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Lost Not Found's poor mechanical skills thread. Surely he wouldn't try and fix electrical problems with sellotape? Now with added Volvo bothering.


LostnotFound

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Well the postie delivered a letter with my new registration number on it through my door so that part of the saga is done.

 

The actual admin process was pretty painless, I certainly wouldn't let that put anyone off importing the French chod of their dreams.

 

I'm going to get it insured and take it round the block out of pure principle before doing anything else to it. I guess when it's ridden and the suspension is being used I'll find out quickly how bad the fork seals are.

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60 miles could take me a while if it's ride 4 push 2 as it was today....

 

post-20069-0-80822900-1481729661_thumb.jpeg

 

Attached is a photo of the bike actually somewhere other than the garage! Yes that's right it took me on an errand. I was feeling happy, everything was going well. Then it wouldn't let me select neutral, and trying to force it into that at the first roundabout on the way back stalled it. At which point it wouldn't restart (well until after I'd pushed it down the cycle paths in Stevenage a bit and I tried again once back near the roads.)

 

I've been doing my best to dig my head in the sand and pretend I don't need to somehow extract the carb from the bike, however that bullet must be bitten. It has a tendancy to piss petrol out the bowl overflow when you try and start it after it's stalled so the hopefully taping to free up the float obviously hasn't worked.

 

I'd like to order a rebuild kit, but the internet isn't playing ball with making getting the correct one straightforward so I'll have to get it off and measure some bits so I have some reference to order one in future.

 

Other things to do now also include, making sure I buy a decent helmet with a pinlock visor, riding around with the visor up to prevent glasses steaming up isn't ideal. Investing longer mirror arms, I mean I like the look of my shoulders as much as anyone, but it'd be nice to pretend to be able to see the white van six inches behind.

60 miles could take me a while if it's ride 4 push 2 as it was today.

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You don't really need carb rebuilt kits as such with those carbs if it's the same as the Dt125R they're really simple and straight forward. From memory undo the 2 screws holding the throttle top on and remove it complete with slide and cable still attached, turn it upside down and remove the float bowl (replace the screws with stainless Allen bolts and spring washers if you have them) you should be able to see the idle and main jets remove them both and give them a good blast through with compressed air.

If the idle jet is bunged up and won't clear use a bit of wire from a wire brush to clear it with. In theory this is a no no as there is the possibility you could enlarge the jet but it's never happened to me.

There is really no need on most carbs to dismantle anymore, just give everything a good blast through with more air.

If you need any o rings etc you should be able to buy them individually from Yamaha

 

If it's done mega miles then it's possible the float valve might be worn but it would be worth checking the float heights if it drips from the overflow when stood.

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You don't really need carb rebuilt kits as such with those carbs if it's the same as the Dt125R they're really simple and straight forward. From memory undo the 2 screws holding the throttle top on and remove it complete with slide and cable still attached, turn it upside down and remove the float bowl (replace the screws with stainless Allen bolts and spring washers if you have them) you should be able to see the idle and main jets remove them both and give them a good blast through with compressed air.

If the idle jet is bunged up and won't clear use a bit of wire from a wire brush to clear it with. In theory this is a no no as there is the possibility you could enlarge the jet but it's never happened to me.

There is really no need on most carbs to dismantle anymore, just give everything a good blast through with more air.

If you need any o rings etc you should be able to buy them individually from Yamaha

 

If it's done mega miles then it's possible the float valve might be worn but it would be worth checking the float heights if it drips from the overflow when stood.

 

 

Cheers, that is really helpful info, Certainly makes it seem a tad less daunting. It's done circa 30k so wear is a definite possibility.

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  • 1 month later...

A relatively positive update this one. Having followed the good sages of Autoshite I cleaned out a fair bit of gunk that was at the bottom of the float bowl and blew out the jets with some compressed air, put back together the bike fired happily first push, however in the traditional one step forward, two steps back approach of trying to fix things it didn't take long to notice the growing puddle of petrol.

