First Long Ride Completed: Could use some advice....

Modern engines are designed to remove fuel from the oil. The oil heats up, both water vapor and fuel vaporize, then get sucked into the intake. So it is going through cycles of building up then vaporizing. That may explain a different level now from your last check.

Any excess fuel in the oil thins the oil and reduces its lubrication properties. I am OCD but I would avoid riding it at all while it is leaking. The effect is cumulative on the cylinders and bearings and you do not know how long the prior owner already rode with this problem.

Per Cadbury's suggestion, consider pulling all injectors and having them serviced. Let someone else figure out if they are working to specification. CandyRedRC46 recommends these guys, and many here have used them:

http://precisionautoinjectors.com/pages/about-us

Have you checked the fuel pressure regulator per his other suggestion?

 

I have not dived into the bike any further, I am feeling better, but the heat of Florida is compounding how i feel when outside for any length of time.. i might dive into it more tomorrow.. today i think ima go grab some oil and such to get the fuel and oil out of the bike for now..

 

Alright, so i just got a reply back from the owner who i bought it from, i mentioned before that the bike sat for a long time before i bought it, he mentioned to me when i was buying it that he had the fuel system all worked on and replaced because the fuel system was gummed up or whatnot not allowing the bike to run, he gave me the number to the guy who worked on it which turned out to be an actual motorcycle shop.. just talked to them and they told me a more detailed info on what they did, they said when it came in the bottom 1/4 of the fuel tank was rusted from old gas along with the fuel sender and fuel pump were shot from rust.. he took the tank apart and did a Caswell tank sealer treatment on the tank and let it sit and cure for a week before putting the bike back together, he said the owner brought in brand new in the box fuel pump, fuel filter and fuel sender, so he assembled it all together and replaced the plugs and started the bike.. it wouldn't idle or rev very well, so he took the fuel rail out of the bike along with the injectors and soaked them in a jar of alcohol to clean them and replaced the fuel regulator with brand new one... then the bike would run and idle fine, but within 20 miles of giving the bike back to the customer the exhaust system was dripping raw fuel if you turned the key on, basically he said the fuel was leaking into the head and falling through the exhaust valves into the exhaust and some into the oil.. so the owner brought the bike back to the shop and he took the injectors out and the owner bought 4 brand new injectors that he installed into the bike... this was 13 miles before the miles that were on the bike when i bought it from him... the mechanic said he has pretty much done all the work on the bike since he owned it and the guy just never rode it enough, this was the 2nd time he had to have the fuel system cleaned or overhauled from sitting... the first time the guy said he just soaked it all and ran fuel injector cleaner through it and it purred like a kitten tell he let the bike sit again and then this last time the fuel system was just shot from rust...

He told me i should just change the oil and run it for like 100-200 miles and see if the oil level has changed again, because the injectors were in fact in sealed containers when he installed him, he doesn't know the source of the parts...

So, i contacted the owner back and talked to him on where he bought the parts, he said all the parts he bought for the bike were from cheapcycleparts.com, because they were dramatically cheaper than the shop wanting to charge him.. so i am going to go out on a limb and guess he just was tired of having it worked on and sold it with so low of miles on the engine.. he did tell me if i have to take the injectors out he would do any warranty for me through the place he bought them for me.. and just change the address to my address on the shipping..

So, do you think there could have been left over fuel in the bike from when the shop did the oil change after replacing the injectors and regulator parts.. i would think in the amount of miles ive put on the bike it would have boiled or burned off......or it might have got stuck in a pocket or hose in the bike and when they drained it at the shop it all didnt come out and when they refilled it the oil just mixed with the gas again...

 

Here is a short video i took earlier that has been taking forever to process, its a cold start of the bike after i noticed the thin layer of what i think is fuel in the oil sight after the bike has been sitting for 3 days..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Jd1cGZ24E

 

Well ... fuel issues aside, you need to change both the clutch and brake fluid before the corrode the parts / crystalize in the lines. That shit looks nasty in those sight windows on the master cylinder reservoirs.

