as long as the oil isn't seriously contaminated with water, there is no harm in letting it sit. if it is, just drain it.

i am perhaps a bit too thin-skinned for the interscreen, but if i were a professional mechanic i wouldn't want to be referred to as an inanimate object.
your mechanic sounds like he is on the ball; i would go with his diagnosis and advice.

i don't know how brake fluid is going to react with superglue, and i am never going to find out (unless i decide to run an experiment on the BENCH).
replace the sight glass or the entire reservoir/master, rebuild both calipers and replace the hoses.

white smoke means water or coolant has entered the combustion chamber and is being burned off. it could indicate a serious problem such as a failed head gasket or cracked cylinder head, but it could just as easily be a build up of condensation from having sat unused. check the oil to see whether it ...

interesting ... my '75 doesn't have one, but every 'newer' wing ('77 - '82) that i have owned has one. i've never actually used the fitting as all the bikes i have worked on got grease applied directly to the splines during the resurrection process and i have never owned any of them long enough to r...

be careful of the "fix it til it breaks" syndrome.

well ... to answer my own question, it's both. the lock assembly has grooves cast into the section that mates with the plastic switch, which itself has 2 spring-loaded balls which drop into each of those grooves as you turn the key, providing a "detent". all of this is probably not much use to anyon...

i am going to have to backtrack on my previous comment. just came back from a 45 minute ride, so the bike had a chance to get good and hot. it occurred to me to check how hot the intake runners and valve covers were, and they were MUCH hotter than i expected. i had never, ever checked this except wh...

intake runners and valve covers should not get that hot, with or without mufflers attached. have you determined that the fan is kicking in then the temp gauge gets somewhere near the mid-point (assuming that the temp gauge works) ? have you determined that the water pump is pumping ? did you remove ...

are the detents built into the lock section or the switch section ? i know they are sold as a unit, but i may be able to put a working unit together from the hoard.

thanks, joe.

from my gl1100 FSM ... tighten the tensioner bolts and re-check valve timing.

from my gl1000 FSM ... tighten tensioner bolts securely.

no torque specs given anywhere that i could see.

sorry, that should have read "if you DON'T have 12v there...".

so with a new battery you now have to figure out why that power is not causing the starter to turn. you could do it with a test light but a digital multimeter is a much more versatile tool, and anyone who wants to troubleshoot an old bike or car should have one. they are not expensive. with a test l...

very good tutorial.
with these bikes getting so old, cleaning/regreasing handlebar switches is often the answer for many electrical problems. don't lose those tiny springs and steel balls !
should be a sticky.

i am quite familiar with the process of fixing something 'til it breaks.
if there was no issue there before you commenced the work, but started immediately after your work ... it's time to check your work.

i went through this a while ago on my '75. i decided to file out a semi-circle on the bottom half of the switch to allow room for the wires. this did NOT work. the way the wires are connected inside the switch will never allow it to be tightened down flush to the handlebars ... they sit too high (or...

turn signal funkiness often comes down to just a bad ground. if you haven't already done so, remove and clean all grounds. inspect the bulb sockets themselves. also, there's a good chance the switch itself is gummed up with a cocktail of dried grease and dirt.

thanks for the link. if i end up keeping this bike i will add that to the never-ending "to-do" list.

with those compression numbers i am surprised it even runs. by the way, compression should be checked with all 4 spark plugs removed and the throttle wide open. if you didn't have the throttle wide open during your test that would explain (at least in part) your horrible compression numbers. poor co...

i have a related question so i hope you don't mind if i hitch a ride on this thread ... i have a 1975 with a sight glass that is too dirty to see anything through, even with a good flashlight. apparently this was the only year that didn't come with a wiper screw on the sight glass. has anybody had a...

p.s. i hope you kept the old relay.

12v at the starter doesnt tell the whole story. i have scrapped many batteries that charged up to 12+ volts. the fact that you could jump start with a known good battery is pointing to a bad battery.

i am going to assume that when you replaced the starter relay and starter that you cleaned their connections as well as the battery connections to a bright, shiny copper. what about the battery itself ? have you tested the battery or tried a jump start ? these big'uns need a healthy starting system.

another thing to try is a bit of wiggling/jiggling of the key. if it comes back to life doing this then you probably have a problem in the ignition switch area.

his videos are quite informative.