 

To cut a (many many hours) long story short, adjusting the float didn't work, replacing the float needle did just as little. But on reassembling the carb I noticed I couldn't get the float bowl gasket into it's channel in the bowl, a new one was ordered and it's surprising how much the old one had swollen / stretched I really should have taken comparative photos but didn't think about it until after binning the old one.

 

In terms of the not selecting neutral when warm before, I have adjusted the clutch out a bit (as far as I can using the adjuster on the lever) and fingers crossed it seems to have made a difference, I haven't really taken it far enough to know for sure, if it hasn't fixed it.

 

The rest of the list still needs attention, with two real stand outs, new tyres after payday, and sorting the speedo out for MPH, triple checking your maths conversions when you come across a Speed Camera van isn't a way towards riding nirvana as I found out. 

 

No post could be photoless so below is a photo of the carb with the bowl off, you can see the offending black gasket hanging off. I still think carbs run using black magic rather than petrol, how anything with so little tolerance can be battered about by myself and still work is completely illogical.

post-20069-0-51313100-1484438036_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

So for the first time yesterday I went on an adventure to a strange and Foreign land, visiting Craigtheprincess and his little un in Norfolk.

 

This was by far the furthest the TDR has gone under my ownership and it was all pretty smooth sailing other than one issue.

 

Twice (in the 4 hours of riding to give an idea of frequency) I had a loss of power / which would turn to stuttering when you opened the throttle. Both times were when going at warp factor 9 / 65ish. First time I pulled over, and in neutral she reved up happily so carried on with no more issues for 70 miles until after an actual overtake on a dual carriageway I had the same symptoms as I came to an exit so came off there and it was fine by the time I'd got to the roundabout by the end of the slip road.

 

It felt a little like fuel starvation, as it was a tad similar to how it feels if you happen to forget to turn the petrol back on after filling up (so I've heard, I'd never have done that of course....). Combined with it being after a bit of running at higher than my usual cruising speed of 60 does that sound likely?

 

Or is it about to nip up and kill me?

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Investing longer mirror arms, I mean I like the look of my shoulders as much as anyone, but it'd be nice to pretend to be able to see the white van six inches behind.

TADTS; bike mirrors generally give you a good view of your elbows, it's a feature of the product. The best bet is to start doing neck exercises to give you enough mobility to do the good old-fashioned lifesaver.
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Hmmm no, that looks OK.

 

What's it like for oil, based on its smoke trail? Are you running it on pre-mix 2-stroke oil, or is it mixing its own oil? Might be worth checking that the ratio is OK.

 

It's got a separate tank for the oil, and based on nothing but guess work and two fill ups it seems to have used very roughly 50:1 ratio overall, which for a mixture of stop start and a roads seems in the ball park? Other than sitting in traffic for an extended time when it raised slightly and dropped as soon as I was moving, the temp gauge stayed where it's always been once warmed up.

 

Loads of white smoke at start up as you'd expect but that seems to calm down in running, and appears to be getting better as I ride it more. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well adjusted the float bowl and went out for a ride, was happily smashing the sound barrier riding happily at 65, for a few miles then suddenly lost power again. I had the great fun then of riding back on a duel carriageway for half a dozen miles at 30 mph max.

 

Given it runs well up until it doesn't, and carrying on the checking easy things first route, I decided to see how easily fuel was flowing to the carb. Disconnecting the fuel line from the carb the petrol seemed to at a decent rate, and didn't get faster when I did the unscientific open the fuel cap and see if there was a venting issue check. 

 

Having looked at the way I'd put the carb back on, I'd routed the fuel line over the top of the carb rather than around, giving gravity a bit more work (can you tell I'm clutching at straws) and on pulling the line out I also pulled out this filter / gauze that was in the carb inlet.

 

Although it doesn't look that clogged, water barely flowed through it whilst I tried to clean it a bit. Looking online I can't seem to find any replacements, it doesn't show on the exploded diagrams of mikuni carbs, does anyone know where to get a replacement? 

 

Given the petrol appears to be clean I'm going to risk a little ride on it tomorrow without anything there to see if that's cleared up the issue.

