rehellek32

I like em... Look like a high speed rated snow tire!

This look familiar?

Thanks for all your feedback. Heres the photos of the pistons and heads... The #4 piston can slightly rotate by hand in the cylinder which makes me think piston pin and rings? Im thinking this is why I heard air through the oil filler hole (oil pan). I am trying to get my hands on a micrometer set to check clearances. The gasket seems almost new in person. Tomorrow im gonna make the custom socket to remove the adjuster nut to remove the engine all the way out so i can start inspecting rings etc and will take photos... Any other comments welcome, this is my first complete teardown so thanks for the help. The alt cover is original btw, I just stripped the paint and polished it a while back after i scraped it.

That's what i was thinking but thought i'd ask anyway, thanks for the input... Now i just have to get hold of the special tool to drop the engine out the frame, Anyone know if this tool(s) is only avail from Honda? Don't know how many miles are on the bike but after overheating, a blown headgasket could cause the low readings on the one hole. The electrical issues won't have anything to do with it. It's a 99 with 20k and I've owned it since new. Meticulous about repairs, oil changes, fluids etc... First overheat was at about 500mi on a hot day in traffic with a tail wind. I would have put more miles on her if it hadn't run so rough but I would loose the itch... Anything I should look for or know of during the rebuild aside of what the Honda repair manual says?

That's what i was thinking but thought i'd ask anyway, thanks for the input... Now i just have to get hold of the special tool to drop the engine out the frame, Anyone know if this tool(s) is only avail from Honda?

I have had a rough idle for a few years and after throwing parts and money at her i finally did a compression test which resulted in the following: #1 Cylinder 130psi low! #2 Cylinder 135psi low! #3 Cylinder 130psi low! #4 Cylinder 80psi VERY LOW!!! After getting these results I hooked up a compressor to the compession tester adapter, put the #4 cylinder at TDC and let in about 80psi and got a decent flow of air thru the oil filler hole... Tested the cylinders that had the higher reading and heard nothing but a tiny bit of liquidy his thru the intake valves. I have already started the tear down and am planning on valves and rings, maybe pistons. Question for any experienced mechanics/motorheads is what would overheating a few time cause only one cylinder to be lower than all the others? I also came across a fried cable from the stator to R/R which i must have bean riding with for years and never knew, could this have anything to do with the compression? Any help appreciated.

You might want to check your radiator cap, thermostat and the lines to the recovery tank. I also installed a larger aluminun radiator before adding the second cooling fan I have checked/replaced these items... What radiator did you use? Is it from a Honda?

Poster number two stumbled across this thread somehow and decided to respond to it, his motivations for doing so are his own. It's a new post if you haven't read it. Age is irrelevant. For anyone registering today, every single post on this entire forum is a "new" post. I thought it would be decent to respond to fellow xx rider that had a similar issue, be it 9 years later, since noone else did. I remembered how infuriated I was when my two week old shiny new bird puked in traffic and I distinctly remember hearing the change in combustion sound, sometimes called pinging or knock, when it happened. I remembered researching the knock sensor and how it didn't do it's job and adjust timing, or whatever it does, and felt like ranting, sort of. Didn't intend to stir the pot with anti honda blaspheme but it's my actual yet unfortunate situation. I'd like to thank everyone on the site that has offered advise and/or responses to my questions on this issue through the years, especially Northman, he knows his shit.

Same thing happened to me a few times, no rain relation though. Dealer was no help an I feel my engine has never ran right since(hard starts, rough idle, clanky not cct done that) time to buy a new bike and not sure if I will go with Honda again since I was stonewalled on this and was never happy with the outcome.

I'm thinkin of adding a second fan now... She's boiled over on me about 5 times since new and I haver been able to fix it. Engine has run rougher after each boilover too. Guess I got the rare lemon

I took your advice and also installed a second cooling fan on my 2002 XX and it works fine. I've never experienced boiling over but the temps would get to 225+ and even though there didn't seem to be any damage to the engine I didn't like looking at the gage reading that high. Thanks for the info and pic's you sent.