Help diagnose by listening to my sick 1982 Goldwing GL1100

[mcgovern61]

There are 4 bolts on the shelter (faux tank), 2 at the back where the seat slides in and 2 at the front (one on each side at the bottom). When removing the shelter, you have to gently spread it open to get it over the wiring and stuff on the left side. (It will spread, it is made of fiberglass)

 

[jdegase]

CD.
sounds like your on the right track.
you can leave those front shelter bolts out... but you can also find some short bolts and run them through from the inside... this will give the shelter 2 plain studs to fit over... and hold the front of it in place but also allow you to remove it without removeing the lower fairing parts.

 

[CreatorsDream]

There are 4 bolts on the shelter (faux tank), 2 at the back where the seat slides in and 2 at the front (one on each side at the bottom). When removing the shelter, you have to gently spread it open to get it over the wiring and stuff on the left side. (It will spread, it is made of fiberglass)

I got the four bolts off. However I could not slide the fake tank out without removing the radiator reservoir. I had to slide the tank up to show the hidden bolt for the reservoir. Once removed, I reached a short moment of ecstasy!

 

[CreatorsDream]

As I said... short moment of ecstasy. I then removed the radiator cap which would not allow the tank to go down. But another problem has occurred which I have not been able to find a solution for on the Internet. That is the horn and upper radiator grill attachment. See the grill attachment is separate from the radiator. but it slides in to the same two bolts which hold the radiator. To be able to slide the radiator and grill attachment out of the two fixed bolts I have to get them past the frame welded horn holders. Seems that I have to bend them out of the way. I started to bend them but stopped because there must be another way to do this. Either the person welding this bike at the factory did not weld the horn holders in the right place, or I'm just not figuring out how to pull the radiator out from the fixed bolts at the top. Any suggestions?

 

[dan filipi]

Yeah those stupid horn brackets.

You must bend them up, no other way.

The horn brackets are part of the fairing support.
Evidently Honda put the bike together from the bottom up or engine/cooling system out, then put the fairing on.
They must have done it this way because I doubt they bent the horn tabs down after putting the radiator in after the fairing.

So.....bend the tabs up, do your stuff then bend them back down before putting the horns on.

 

[joedrum]

gee iguess i have neve tried to take the radiator out completelywit t6he faring and support still on ... :shock: but i guess mst of experience on wings is on te 79 1000 that was stock nake most of the time :shock: popcorn :mrgreen:

 

[badorderbob]

I ended up dremeling them off and went with a pair of air horns. Those brackets are a pain for sure!!! :hi:

 

[mcgovern61]

My '82 standard has the horns on the side so I do not have those brackets! I am surprised the shelter came off with the faring still on. I have a Vetter faring, but I have to remove it to get the shelter off. No big deal....4 bolts and it is off.

 

[jdegase]

bent mine up outta the way then mounted the "bad-boy" horn inside the lower fairing cover... I wanted to demel those darn things off but never got to it.. cause they didnt bother me much after bending them outta the way :smilie_happy:
the stock horns could have gone many other better places. that was a bad choice.

 

[CreatorsDream]

Finally got the radiator off! Now I can see everything.

I checked real close and all the marks line up. Only thing interesting is that the right side top of belt had about an inch play. Left side was tight. Maybe a bit more than it should of been. I know I always thought the bike hummed more than it should. Anyway, I will be replacing with new belts and tensioners. I will go back and re-read the suggestions made and will start checking other things. Thank you all for the great advice so far!

 

[CreatorsDream]

Another thought (not sure if you explained this Joe) is pull the valve covers first thing before anything else.
Using the valve adjustment procedure, get the crank at TDC like your going to adjust the valves.
When at this point you will have excessive clearance if the valve head is bent.
This is what I'd do first, it's fast and doesn't cost anything.

In looking over all the suggestions, I think I will go with this suggestion from Dan next. Then I will check for spark ignition the old fashion way...

 

[hondaman]

The first thing you need to check is, take the timing belt covers off as you are going to replace the belts, because you need to. Before you remove the belts, and doing the steps outline in the owners manual to this point. Make sure the flywheel mark is at T1, and the pulley marks are correct, (I marked them with a marker, and mark a verticle line on the crank pulley with an "UP" arrow, in case you have to go deeper, trust me on this). Check to see if on pulleys line up with the marks on the cases, arrows pointing out at 3 and 9 oclock. Here is where you see if one belt may have jumped a tooth. Just one tooth can cause a few degrees difference in the cam timing, causing a poor runner. If this is not the problem, a compression test still can be done even after you have the radiator off and the coolant drained. Just have a drain pan in front of the water pump when you spin the starter. If compression is consistantly good in all cylinders, it is not likely you bent any valves. If not, I would pull off both heads and change the damaged valves, or check e-bay for another head, (cheaper than valves). There are numerous parts available, $40.00+ for a complete head assy. I purchased a cam assembly for $24.95 on ebay. If you go this far, you will need, 8 valve seals,(a must do) 2 head gaskets, 2 cam seals, and 1 cam end cap for the left. Replace 2 water tube gaskets, and the 4 "O" ring seals on the tube ends, (preventative maintenence, trust me). Clean up the piston tops, and head, (will likely have burnt oil deposits on both, trust me again,) and lap in the valves. Lapping compound @ Pep Boys in a tube, I used a battery drill on the valve end to lap in both surfaces, it is faster. Reassemble heads, the belts, and make sure the timing marks all line up, it may take one other person to hold the crank from moving, (remember the verticle mark on the crank) it helps. The factory manual is very easy to follow. Good luck.
I just had the cylinder heads off my 80 GL1100 to replace the valve seals, and freshen up the heads, (what a difference!!!) I may explain the benefits on another message later.