 

After that, I'm really going to have to bite the bullet and try things like the coil, given it has more issues when it gets hot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

post-20069-0-80427400-1494867266_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Filter removed in the hope that would mean copious fuel getting into the carb, (petrol runs happily out of the inlet when you take it off and turn the pipe on) went for a good ride the other day and it held it's speed at 60 for 8 miles with no issues.

 

Went for a ride today and had issues even within town, it's now hesitating randomly at times when you have more than half throttle, including pulling away at a roundabout, so it's gone from an inconvenience to a tad hairy.

 

So my questions for the enlightened masses today are:

 

If it was a blocked jet in the carb would it not cause issues consistently?

 

If it was the coil breaking down at higher temperatures, would it noticeably misfire rather than just dropping power? 

 

To make sure there is a picture on this thread, have one of something I did actually fix the other night! My TDR now shows MPH, which means I should be safe if I'm stopped at a UKIP roadblock on a trip somewhere.

 

 

post-20069-0-96235700-1495643358_thumb.jpg

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There are 2 or 3 jets in the carb that control different amounts of throttle, normally an idle jet which is from approx tickover to about 1/4 throttle, a main jet for most of the rest and sometimes a power jet which chucks in more at the top end. Possibly more, your HBOL can help there.

 

Anyway one of these could be blocked, or partially blocked only affecting certain running conditions.

 

One quick low effort way to try and clear the jets is to put your hand over the carb or airbox inlet while the engine is running, this causes the engine vacuum to suck through the jets and may clear a small blockage.

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Have you tried a fresh spark plug?

Some 2 strokes can be very funny about having a decent plug.

Is it black wet and oily when removed?

 

post-20069-0-82382700-1495708713_thumb.jpg

 

It's slightly darker than it was when I reset the float bowl but not excessively so? It's a relatively new plug, as the one that was in the bike when I got it was fouled.

 

I think unfortunately gentlemen you are all correct, and I'm going to have to suck up removing the Carb and cleaning it. I know it's not a massive job but it would have been nice to have a usable bike over the only nice week of the year we get in the UK.

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  • 6 months later...

I haven't really posted anything car related on here as I don't own anything interesting and make work here people would do in their sleep seem like a full restoration, but the 'what do we do thread' has encouraged me to add this.

 

Neither garage that I use / trust wanted to touch it with a barge pole, there are multiple things that could cause the same problems and you'd very quickly get to the value of the car at garage rates so both said 'we don't really deal with diesels of that age'. In reality clearing the light, flogging it to WBAC for a few quid and cutting losses would be the best thing to do. But as we know logic isn't really the done thing around here so in my interpretation of autoshite style I'm going to plod on regardless.

 

Quick background, if you need a car to do less than 5k a year with many trips being 6 round miles what makes an ideal choice? Yes a semi modern dizzler. In the spring my other halfs Astra went over the bridge and she replaced it with a 52 plate 1.0 d4d RAV4 at far far too much but she liked it and it was available after months of me trying to sell her on every bargain* that came up for sale on here with no luck.

 

Of course it cruised through its six months dubious warrant happily towing our trailer tent on holiday, then proceeded to go into Limp home mode and throw on a turbo related engine light. Google wisdom suggested the first thing to do was change the fuel filter. Which cured things for a couple of months until recently when it's got less umph than a moped and has instead thrown up a fault code relating to the suction control valves (see below for offending items) given it feels like fuel starvation when you drive it (very similar to the TDR before it's second carb cleaning) I decided it was worth a shot and made the mistake of ordering some parts.

 

.What is described as a 40 min 4 bolt job online should be straightforward other than the access which looks like the bottom photo. You can just see the red cap of the front valve, the green one is behind. 

 

So after a day of freezing to death fighting with this twat of a car I've managed 3 bolts and one valve out. With the minus of having lost the bloody hex socket bit in the engine somewhere having already taken the undertray off to fish out an allen key earlier. No longer being able to feel my fingers and fading light has left me to retreat inside to work on a plan to waste my second Rest Day of the week swearing at it tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

post-20069-0-73481300-1511977615_thumb.jpg

post-20069-0-08202100-1511977720_thumb.jpg

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Back to proper stuff as the RAV4 is currently sitting there awaiting another bit of tinkering but nothing vital at the moment.

