bluegoatwoods
Well-Known Member
Good morning all,
Last night my daughter came home and told me that my wife's bike had stopped running. This morning I went out and had a look. It was just a quick look, but in that time I found 3 drive shaft bolts had loosened and lost their nuts and lock washers, rear engine mount had loosened and fallen off somewhere on the road and the spark plug had backed out. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to admit that I had slackened up on my inspections a bit. But everything had seemed to be holding fine. On the other hand, the bike had been parked for about 4 hrs locked to a fence. Maybe someone had been trying to steal the engine? Or just sabotage?
The spark plug brings up another issue; I had been thinking of having a look at it for a couple of days. The reason is that this engine has, from the first, needed more choking than my other engine. Twice I've pulled the carburetor off, checked that the O-ring is seated right and siliconed the outside of the intake. Yet that spark plug is looking like it's been burning a bit lean. Symptoms of an air leak, yet I really don't think that air is getting past the filter assembly. Seems a bit mysterious.
Anyway, checking constantly for looseness is obviously a very good idea. You'll see folks in here who say that they check these things every day or every ride. Looks like they are not overdoing it. So I thought I'd throw out a reminder.
Last night my daughter came home and told me that my wife's bike had stopped running. This morning I went out and had a look. It was just a quick look, but in that time I found 3 drive shaft bolts had loosened and lost their nuts and lock washers, rear engine mount had loosened and fallen off somewhere on the road and the spark plug had backed out. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to admit that I had slackened up on my inspections a bit. But everything had seemed to be holding fine. On the other hand, the bike had been parked for about 4 hrs locked to a fence. Maybe someone had been trying to steal the engine? Or just sabotage?
The spark plug brings up another issue; I had been thinking of having a look at it for a couple of days. The reason is that this engine has, from the first, needed more choking than my other engine. Twice I've pulled the carburetor off, checked that the O-ring is seated right and siliconed the outside of the intake. Yet that spark plug is looking like it's been burning a bit lean. Symptoms of an air leak, yet I really don't think that air is getting past the filter assembly. Seems a bit mysterious.
Anyway, checking constantly for looseness is obviously a very good idea. You'll see folks in here who say that they check these things every day or every ride. Looks like they are not overdoing it. So I thought I'd throw out a reminder.