My Gold Wing Work Journal

7/8/01

Wow. It's been a year since I've worked on the Gold Wing. I guess this is a testimony as to how darned reliable these things really are. In the past year, things have deteriorated somewhat, but the bike still runs very nice, starts sorta quickly and just seems to plug along. I put about 100 miles on it every other week from commuting, and I try to get out of town on it every once in a while.

It is getting tired, though. The battery has been going south slowly on me since last summer, although when the weather is warm (like it's been) it doesn't seem to need one anymore. It's due. It's about 6 years old. The valves on the left side are ticking when it's cold, but that could just mean they need an adjustment. I get a faint smell of antifreeze when I shut it off, but I think that's just seepage from the left side head gasket burning off. It's getting a bit dirty on top of the engine on that side and I figure I ought to check the head out to see if the valve seats need to be done. Later. Much.

It could use a couple of new tires, but the brakes are as sharp as they've ever been. I wouldn't say I could brake-stand it, but I can stop faster than one would think.

The primary reason I'm updating is that I've just finished a much-overdue oil change on the old Wing. It seemed to appreciate it. Oil and filter at just about 75,000 miles (64,000 miles indicated).

7/25/00

It just wouldn't be a complete year if I didn't change the rear turn signals on this bike. It seems that every year something happens to the rear end of this bike that makes me have to reconfigure the way the turn signals are installed to the rear of this bike. When I made the switch to the Krauser bags, I used these dinky little Motion Pro running lights as turn signals. Big mistake. Yes, it said right on the package they came in that they were not to be used as turn signals. I didn't care because they looked cool and were small enough to fit into the loop provided for turn signals on the Krauser bag frame. They looked great, but only the right one would flash with any consistency and the left one didn't light up half the time. There was some sort of bad connection that I never found a fix for. I eventually snapped that one off trying to "whack" it so that it would work. The sad part about this is that swatting it once usually did the trick.

SNAP!

I guess I have to give up being stylish. Project Rat Bike donated a couple of rear signal lights from the '82 Suzuki GS850G. They're huge and ungainly, but they're brighter than hell and flash even when the bike is not running. Cool. Welcome back flashers. It's nice not to have to worry about properly signaling lane changes for once.

7/11/00

Well this is a much belated update to the story of the Wing. It seems that the problem I had when the lights went out had nothing to do with the fuse box and everything to do with a completely fried and worn out ignition switch. I just happened to have another one on my parts bike, and within an hour of troubleshooting it, I was finished and back on the road. I'm even using the same key! I just so happens that the lock barrel is held on by one machine screw from the outside of the switch casing. I unscrewed the old one, pulled it off, and removed the one of the busted unit and then swapped them. Voila! a new switch with the same old key. It was a good thing it was as easy as it was. The old lock had been partially punched in the past and was a pretty iffy affair. I didn't turn very well and the key only worked with one side up. I finished this repair the Friday that started Independence Day weekend and so I've been cruising around since the 30th. Sorry for the late update. Cheers!

6/28/00

I finally found some time to address the carburetor issue I've been having. I think one of the sliders is getting hung up and this is preventing it from opening fully. I cleaned out the two right hand side carbs and the thing moves a little better, but not nearly as well is I had hoped. What put the topping on this rather unpleasant cake of a problem was that on my way back home from my test run, the thing died hard and cold about 5 blocks from the house. Damn. I checked the fuses but none were obviously blown. Time to break out the multi-meter and start jabbing. More work, less ride. Not fair.

6/26/00

I guess I confused how difficult it was to change the clutch cable with how easy it was to adjust the clutch cable. I have been needing to adjust this thing for quite a while now, but somehow I always thought it was a darn difficult job to do. Well, I now stand thoroughly corrected. I adjusted the bottom end and pulled in all the adjustment on the handlebar end and now all is well. That didn't hurt much, did it? She now needs an oil change, radiator cap and some fresh plugs wouldn't be such a bad idea either. I've also deduced that the crappy performance I'm getting when I put some hard twist on the throttle is because one of my carb diaphragms is not sliding well if at all. I get boggy performance until about 5K on the tach then she jumps like a cut cat. I have an extra set, so I may just swap one out to see if it gets any better. I will have to make sure the needle and its height setting are the same, so it won't be as easy as swapping the oil filler cap. It will have to be done soon.

Saturday was spent troubleshooting an overheat condition I experienced on the way home from work on Friday. It spit coolant everywhere, but all seemed to be functioning nominally. Then I realized that the fan never came on throughout the overheat. Hmmm...