 

 Onto the VFR. Details of some of the issues and vain attempts at fixing it are below on the moribund ask a shiter section 

 

https://autoshite.com/topic/35603-automotive-electrics-for-dummies-help-please/

 

After ignoring advice based on hoping I hadn't been sold rubbish second hand parts it turns out Dave was correct and it was the clocks that are were the main problem. They suffer from two issues, one is the plastic mounting lugs snap when they are removed which limits the number of second hand ones knocking about. The second is the tracks on the flexible PCB degrade. I'd had no luck trying to rejoin them on the first set I have, so this time around I got more technical.

I had had thoughts of soldering a jumper wire over the obviously knackered bit, however as there wasn't much space and the track was completely gone I went for the following option instead.

 

One branch is held down under a washer, the other by the connection on the bulb. I now have back lighting and more importantly the full beam warning works as it should. The right indicator warning light flashes as it should, the left one doesn't. Google suggests that's only an advisory so I can now book an MOT and see if I can get another 12 months to get the rest of it back in some sort of presentable shape.

In the medium term I am tempted by an Ebay special replacement dash to solve the issues once and for all. 

 

 

sellotapep.jpg

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  • 10 months later...

I realise that I never update my thread so as I had a FTP thought it was time.

Well the above fix held with a bit of modification to make it more permanent. So any need for a universal dash can be put back, probably until the same time as the remenenats of the fairing gives up and I have to try and fit aftermarket ones from a different bike.... 

So back to the FTP(ish) I might have over sold it. Headed out for a ride, nice shiny ex hairnet satnav mounted ready to point my way to adventure. Filled up at the local pay at pump, started up straightened the bars, and it cut out. Started again cut out as I tried to turn, noticed it was the whole dash bar the clock, bollox.

Paddled over to a space and proceeded to wiggle the wire to see if there was a way to tape them that would at least get me back. A quick bit of wiggling and one of the wires came out the bottom of the ignition barrel. 

ignitionbroken.thumb.jpg.3d307dda55fc78923b017f28be72c529.jpg

Well at least it's was obvious and was going to save me time over trying to chase a dodgy ground etc.... I managed to tape it back into the bottom of the switch which kept the power on as long as I didn't turn the bars far. A tad interesting as a ride back but beat pushing it for a mile.

I love a faired bike when riding it whenever a bit cooler or raining and can't imagine putting up with a naked bike. Then whenever I have to take the nose sections off to get to any of it, I swear I'll never own a faired bike again. It's like trying to shove someones intestines in while you stitch them back up trying to get all the bits in and stuff lined up while you screw it on.

Anyway I digress. Here is some shit soldering, everything now works as expected through the full range of motion, I just need some time to take it out for a run to check.

ignitionfixed.thumb.jpg.2fed4a21a942c4923a07fdda76b1be1d.jpg

 

 

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  • 8 months later...

So, having gone almost a year without a 4 wheeled conveyance of my own I couldn't risk that ticking over to a full year and my Autoshite membership being revoked.

The end of lockdown and the little one going up to 5 days at pre school meant a second car for the household was needed* as something to just trundle up and down to the local village an Aygo / C1 was the obvious choice. 

So when James put his C70 Convertible up in the for sale section it made perfect sense, who doesn't buy a 2.4 litre turbo drop top as a run around? A quick insurance quote showed it'd be less than a score more per year to insure and 300 quid a year in tax extra to drive something that you actually want to easily passes the man maths value for money test....

It only has a couple of niggles that were known issues when I picked it up. The first one of which has put its hand up and waved at me so I thought I'd better update this thread.

The EML stayed off happily for a few weeks, but popped on, after pulling over to put up the roof as it'd started drizzling. I'm sure it was the cars way of scolding me for allowing a couple of drops of water to reach its seats.

@Craig the Princess very kindly posted my codereader across having left it with him before lockdown, so this morning I chucked it on to check the code.

 

as @juular had predicited it was...

