Seriouse Issues!!

[HondaCBX6]

So......



I stopped over at Linda's house last night to possibly help her with her carbs. She had everything covered pretty well. I am sure she WILL make it to Marlinton. Me on the other hand....



So I got back from Linda's last night and before I shut it off I heard a noise I have never heard before. Upon further investigation with a screw driver to my ear, I hear a very nasty noise coming from the top off the motor. It sounds like a cam bearing or something. I do not have any expertise in this. But it is loud enough that I do not think it would make it to Marlinton and back without really doing some damage and leaving me stranded in the middle of no-where. Dan is going to tear the top of the motor open to take a look today. It could be one or many making a scraping noise that is very distinct. It seems to be the 4-6 exhaust side cam. At least the sound is loudest from that side. It is a very metallic sound. A squeaking/rubbing sound. It starts and runs, but I am BUMMED! It was a great evening. With Linda helping me with some things to make my ride a bit better. I was really looking forward to this. In fact. It is really the only thing I look forward to every year.



Now the questions:

How do I tell which one?

How can I prove oil flow to that side?

Can a single oil passage get plugged?

If it is a bearing, is it possible for me to repair such damage in a two week period?

How do I identify which one/ones are having problems?

If it is a plugged oil passage, how do you clear it?

The last thing I did was to rebuild the alternator. Replacing the clutch plates. I followed the directions in the service and applied moly grease to the plates. Could this have plugged the oil pick-up?

What do I do now?

Help???





John

jmortens@attbi.com

[EMS]

Potentially serious issue indeed. If it's a worn cam holder/seat it could be a real nightmare. The cam seats were originally line bored on the heads, that's why Honda never sold a replacement set of caps. We repaired a shot engine once by reboring the seats - need some fine equipment for this and then spray-welded (metallized) the cams and reground them to the new diameter. Very elaborate and expensive.

[Land_Shark]

Isn't there a company somewhere in the States that specializes in converting plain bearing or no-bearing bores over to roller-bearing? I seem to recall reading about them somewhere.

[cbxchris]

I have seen where the head is reline bored and the cam journals are hard welded and reground....can you say expensive?

[HondaCBX6]

It's very rare for an internal problem to 'suddenly

appear'.





Not in my HEAD it isn't!!!!



Ok, now I feel like a dope! It was late at night and dark. We were tired and I was really getting stoked to go on the trip. Then there was this weird, loud, grinding noise. My head started swimming. I was tired and had to get home. All I could think about was missing Marlinton. It made for a bad nights sleep and a depressing day at work. I didn't even want to go and look at it last night. I figured why? All it would do is depress the heck out of me.



Well I got a call from Linda and she asked me if I had found anything out yet. I said no. She said she would meet me over at Dan's house. Dan lives about 45 miles from me. I figured if Linda was going to help me I had better get off my butt and go.



Well I am glad I did. Linda brought over a really nice stethoscope for listening to the inside of the motor. Works real good! As it turns out it WAS (as many suggested) the tach cable. I didn't put 2+2 together. The sound was loudest on the right side. It was also loudest on the end of the cam. I suppose the sound was traveling through the tach gear into the cam. Well as Linda suggested (and others) I should remove the tach cap/gear. The sound was gone!!! I opened the cover assembly to find the tach cable was real corroded! It was dragging inside the cap. I never thought about this since it was a new cable last year. Along with a new tack cover. I must have either missed lubing this, or it somehow got filled with H2O. In the end, this corrosion cause a loud grinding noise that seemed to come from inside the top of the motor. I made Dan clean this up since he has so much experience with cleaning up corrosion on his bike! ) I then lubed the entire assembly along with the cable. All is good!!!! )



Now I have a bike that is all tricked out for traveling and with NO WEIRD NOISES!



When you all meet me in Marlinton, be nice! I will be the one with that paranoid look on my face with my ear stuck to my motor! )



Thanks for all your suggestion and support. And a special thanks to Linda and Dan for not tying me up and stuffing a sock in my mouth!

John



See you in WV! God willing!

[Fondahonda]

I love happy endings!