Service

SERVICE

Paul Dean

Wired and weird

On my Sportster, the brake light stays on all the time. The brake-light switch is good, and I can't find a short anywhere. Also, the tach and speedo lights do not come on at all, and the neutral light won't come on unless I step on the brake! Any suggestions? Lamborko Posted on America Online

Id like to help you, but all you `ye told me is that you have a Sportster with an electrical problem. A little more infor mation (the bike model year, any ac cessories or modifications that might affect the electrical system, etc.) would have proven extremely helpful in trou bleshooting the problem.

Still, I'll take a wild guess here and presume that your Sporty is incorrectly wired. Many of the wiring connections, especially for the malfunctioning lights you mention, are inside the headlight shell and involve wires with matching color codes plugged together. But f the headlight has been replaced with an aflermarket unit or one from another model of Harley-Davidson, the color codes could be entirely d~fferent, mak ing it easy to get circuits crossed. Here what I suggest: If you don `t already have afactory owner~ manual for your Sportster, get one. Using the manual~ wiring diagram as a guide, check all the electrical connections for the lights that are working improperly. If the color codes do not correspond because some of the components are not original, find the wire that leads from the power source, find the wire that leads to the affected light, and plug the two together. And most of all, don `t be intimidated. Electrical mat ters seem to scare the hell out of most people, but diagnosing a problem of this sort is not all that d~fJicult f you take your time, follow the diagram and use a little common sense.

Chain letter

I just bought a 1995 Kawasaki ZX 11. It has just over 12,000 miles on it, and the guy who sold it to me said he replaced the chain less than 500 miles ago. He told me that because it is an 0-ring chain, I wouldn't have to lu bricate it at all, but my riding friends insist that if I don't lube the chain, it will stretch. Who's right? The previ ous owner said he never lubed the original chain and that it lasted al most 12,000 miles, and that the one on the bike now is an original-equip ment replacement from Kawasaki. Gary Stipple Bettendorf, Iowa

Technically, neither the bike `s previ ous owner nor your friends are entire ly correct. An 0-ring chain does need an occasional lubing, but not to pre vent it from stretching. A light spray every few hundred miles keeps the 0rings from drying out and gradually getting ground away by the constant pivoting movement between the sideplates. If the 0-rings deteriorate, then yes, the chain is very likely to begin stretching. The lubricant sealed be tween the rollers at the time of manu facture will be able to escape past the 0-rings, and dirt and other contami nation will be able to get in. But as long as the 0-rings remain functional, any lubrication you spray on the out side of the chain can `t get into the crit ical wear area between the rollers; the same 0-rings that keep the factory lube in also keep your lube out.

When lubing the chain, use a prod uct designed just for 0-ring chains, or spray it with WD-40 or something sim ilar. Get the lubricant where it's need ed most-down between the sideplates where the 0-rings live, not just on the rollers. The 12,000 miles your bike previous owner got from the original chain isn `t bad, but with a little more TLC, the chain could have gone a lot farther before needing replacement.

Tap dancing

Is it possible to retap a cylinder head without taking it off the engine and not cause any damage in the pro cess? The @#!%*#@ person at the local bike shop stripped the threads in some of the sparkplug holes the last time he installed the plugs. Notbean Posted on America Online

This repair is possible if you take precautions to prevent metal from get ting into the engine. If the damage to the plug holes is typical, you only have to clean up the threads-called "thread chasing "-and that doesn `t generate as many metal filings as does tapping a hole from scratch.

You supplied no information about your bike, so I can `t offer much in the way of spec~flc advice. But in general, the best way to clean up plug-hole threads without removing the head is to lay the engine (the entire bike, if the engine is still installed) on its side so the holes are at least parallel to the ground. If you can position the engine so the holes are running slightly up hill, that's even better. Coat the tap with grease before inserting it in the hole, then begin the thread-chasing process. Slowly turn the tap in two or three turns, then back it out and wipe off the grease, along with any metal that has stuck to it. Reapply fresh grease and turn the tap in five or six turns before backing it out and clean ing it. Repeat this process until the tap has passed over all the threads.

If you `ye been careful, no debris will have gotten into the engine. But f you suspect that a few chips have slipped past, you can remove them with a vac uum cleaner. Use duct tape to attach a piece of small-diameter neoprene hose to the vacuum crevice tool, then just stick the hose down through the plug hole and wiggle it around to suck out the metal filings.

If however, the plug holes are dam aged enough to need helicoils, I rec ommend removing the head. This repair creates a lot more metalfilings, which greatly increases the chance of debris entering the engine.

The Duke of Oil

I own a `92 Suzuki Intruder 1400 and a `98 Bandit 1200S. Their owner's manuals call for 10w40 motor oil with an API certification of SG/SG. My current oil (Valvoline 10w40 semi synthetic blend) and most fully organic oils are rated SH/SJ. I've always felt that the current oils are superior to the antiquated SF/SG, but recently I read an ad claiming that those newer oils do not meet the needs of motorcycles as well as the SF/SGs. They also offer to sell you SF/SG for the ridiculous price of $5.99 a quart. Is the advertisement accurate, or are they just trying to make a buck on some old oil? I don't want to spend $5.99 a quart, but I also don't want to run anything but the optimum oil in my motorcycles. Robb Kerry Ogden, Utah

This is such a complicated subject that a thorough explanation requires far more space than we have here. But the ad is correct: The SF/SG oils are better-suited to motorcycle applica tions than the newer SH/SJ oils.

Among the several reasons for this is the amount of phosphates in the oil. Phosphates are anti-wear additives of particular importance in high-pressure contact areas such as between cam lobes and followers. Over time, phos phates can find their way into the ex haust and contaminate the catalytic converter, making the 50,000-mile au tomobile emissions standards hard to meet. So, oil manufacturers add only enough phosphates to meet the SH/SJ standard. But that level of anti-wear is marginal for most motorcycle engines, which usually generate higher contactarea pressures. Moreover, most bikes do not have catalytic convertors, and those that do must meet emissions-test standards for just over 18,000 miles. In addition, motorcycle engines oper ate at higher oil temperatures than car engines, and this places more stress on the oil. The additive packages in oils are tailored to the intended usage, which for SH/SJ oils does not include motorcycles. And driving many of these packaging decisions is the competitive pricing of automotive oils. Many mo torcyclists are willing to buy high priced oil, but most car drivers are not.

The bottom line is that f you change your bike oil at the prescribed inter vals-or even more frequently-SH/SJ oils will perform flawlessly But f you don `t, or f you insist on optimum lu bricants, use an SF/SG oil, a good mo torcycle-spec~flc oil or a full synthetic.

I] you `d like to know more, the Au gust-September `98 issue of our sister magazine, Big Twin, has an in-depth stoiy about the use of modern automo tive oils in motorcycle engines.