Did you do that oil change you mentioned?

Cold isn't necessarily a good gauge, my exhaust is definitely more noticeable immediately after starting compared to when it's warmed up, although mine is more white and it's really cold here right now in the mornings (usually about 36*F or so when I commute to work in the AM on it .... I would let the bike warm up to operating temperature. Is it any worse when the bike is warmed up?

 

i actually drained the oil today and replaced it, it has a slight smell of fuel, but im letting it sit in a container to see if the fuel settles out again with a lid over the top... it didnt really have an overwelming smell of gas like i thought it would...

The exhaust stops with the light black puffs after the engine is warmed up fully, then it clear no matter how hard you rev it..

The fluid in the left one i need to change, i already replaced the brake fluid.. i just was trying to find a diy on the clutch side to make sure i was doing it right.. is it the same fluid as the brake system or different.. i couldnt really find this clearly during my searches... people just said replace with new fluid in the diy's i read...

 

If the exhaust is clear at operating temperature ... I wouldn't worry. The bike sounds healthy and it's probably just running rich since it's not warmed up. Are you actually spitting droplets of fuel out the exhaust or it it just giving little puffs of carbon smoke when it's cold?

The clutch fluid is easier to do than the brake fluid since it's only 1 bleeder valve. All I do is suck all the fluid out of the reservoir, fill with fresh fluid ... hook my hand pump vacuum up to the bleeder and suck the fluid through until it runs clear / clean (while keeping the reservoir topped up). Put the lid back on the reservoir and your done.

It uses DOT4 just like the brakes.

 

Clutch fluid is the same as brake fluid, DOT 4. Use a syringe and extract as much of the old fluid from the reservoir, and then wipe out any residue with a rag. Top up the reservoir and then bleed the clean fluid down and out the nipple on the clutch slave, left side of the motor. Just the same process as bleeding brakes, squeeze the lever to pressurise the system, crack the nipple and let the fluid escape, close the nipple, then release the lever. Repeat as needed until fresh looking fluid is coming out of the slave (use some clear tubing that is a tight fit to the nipple and drain this into a bottle for later disposal). Keep the reservoir topped up during the process so you don't accidentally suck air into the line.

I doubt that fuel will separate from oil, they're both hydrocarbons and will mix intimately and not separate out unless you were to distill them. Your best bet is to keep a close eye on the new oil level and see if it rises over time.

 

thanks guys with the suggestions and tips, like i said previously... i am no mechanic and im trying to do as much as i can on this bike myself, im trying to get over the habit of taking the bike in for servicing like i have in the past.. so this bike is kinda like a new teaching aid for me.. i have been trying to read up on the procedures before actually performing the asks, i have been very tempted to purchase a haynes manual on the bike instead of using the owners manual, because i find the owners manual not very helpful on some of the pages i have read...

One thing i want to do in the future is rebuild the front forks because the tubes have slight rust spots on the surface that i would assume will eat the fork seal if it hasnt already, but i have not seen any leakage.. kinda curious if the front forks are low on oil any since the rust spots have probably been there for a while....just unsure how to check the fluid in the forks correctly

 

Today i took the time to dive into the bike more, did a coolant flush, i think they had some sort of performance coolant in the bike.. it had a smell i have never smelled in a coolant.. almost smelled sweet like race gas does... and it doesn't absorb to paper easily...

I let the oil sit and checked it today and there is a very thin layer at the top of the oil level that is clear, i took a syringe and took some and placed it on a plate, it doesn't smell of gas, i have no idea what that layer is... maybe the shop put some type of additive in the oil when they did the oil change... i have no clue.. the new oil change i did doesn't show this level on the sight and i placed the oil level at the max line so i have a specific point to go off of if i am gaining gas in the oil..

I also flushed the brakes again, first time i did it i only did the front right and the rear, completely forgot to do the front left, curious if this is what made the brake fluid turn tanish again... i got flushed an entire bottle of dot 4 through the clutch system, it was very thick and dark brown.. maybe this is the cause of my miss-shifts occasionally... not sure.. i do think i may have a leak on the clutch reservoir where the piston goes in, because there was a small amount of fluid forming a drip after i done cleaned it all off...

