Honda CX500 & GL500 Forum

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05-17-2008, 6:46 PM kingston73 Joined on 04-19-2008 Norton, MA Posts 460 Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... I first posted on here a month or 2 ago, when I first got my cx. After replacing the ignition coils, all new fluids, valve and cam chain adjustment, brake rebuild kits for master cylinder and caliper, cleaning the carbs (twice, the first time I didn't do it right), painting the tank and side covers, new tires, and new battery, I'm finally ready to put some gas in it and see if she runs. Like the subject says, keep your fingers crossed. It hasn't been cranked for over a year, so I have no idea what to expect tomorrow when I try to start it. From reading all the posts, I'm assuming I'll at least need to spray some starter fluid in there at first. I'll let yall know how it goes... 1979 cx500D/1980 CX500C engine    Report

05-17-2008, 9:14 PM RustyTec Joined on 08-26-2007 Dallas Posts 345 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... I will wish you luck. It looks like you have all your bases covered. Maybe starter-fluid will not be needed. Good luck., RustyTec on a ’81 GL500. She’s not my bike. I’m just her current boyfriend. - She gets everything that she needs, and most of what she wants. - Works for us.    Report

05-18-2008, 5:40 AM Anonymous Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... AS its been a while since it ran I suggest you take out the plugs Crank it until you see the oil light go out then replace them and try to start it Good luck ! Reg

05-18-2008, 5:49 AM Reg in Bristol Joined on 03-11-2006 Bristol UK Posts 348 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Perhaps I should add that as the CDI's dont like floating outputs If you do the above, disconnect the 2 way (Blue and White) connector from the stator under the seat as you do it Just to be on the safe side......... At last ! I got off me ass and built it    Report

05-18-2008, 6:02 AM Phil in VT Joined on 03-02-2006 Lowgap,NC Posts 1,034 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Good Luck 82 Honda GL 500 SilverWing Trike "Old Yeller" 06 Suzuki S 50 Boulevard Cruiser ANY WARM DAY ABOVE GROUND IS A GOOD ONE (unknown senior citizen) Springfield, VT    Report

05-18-2008, 6:07 AM PWG in Lowgap NC Joined on 01-08-2008 Minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway Posts 733 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Yes, good luck.  RO80 Dave.  I don't kbow why you can't log in. http://httassociation.com 82 GL500 / 66 MGB Trike "Old Yeller" 05 Suzuki S50 "Plaything" ANY WARM DAY ABOVE GROUND IS A GOOD ONE (unknown senior citizen)    Report

05-18-2008, 9:46 AM kingston73 Joined on 04-19-2008 Norton, MA Posts 460 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Well, the first startup and ride for well over a year had its good and bad points. Just got back from riding it around the block twice. The good: started right up, only took 2 presses of the starter button and she fired up on both cylinders. All lights and signals work, and the brakes work. The front brake still feels a little soft, I think I'll try the "tying the brake lever" trick overnight to see if that helps. The bad: Within 5 minutes of running the temp went all the way to and past the red, it literally buried itself as far over as it can go. The coolant level in the overflow tank is at the full line, I'm letting it sit and cool down before I take the tank off, but if its that hot that quick, does that mean the thermostat is stuck shut? The shop manual says either thermostat stuck, not enough coolant, or blocked radiator. Suggestions? 1979 cx500D/1980 CX500C engine    Report

05-18-2008, 10:04 AM Anonymous Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... see this thread http://choppercharles.com/cs/forums/20677/ShowPost.aspx congrats ,enjoy your cx

05-18-2008, 10:34 AM kingston73 Joined on 04-19-2008 Norton, MA Posts 460 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... I'm an electrical moron, so it's really hard for me to understand, so I apologize if I ask any stupid questions, but as far as I can understand, if the pipes on either side of the thermostat feel hot, that means there is coolant flowing and the temp gauge issue is the 7 volt regulator? I just went out and look, and the bottom of the regulator, if its what I think it is, is corroded and falling apart, and the wire leading into the headlight is also corroded and hardened. I have no electrical knowledge and no test meters at all, but can I assume if there is no coolant overflow my bike is OK to ride? Should I test the coolant temp with a thermometer first? I just put new coolant in, so if I can take a shortcut and avoid taking the thermostat out I'd clearly like to do that, but if that's the only way I can tell if its really overheating or just the regulator, I guess I'll have to bite the bullet. 1979 cx500D/1980 CX500C engine    Report