Firstly how swish is it to have a OBD socket in the arm rest, there's plenty of other chod that could learn from this rather than forcing you to crawl around while digging under the dash. If you're going to have the temerity to throw faults up at least let people read them in comfort.

codereaderfault.thumb.jpg.500efe3e33d2ca2ae582557d5bba3d3f.jpg 

 

The expected low cat efficiency thingy. Which is good, at least it hadn't thrown any extras in for  a laugh.

Given everything James has done to try and cure it, I'm going to go down the o2 sensor spacer route. 

I'll stick a question in ask a shiter to see if anyone has done it before and has a recommended source. 

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  • LostnotFound changed the title to Lost Not Found's poor mechanical skills thread. Surely he wouldn't try and fix electrical problems with sellotape? Now with added Volvo bothering.
  • 4 weeks later...
On 2/25/2021 at 9:53 PM, LostnotFound said:

So, having gone almost a year without a 4 wheeled conveyance of my own I couldn't risk that ticking over to a full year and my Autoshite membership being revoked.

The end of lockdown and the little one going up to 5 days at pre school meant a second car for the household was needed* as something to just trundle up and down to the local village an Aygo / C1 was the obvious choice. 

So when James put his C70 Convertible up in the for sale section it made perfect sense, who doesn't buy a 2.4 litre turbo drop top as a run around? A quick insurance quote showed it'd be less than a score more per year to insure and 300 quid a year in tax extra to drive something that you actually want to easily passes the man maths value for money test....

It only has a couple of niggles that were known issues when I picked it up. The first one of which has put its hand up and waved at me so I thought I'd better update this thread.

The EML stayed off happily for a few weeks, but popped on, after pulling over to put up the roof as it'd started drizzling. I'm sure it was the cars way of scolding me for allowing a couple of drops of water to reach its seats.

@Craig the Princess very kindly posted my codereader across having left it with him before lockdown, so this morning I chucked it on to check the code.

 

as @juular had predicited it was...

Firstly how swish is it to have a OBD socket in the arm rest, there's plenty of other chod that could learn from this rather than forcing you to crawl around while digging under the dash. If you're going to have the temerity to throw faults up at least let people read them in comfort.

codereaderfault.thumb.jpg.500efe3e33d2ca2ae582557d5bba3d3f.jpg 

 

The expected low cat efficiency thingy. Which is good, at least it hadn't thrown any extras in for  a laugh.

Given everything James has done to try and cure it, I'm going to go down the o2 sensor spacer route. 

I'll stick a question in ask a shiter to see if anyone has done it before and has a recommended source. 

I always found IPD in the USA good for identifying parts and then maybe bying elsewhere like eBay!

 

So, for your car, they have these two oxygen sensor spacers listed:

https://www.ipdusa.com/products/8656/Oxygen-Sensor-Spacer-IPD-109553 (fixed)

fullsize_21562.jpg

https://www.ipdusa.com/products/12093/Adjustable-Oxygen-Sensor-Spacer-IPD-125604 (adjustable)

fullsize_33035.jpg

eBay seems to have quite a few listed so you should be in luck.

I hope you are having some roof down fun as the spring arrives!

 

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  • 1 month later...

So I did finally find a dry time to visit my parents tame flat drive and make the most of being able to get a cuppa now lockdown is a dim and distant memory..

As above there are two options, a right angled one, and a straight spacer.

It was a 50 / 50 shot so of course.

wrongspacer.thumb.jpg.ca8c2249350e6c13321b75bc6dccc19f.jpg

 

you can almost see in that photo, you can't screw the angled one in as it fouls the cat when you turn it.

On the upside, despite not budging at the first attempt, a quick spray of Halfords 'shock and unlock' (other snake oil loosners are available and probably better) and the sensor came out, so when I get the new spacer I know it'll be relatively straight forward to fit as I only put it back in finger tight. I did use a o2 socket to get it off, which if anyone in the future does read this and is thinking of being tight, was well worth the investment.

The only other niggle it's developed is the trigger button on the shifter is sticky and needs wiggling to come out when you put it in park. It's not a major issue at the moment but I need to sort it before it does completely stop working.

 

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