 

Firstly, get the actual HONDA service manual. It's worth every penny:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2002-08-Hond...ash=item2eeacbec30:g:rgIAAOSw-zxWn8TX&vxp=mtr

Second, where is the fork rusted? This would concern me a little depending on WHERE it's rusted and HOW badly.

If it's in an area where it passes through the fork seal, and it's bad enough, you will likely need to get new forks or find a shop that can hard chrome and machine the forks back to good condition. I'm assuming what you're referring to is only just a light surface rust that will buff out and leave a smooth surface?

 

the area that is rusted is on the front side of the shiny fork tube, the inner tube that passes into the seal.. its not terrible and there is no sign of leaking fluid, but i am unsure if its already leaked out and just to low to leak now.. its barely felt with your hand when you run your hand across the surface....

I did get the helibars on the bike today, was very confused at first because the angle that they sit at is threw me off when i looked at the orientation on the bars, i put the right one on the right side of the bike as you sit on the bike and look forward, and the left one on the left.. just made the hydraulic lines very tight and touching the edge of the collar on the bars... i will have to adjust them again in the morning because i took the bike around the block to see how i liked them, went to maneuver around something in the garage and the bar barely pressed the brake lever against the windshield.. so it startled me by locking the brakes on me without expecting it..

 

My brake lever does not touch the windscreen what-so-ever, so yeah, you will want to adjust those.

As for the rust ... if you can feel it, and it passes through the fork seal, then it's likely too much and will wear the seal causing it to leak.

 

In regards to the rust, when I helped Scubalong change the fork seals on his bike, we used some 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper and some WD-40 and polished the sliders clean. They were actually pretty pitted too, this cleaned them right up.

In regards to the Helibars, there is a tool that you can buy, or make yourself like I did, that will help you align the bars evenly on both sides. I made this tool using some all thread and a couple of pieces so aluminum stock. You can check out the tool on MotionPro's website and figure out how to make it. Works like a champ, used it today actually when I aligned the bars on my Ducati.

 

Cool stuff, OOTV ... I have been measuring from the tip of each bar to the center of the fuel cap (turn the bar to the extreme on each side).

Your tool seems like it would make this process so much more easy.

What did you do with the cavities left behind on the fork tubes? Did they fill themselves in some how? Or did you just try and wear the surface down so it was smooth enough that it wouldn't wear the seal prematurely?

 

Yeah the tool is great, set the angle on one side, take the tool to get the alignment off of the fork tubes, tighten the wing nut, the flip the tool 180 and align the other bar up. Viola, both bars have the same angle. It took me a little over an hour to make the tool, since I didn't have exact measurements of the MP tool, I kind of took a couple of cracks at. I made sure it would work with both VFRs and the Duc. I used a carriage bolt at the pivot point so that all you need to turn is the wing nut and not need a wrench or screw driver to hold the bolt while tightening the wing nut.

Here's a link to the tool, and I don't mean SOW!
Motion Pro handlebar alignment tool

Maybe "pitted" was the wrong term, these were more like little bumps and raised specs of rust versus actual holes in the tubes. Not to sound gross, more like "skin tags" of rust.

 

To really get a look at the corrosion/pitting on those fork tubes, an inspection mirror helps to see the back sides.

Anybody got a link or a lead to a shop that can re-do those tubes? The mach 1 91 is aboot due for that.

 

Any shop that does hydraulics will be able to help you ... some will have their own hard chrome tank and others will have companies they deal with to do the hard chrome and send it back to them to be machined.

 

i was actually going to attempt to replace them myself, i see a lot of used forks on ebay... just gotta find a set that are straight without rust, the other option is to purchase replacement tubes and take the old forks apart and replace the seal and fork tube myself.. its like $200ish for the set...

 

Ya i aligned them to the little notch in the triple the stock ones align to, didnt realize they would hit.. might draw a mark x distance from the notch and adjust both to that mark....