05-18-2008, 11:49 AM kingston73 Joined on 04-19-2008 Norton, MA Posts 460 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... I also just noticed my speedometer doesn't seem to work, could this be a related problem or is the speedometer a mechanical, non electrical deal? 1979 cx500D/1980 CX500C engine    Report

05-18-2008, 12:42 PM Panther Joined on 05-09-2006 Las Vegas, NV Posts 323 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Take a thermometer for making candy, (they can be found at most grocery stores) it goes over 250 deg. and has a long metal probe you can put into the fins of the radiator and check the temp with. put it near the bottom corner near the outlet pipe so you avoid the fan and can see what temp is coming Out of the radiator. You can then check the inlet temp next in the upper corner to see if it is higher than about 210. The speedo is Mechanical, you can check it by pulling the cable from the front wheel and pulling out the inner steel cable. It should start with a round metal furrel with a slot in it, and end with a squared off section of cable. (It probably has a round end where it broke and the rest will still be in the cable housing. Peace & Light >^..^< .......... '83 GL650swi "My Little Grey Lady" '82 GL500swi parts bike '78 DT175 '86 LS650 Milady's bike    Report

05-18-2008, 1:03 PM kingston73 Joined on 04-19-2008 Norton, MA Posts 460 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Thanks for the help, Panther.  It's started to pour rain on me here so I'll have to wait another day.  I didn't drive it for long, and its been at least 10 years since I've last ridden, so I'm in no way ready to ride in even a slight mist, much less a steady rain.  My new Bridgestones feel pretty good so far, and the shocks don't feel bad.  The front brake's not great, but its not as bad as I'd been expecting.  It's as good as the cx single piston can get, I have new pads and a steel brake line on it.  I'll take some pictures of it once I'm done making it look pretty, I need to buff the tank and still need to paint one of the side covers.  I painted both of them the same time in the same exact way, one of them turned out terrific, and the other bubbled and dryed severely wrinkled, so I have to start that one over again.  I don't really understand what I did wrong, or if I just got lucky with the other one.  All in all, for a bike which was pretty neglected and not used for years, it's maiden voyage was actually pretty successful! 1979 cx500D/1980 CX500C engine    Report

05-18-2008, 1:26 PM Exothermia Joined on 04-18-2008 Posts 116 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck.....  kingston73 wrote: I painted both of them the same time in the same exact way, one of them turned out terrific, and the other bubbled and dryed severely wrinkled, so I have to start that one over again.  I don't really understand what I did wrong, or if I just got lucky with the other one. The finish that wrinkled wasn't compatible with whatever was under it. Most commonly with paints this will be a situation where the part was painted with lacquer and you put an enamel over it. Or it could have some contaminants on it like wax, etc. Sand it down, prime it with a primer of the same brand as your paint so you know its compatible and then finish. When I painted my bike I used a Rustoleum primer and enamel and then an ordinary lacquer clear. Lacquer will stick to anything but enamel will not. Lacquer has the advantage of drying very very quickly and flattening out smoother so I prefer it for clear. There is a lot of good painting information in the link on the Links section of this site.    Report

05-18-2008, 5:59 PM kingston73 Joined on 04-19-2008 Norton, MA Posts 460 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Thanks for the tip.  I sanded it all down again, I'll try the primer, enamel, lacquer technique next.  To put the lacquer over the primer, should I wait longer than whatever the enamel can says to wait? 1979 cx500D/1980 CX500C engine    Report

05-18-2008, 6:16 PM Exothermia Joined on 04-18-2008 Posts 116 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... It should be fine as long as you wait as long as the can says.    Report

05-18-2008, 8:02 PM RustyTec Joined on 08-26-2007 Dallas Posts 345 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Here is a neat little inferred thermometer that may be more convenient: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=93983 I keep mine Velcroed  below the speed-o/tach to use as a clock. (farside note: It is vary interesting to measure a clear night sky). RustyTec on a ’81 GL500. She’s not my bike. I’m just her current boyfriend. - She gets everything that she needs, and most of what she wants. - Works for us.    Report

05-19-2008, 5:39 AM kingston73 Joined on 04-19-2008 Norton, MA Posts 460 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Where do you have it measuring the temperature? At the radiator? I'm going to stop by the grocery store and get a thermometer and try the radiator measurement thing after riding it some today. How long should I ride it to get to normal operating temp? 1979 cx500D/1980 CX500C engine    Report

