The day came when theCL350 was back in onepiece, working, insured, registered and complete with its new H-suffixed registration number displayed so I could at last run it on the road.
I had already run it up and down my private lane a few times, so I knew that the engine and brakes seemed to be working ok at low speeds, but now I could give it a proper test. On the local 30mph roads it all seemed fine so I made my way to a faster road to see what would happen then. It seemed happy enough at around 60mph, but when I glanced in the mirror I saw something quite unexpected: basically, nothing. When I say nothing, it was in appearance a solid, light blue mass, completely blotting out everything behind me. It was a good way to stop the car driver behind from following too close, but I suspected that possibly something was not quite right, to put it mildly. Clearly the engine was burning oil, and lots of it.
You will recall that I had been a little taken aback to find that one cylinder had a fair amount of rainwater in it when I started work, though the engine turned over ok and seemed to have compression. I had decided to see if I could get away without taking the engine to bits but it looked like my optimism was misplaced. On the way back home the engine started misfiring and not responding well, but gave no signs that it was going to seize and I made it back under power.
Naturally, the first job was to take the spark plugs out and as I suspected, one was black and oily, the one on the right in Photo 1. The end of one exhaust was oily too (Photo 2). It looked like I was going to have to get the engine out again, but I thought that just maybe the problem might be a stuck oil control ring so I put the plugs back in and started it up. Funnily enough, it seemed to go perfectly well with no misfire and no smoke. The smoke only seemed to be apparent when the engine was working harder, so what was going on?
Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Classic Motorcycle Mechanics.
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Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Classic Motorcycle Mechanics.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Honda VFR750R - RC30
If there’s a more worshipped V4 out there, we’ve yet to see it: welcome to our reboot of the awesome VFR750R RC30…
Mountain tension!
Award-winning motorcycle engineer!
Fazer set to STUN!
What do you get when you mix CRK’s lovely café racer kit to Yamaha’s budget middleweight and the recently-retired Martin Fox? Well, one helluva foxy Fazer!
Project Suzuki 1984 RG250 part 4 BRUNO BARES ALL!
This month, while we wait for backorder engine parts, we strip the chassis back to the bare frame, assess what is needed and plan the reassembly…
Project Kawasaki Z900 Stocker part 2 Ralph has a blast!
For the best finish on his Z900’s motor Ralph wants the best, so he visits Stephen Smethurst Casting Renovation to find out how it’s done properly.
Project Suzuki TS400 Part 8 Loom with a view!
We’re getting down into the nitty-gritty this time with component testing and loom building. What could go wrong?
Project Yamaha TX750 Part 12 A question of balance…
Only The Beach Boys had good vibrations… so what’s Mark been up to, to sort out the bad ones coming from his TX750?
Splitting links
Ralph Ferrand works with tools all day long – he sells them too at bikerstoolbox.co.uk so he knows what works.
STAVROS: PRINCE OF PRANKSTERS!
It’s probably fair to say that Stephen JamesParrish’s persona and overall levity throughout his life have muddied the waters as to just how good a bike racer he was back in the day.
Metal magic!
Ralph Ferrand works with tools all day long – he sells them too at bikerstoolbox co uk so he knows what works.. .