I tested the fan on Saturday and found that it worked as well as ever, so it must have been the thermoswitch that turns it on. I took the old one out of the parts bike and swapped it out. I filled the coolant up, started it up and it overheated again. No fan action was evident and then I realized that I hadn't re-connected the fan when I was testing it. STUPID!!! After I re-connected the fan, the fan came on instantly. Obviously, the thermo switch was the problem. I tossed it. Now, I need to go on an extended run around town to see if it's going to hold up at extended freeway speeds and at puttering around speed. I'll evaluate the carb situation after I do this.

3/28/00
I spent the evening putzing around in the garage last night. It was a fairly productive night. I FINALLY installed the crash bars. It was a painless process. They went on just as fast as they'd come off the old bike. On the way to work this morning I realized that the little foot pads on the bars will have to be moved. Right now they're on the first bar and that's just way too close. I'll probably move them to the forward bar instead of moving them to the outside. The bike is wide enough with its bags already.

Speaking of bags, I found what I think was a couple of the original supports from the Krauser setup kit. I tried just plopping them on last night, but found that I must have installed them differently or something as they did not fit anywhere. I figured I had to shore the bags up somehow and so I modified the brackets so they would fit. Hacksaw, file, drill and a bit of cussing and they were fitted and tightened up. Did it help? I think so. The bags made a bit less noise on the way to work this morning.

The ride in was fast and brisk with temps starting out below freezing. The direct sunlight helped keep me warm, but I really should have worn my snowmobile gloves. I had trouble starting it this morning. I think the different pipes have changed things and I ran the battery down to nothing before it caught. Funny thing is, is that it's usually a first kick (yes, kick) starter. Not wanting to kick start it (too much trouble, you see...) and living on a hill, I tried to pop start it. Well, it did start, but with no way to keep the choke closed (no friction on the cable), it stalled again. OK, out with the key, open up the "secret compartment," out with the tray, off with the "tank" side cover and there's the trusty kick start lever. I grabbed it, removed the dust cap off the kick starter hole (behind the alternator for those of you not in the know...), inserted the lever and it started on the first kick. I think I may need a new battery before long.

The ride in today also showed me that I really need to straighten out the handlebars better. I was all twisted up going down the road. I guess that'll be for the next night. I think the next thing to do out in the garage will be the great carb cleaning. I'm waiting for a warm day so that I can do most of that work outside. Indoors is just too much with the fumes.

3/26/00
Sunday afternoon was spent trying to figure out how to get the top triple clamp bolt off. It wasn't a big job and now I don't need the tool. The blue-tipped wrench helped me out as did a proper drift. When I got the thing off, I found the bearings in not so good shape. The grease was looking pretty nasty so I took the balls out, cleaned the races and reinstalled everything with a liberal coating of grease. Getting everything back together correctly took a couple of tries and I'm not sure everything is aligned correctly. I'll have to take it for a spin to figure it out.

3/23/00
Another update... I added some JavaScript to the page in order to make it a little more user-friendly. I hope it works. I was out in the garage last night working on this bike. I took the handlebars off and made an attempt to adjust the steering head bearings because they were loose. Well, they're still loose. I found that you need a special Honda tool to unscrew the head bearing retainer nut just under the rubber cap on the top of the triple clamp. I'm going to have to order one. I thought I had that particular tool, but the one I have is too small. I bought it to undo the oil spinner in the CB350 my friend Jon and I rebuilt. Not having the right tool and having to wait to get it sucks. I also pulled the carbs from my notpartsbike. I'm wondering if one of the carbs on my present set isn't screwed up a bit. I'm going to clean out the set off the other bike, swap the jets out and adjust the needle down to see if I can get it to run just a bit leaner. It'd be nice to have all four carb slides working again, as well. I'll keep the page updated...

3/20/00
I joined the Gold Wing Webring. If you got here via the 'ring, welcome and feel free to check out the rest of the site. I put a lot of work into it and I hope you find it entertaining. Just click on this link to Consolidated Diversions or click on the icon at the bottom of this page to get to the front door to my website. There's lots of cool stuff about my other bikes, cars and quite a bit of information about Minneapolis history.

To Do List:
I have a nagging coolant leak from somewhere near the top of the radiator. I also would like to find a windshield that doesn't make me want to hurl. The final part will be tough as I really hate Vetter fairings. I want a nice piece of clear plastic that doesn't mess with my vision and keeps the wind off me. Is that too much to ask? Probably...

3/4/00
This spring I've hit the parts bike hard. I trans-planted the whole exhaust system and found that if the baffles inside the silencer are gone, the bike makes much more noise. It's kinda fun, but I may end up getting a couple if only to keep the noise down. The spokes on my old rear wheel were starting to pink and clink when I went around corners solo and really made noise when I was two-up, so I swapped it out with the parts bike as well. No more noise at all and a much better tire.

If you want more technical information, check out the GL1000 Tech Tips I've assembled.