05-19-2008, 6:32 AM Sidecar Bob Joined on 03-02-2006 Kawartha Lakes, Ontario Posts 1,116 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Re the 7V regulator: Honda powered the temp and/or fuel gauges on bikes of this era via a regulator that supplies 7V. This was done so that the gauges would have a consistent reading no matter what was going on in the rest of teh electrical system. The system voltage can vary between 9V (idling with the brakes on and the signals flashing) and 14.5V (running at speed). If these gauges were connected directly to the system voltage they would read significantly lower when you are sitting at a corner waiting to turn than while driving. The 7V regulators were pretty reliable when new, but a lot of them are over 30 years old now and failures do occur. When one fails the output will either become higher than it should or lower than it should. If it goes higher the gauge(s) will read high. If it goes lower (often no output) the gauge(s) will read low. On models with both temp & fuel gauges it is fairly easy to diagnose - both gauges will do the same thing. On models with only one gauge you need to measure the output of the regulator to know for sure - the gauge itself or the sensor could be faulty. But it is almost always the 7V regulator. Checking it with a thermometer is a good idea. If the temp is good you can then either get a cheap voltmeter and measure the 7V regulator's output or look for someone with a voltmeter who can measure it for you. It is also possible to get high output voltage from a good regulator if it's ground connection is faulty. GX650EI + Velorex 700 (winter), '83 GL1000 (summer) '84 CB750SC Nighthawk (died - anyone need parts?)    Report

05-19-2008, 2:34 PM RichNCT Joined on 03-02-2006 Posts 2,262 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... Do check that the radiator is full, run it with the cap off to verify coolant flow after the t'stat opens.  Also, keep touching the left hand chrome water pipe, it will get hot when the t'stat opens, also verifying that the t'stat is working.  As for the new tires, go easy for the first 100 miles, they need to wear in.  Run around some curves too, to open up the edges of the tread.  Brandy-new tires can be surprisingly slippery for a while, ESPECIALLY on a wet road, or on painted lines.  With a little luck it's only the 7v regulator that needs replacing.  By the way, the coolant will boil and steam with the radiator cap off. Born to be relatively wild    Report

05-19-2008, 5:39 PM kingston73 Joined on 04-19-2008 Norton, MA Posts 460 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... I went riding again today, only for about 15 minutes, 2 miles.  The temp gauge today only went most of the way to hot, not all the way into the red.  It's about 5-10 degrees cooler today, if that matters.  I didn't take the rad cap off yet.  As soon as I turn off the bike the temp gauge drops right down, is that normal?   About how long, in 60-65 deg. weather, would the bike need to run before the thermostat opens up? It took many more tries today to start than it did yesterday, but I didn't use starter fluid at least.  From what i've read, these don't like to start sometimes, but should it have been difficult after sitting for a day?  It took maybe 10 pushes on the starter to get it going, with full choke in about 58 degrees.  I didn't give it any gas at first, and then after the first 3-4 tries I turned the throttle maybe 2-3 times and tried again.  Is there a startup method that works better than others?  I was trying to stick with the factory owners manual.  I realized today my brake lever doesn't activate the brake light, I need a new switch for the master cylinder.  It works fine with the foot lever.  That I can fix, but I also found that my horn doesn't work, and don't really have any idea of where to start troubleshooting for that problem.  Oh yeah, as for my speedo problem, it wasnt' the speedo, it was me.  I feel kinda dumb, I forgot how much faster being on a bike feels.  It really does seem to work, about 20 mph in 3rd gear at around 3000rpm, maybe?  does that sound right?  The odometer works as well, just me being dumb. 1979 cx500D/1980 CX500C engine    Report

05-19-2008, 10:08 PM RustyTec Joined on 08-26-2007 Dallas Posts 345 Re: Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck..... For the first start of the day, I would always use some choke. At least if it is below 85 degrees. ½ choke 85 to 65, full choke below 65. I always give it various amount of throttle during starter operation. I’m starting to give it 3-4 quick throttle twists before hitting the start switch.  (I do have an accelerator pump, but I have no idea if it works). It maybe seems to help. I would never try to start her , first time’ without giving her some throttle. I would think that she would give me ‘that look’ that we all want to avoid. I would think that she would start circulating in 5 to 15 minutes of a start, almost regardless of the temperature or RPMs. Thou Lack of a load should delay it. Certainty –20 or +100 would have a big effect. Be careful with no front brake-light, be sure to use you rear. RustyTec on a ’81 GL500. She’s not my bike. I’m just her current boyfriend. - She gets everything that she needs, and most of what she wants. - Works for us.    Report

05-20-2008, 3:50 AM