub
out. Not limited to CX500s, though.

If the bike's been dispatched then ignore the odometer!

Water pump impeller can work loose and strip splines.

Water pump mechanical seal can leak - check for water on crankcase
behind cylinders.

Apparently the valves can recess; certainly mine never went over 95mph
but I never had the heads off to verify that this was the cause.

The original collector box is probably long gone; they all rust.

It may sound awful, but they're easy to work on and they burble along
nicely. I bought in haste and ended up paying way over the odds for a
pup, but I still like them.

 

You mean they stopped the tensioner breaking completely without warning by
re-designing it - they didn't stop it wearing and they didn't stop the cam
chain wearing and stretching.

Tony

 

All camchains wear and stretch. The CX's was as solid as they come from
the A model onwards.

I suppose you'll get the odd failure here and there, but if t's sounding
quiet, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Agreed - no noise, no problem. However, they can be badly worn (crankcase
chewingly so) at as little as 35,000 miles. Given that it is an engine out
job to replace the cam chain, this is one of the first things I would check
on any CX500

TtONY

Tony

 

Yeah, but how are you going to do that?

You're not going to be able to drop the engine to have a squint at the
tensioner.

Just listen to it. If it's quiet, fine. If not, walk away.

 

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 11:53:21 +0100,

I knew a guy who had two CX500's and tried to build one good one out
of the two. He had the water pump problems you mention, and never did
get it sorted out. He was kind of an idiot, and a dishonest one at
that. Stole my battery charger, the bastard did.

 

Name & shame! Name & shame!

 

Name & shame! Name & shame![/QUOTE]

He was known to me only as Lone Pine Louie. He's probably wandered
off somewhere into the sage desert hills of Southern California.

 

He was known to me only as Lone Pine Louie. He's probably wandered
off somewhere into the sage desert hills of Southern California.[/QUOTE]

The **** must have come up here then as someone nicked a neighbors
battery charger yesterday.
--
Mike

SV650
UKRMMA#22
Skype: muddycat

 

FFS "check" = "listen for camchain noise". We do not have a difference of
opinion here. However, if one wanted to be REALLY sure with a manually
adjusted chain then the procedures are as follows.

"To check the manually adjusted cam chain tensioner life, rustle up a dental
mirror and a torch, look inside the rear crankcase timing port. Or feel with
a fingertip. The adjusting quadrant should have at least 1/4 of an inch of
its slot visible above the locknut. If there is no visible gap, the
adjusting arm is at or near the end of its adjustment and soon you will need
to change the cam chain and tensioner."

Alternatively

"Another way to detect a worn cam chain on Zs, As, Bs and GL500s is to peer
behind the radiator at the fan, which is attached to the front end of the
camshaft. Put the bike in 5th gear and very gradually wind the engine to and
fro by nudging the rear wheel. There should be no movement of the flywheel,
visible and feelable through the timing aperture, without a corresponding
movement of the fan. If there is slack in the cam chain, the crankshaft will
be able to move a fraction without a corresponding camshaft / fan movement.
This trick does not work with the electric fans of the 650s."

OK?

Tony

 

Well, quite.

 

Rear end seals.
--
Bob Mann

Before you critisize someone,
you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you critisize them,
you're a mile away and you have their shoes.