Learning from your mistakes / what obvious stuffups have you done to your bike?

[mike-s]

I thought that i'd post this as just recently i did a corker of an effort on my bike. I have always known that the "on" position on my gsx250 has leaked fuel, and consequently i usually kept it on reserve when im not using it (been meaning to fix that though)..

Anyway the other day i got back from a 2600km adventure on my other bike and decided to start the 250 up for good measure. For no good reason i fiddled with the tap before i started her up, and eventually shut her down. Fast forward a week or so and i decide to check she's all good as i was meaning to take her out the next morning for a good spin to blow the cobwebs out. Well she winds over, just, a couple of times, then acts as if she has just locked. I check the tap and realise i may have a problem, i check the oil level and can't see any oil on the dipstick at all, even when i wipe the stick clean, dip it in, and try again. There's also a slightly funny smell eminating from the oil filler hole that has seriously raised my suspicions.

I dump the oil and instead of the 1.8-2litres i was expecting out comes close to FIVE LITRES of what could only be described as over oily 2 stroke
premix . I'm thankfull that at this point i'd already done about 100km on this tank, as it means the tank was just over half full before she dropped fuel into the sump. I let her drain, replaced the oil, made sure the tap was on reserve and got her too fire up after her initial coughing and complaining.

I've dropped a bit of this stinky fuel/oil back into the tank just so that i can make sure i have enough to get to the service station down the road so that i can fully fill her up and dilute this mess and get her out of this stinky predicament. I'm just lucky it didn't cost me more than wasting 2 litres of brand new oil on a grand total of of 200km of runtime.

So now, what's your moments of genius?

[Nessism]

Remember…it’s only a “mistake” if you do something wrong twice.

[mike-s]

true, but i already knew about the fact that "on" was leaking when the engine wasn't providing vacuum, yet i managed to leave it in "on".

[bwringer]

Installing the shoddy junk in aftermarket carb kits.

$100 down the tubes, along with countless hours lost, terrible oaths uttered, and much gnashing of teeth. I finally cleaned and re-installed the original parts and all was well again.

The only usable parts were the bowl gaskets, around $3 each by themselves.

Lesson learned:
1) Carb kits are crap



This was a long time ago, but I fought various running problems with my GS850 for a couple of years after I bought it. Eventually, because the intake o-rings were bad and I had no idea what the problem could be, two exhaust valves burned quite badly.

I took the head to a shop to have new valve guides pressed in and sized, and ordered all the various gaskets, valves, and parts to rebuild the top end. Gave the guy around $500. I received around $100 worth of parts, but only got the runaround when I asked about my cylinder head.

A couple of months later, the shop was closed and vacant, and the story was that the guy had skipped down to evade arrest for dealing.

Lessons learned:
2) You can't fake a proper air-fuel ratio.
2a) Just because it runs doesn't mean it runs right.
3) Never, and I mean NEVER, EVER trust a shop. Or a junkie.

[don_gibb6512]

Stripping down what was probably a perfectly good '83 GS1100GLD because out of my ignorance, I couldn't get it to run right after 4 years of messing with it. This was prior to being an active member of the GSR and basically being just overly stupid. Still have the bike but don't know if I'll ever get it back to running again. Since acquired an '80 GS1000G and an '80 GS1100ET. The ET is running and is the "apple of my eye" but the G has a lot of potential. Just need to get some motivation to get it going again.

Don

[Steve]

Just need to get some motivation to get it going again.

Just how much "motivation" is it going to require?

For the next few days I am working just a few miles away from you.
I can stop by on my way home and maybe we can kick a plan into gear.

.

[don_gibb6512]

Thanks but I've got things to do on my '80 1100ET and then there's the task of getting my '80 GS1000G back to road worthy condition. That at least has potential. You're more than welcome to stop by though. I'll pm you with my contact info.

Don

[marvinsc]

A very common screw up that I and many others have done is pinching the clover shaped O Ring when installing the oil filter cover. When You start the bike the mistake becomes very obvious.

[Griffin]

Trying to use a torque wrench set in the lower 10% of its range. Not only is it highly inaccurate, but one has a tendency to snap delicate bolts with no warning....

[rustybronco]

Ran my 2-stroke Kaw with bad crank seals and torched a piston.

[ktp1598]

Lets not forget buying used or new parts off of the internet before you verify that they fit....