 

[dan filipi]

How is it going with this CreatorsDream?

 

[CreatorsDream]

How is it going with this CreatorsDream?

Sorry for the delayed response. I was going to wait and give you good news after I put everything back together, but I'm sorry to report that I'm still not there! Here's what I've learned and fixed:
1. New timing belt and tensioners alleviated peace of mind because the bike has 43,000 miles on it. Timing was on to begin with, but the right side was a bit sloppy. Tensioners seemed to be okay.
2. Adjusted valves to specs. The valves were off spec. Seems that the shop I took it to used the specs for the GL1000 because the exhaust valves were at .004 and I didn't have a feeler gauge smaller than .004 so the intake valves did not have any spacing.
3. Put new plugs, plug caps and checked for a spark from each cylinder before putting it all back together. Had a time with the plug rubber rain protector so I ended up squirting a bit of WD-40 to help get them back on.
4. Changed oil, coolant (flushed), trans fluid, gear grease, brake fluid and checked tire pressure, new choke cable, adjusted throttle and clutch cable.

I started the engine and it ran, but not smooth. So I decided to try Sea Foam before going with a carb rebuild. I disconnected the fuel line at the pump and sucked up about a half of a can. It smoked and sputtered for awhile and then cut off. I waited 20 minutes and cranked the engine back up. It sputtered for awhile while the fresh gas displaced the Sea Foam. Seemed to help it, but still not enough.

So I decided to do another Sea Foam treatment the same way I did the first one, except I would leave it in overnight. Note that the research I found made me feel comfortable with leaving straight Sea Foam in overnight because the chemicals will not damage rubber parts. The next day I went to crank my Baby Jane and she would not start up. Seems that letting the engine cool totally was not a good idea. I attempted to crank it for about a minute or two before the starter relay solenoid stopped working!

Click, Click, no starter! Checked the starter relay for continuity, and it had none! The good news is that this was the same sound I got last winter when my problems started. Weird though how I was able to get back on track by rocking the bike... may be a mis-diagnosis. Anyway, I replaced the starter relay with an aftermarket one.

Back to the story... Ended up draining the carb bowls and added fresh gas. Started it and ran it for awhile. Better performance, but still not there. Waited for my Carbtune carburetor synchronizer to come in from the UK. My thought was that maybe I need to sync the carbs since I had replaced the timing belts. So I was able to successfully sync the carbs down to 1100 rpm's. I was so proud of myself thinking my problems were now solved.

I finished putting the bike together and took it out for a spin. BAD, BAD, BAD! No performance, no power, backfiring, sputtering, etc. Once I get it up to 3000 rpm it smooths out a bit, but I can smell gas. Too lean!

Long story shortened by coming back and pulling the plugs. To my surprise, the right cylinders #3 & #1 spark plugs do not look like they are firing at all. The left side cylinders spark plugs have a slight gray tinge to the plug tips where as the right ones look like they did when I put them in. So, for some reason, there is no spark on the right side. I swear they passed the spark test before I reassembled the bike. Not now though...

So, I'm wondering about the pulse generator and the coils. I've read the Honda service manual section on ignition systems and am a bit confused. Are there any "easy" how-to's for checking out the ignition system? Any ideas on why there is no spark on the right side of my bike?

While I'm asking, here's another strange thing... Seems that when I was doing all this work, I managed to screw up my neutral light switch. Use to work fine. Now, it comes on every time I put in the clutch to change gears! Once I let the clutch out, the neutral light goes out. What's that all about? I did adjust the clutch cable to the recommended slack. It was originally too tight. No play. Could that have done it? Or was it something I disconnected while taking the radiator out? Strange, strange, strange. One thing I've learned is that it's a slow process to diagnose and repair a Goldwing. Especially, when I'm not a REAL mechanic... :read:

 

[toytender01]

OK the clutch lever is wired to the nutral light just like the shift lever in nutral...that is normal.. when you pull in the clutch the nutral light lights...One problem solved :Egyptian: :Egyptian: :read: :salute:

 

[slabghost]

check the connectors in the wires powering the coils. When they get tarnished and corroded they don't let enough power through to energize the coils. 30 year old wires get iffy. You might want to try wiredgeorges coil mod. Do a search for the link. It's very simple and will work on our bikes too.

 

[dan filipi]

wiredgeorge coil mod not a bad idea

I wouldn't do it though.
If the electrical system is in okay condition there's no need to add another element into the works that could fail.

Have you tried swapping primary coil wires to see if the problem moves?
The coils power plugs in pairs. 4 and 3, 2 and 1.
Each plug relies on it's companion to be grounded so when your checking for spark check them in pairs.

 

[paddy.shadow]

I've read all 6 pages of this thread....and to me ...I'm still "leaning" towards carburetors...when i got I got my 83 Aspy with 39k and started it the first time it sounded similar but worse...clanking and etc. after doing the Randaaks rebuild. it runs like ....well.. like a Goldwing

 

[CreatorsDream]

OK the clutch lever is wired to the nutral light just like the shift lever in nutral...that is normal.. when you pull in the clutch the nutral light lights...One problem solved

Wait a minute. Are you saying that the neutral light IS suppose to come on every time you pull the clutch in? So then, how do you know when you actually put it in neutral?

The way it use to work was that the neutral light never came on unless you actually put it in neutral. I would sometimes see it blink briefly while I had the clutch in and was shifting between 1st and 2nd, but not like now where the light stays on as long as I have the clutch in regardless of which gear I'm going to/from. I'm confused.

 

[dan filipi]

No the neutral light should NOT come on when the clutch is pulled in, only when in neutral.