The other day you may find that just one of your cylinders is working.
Typically in the beginning it's an intermittend fault. To figure out
if your problems are really caused by a faulting C.D.I. unit and which
unit faulted,
have a look at the tachometer: If it doesn't work, the
problem is with the left unit. If the tachometer
works, change the units from left to right and v.v. and watch the tachometer.
If it doesn't work, you will know now what the problem is. If it does, something
else happened. But in most cases the problem is a damaged C.D.I. unit.
They say that this faults are caused by a mechanical problem: a permanent
pressure put by the seat and the driver's weight would destroy the leads inside the unit.
Maybe. To prevent this, you may use the C.D.I. holder of the '94+ models (roughly
DEM 27.- at your dealer's, Honda part-# 30401-MM9-010), or, when not able to get it (our friends from USA, f.e.),
you may put piece of wood, appr. 1 cm thick, under the seat across the tube frames
in the near of the C.D.I.s. I did so, and I didn't have any trouble since then.
If you're lucky enough and familiar with the use of a soldering iron, you may be
able to repair the C.D.I.: mill off a piece of the plastic housing right on the
opposite of the connector. Be careful not to cut too deep, else you may destroy
the board. The thickness of the housing is just roughly 1.5 mm, and another 1.0 mm
is the thickness of a rubber plate between the housing and the board. For this, I'm using
a Dremel with a small circular saw blade mounted. Carefully
remove the rubber and re-solder the 7 connections shown on the 2nd picture. Doing it on one of my C.D.I.s
it worked, on another one (from some buddy of mine) it didn't. Maybe there are
different kinds of faults. Anyway, it's worth the trial, since you have to pay
one ton of money for a C.D.I. At a Honda dealer's
it's for about DEM 300.- to 350.-, if you're lucky, you can find
one in a second hand shop for DEM 150.- to 180.-.
Phil Herzog made some pictures to illustrate how it works, and they appear by kind permission of him. Klick on the thumbnails to get a fullsize picture. Also note, that the description (and much other stuff) is also available in German on Phil's Schrauberseite.
Here's what Thierry Jourdan from France
suggested:
The different operations are :
After many problems with a CDI on my transalp (1988), I tryed to re-solder
the 7 connections behind the connector. It worked during 3 months.
So I decided to completly remove the plastic. And I've found the problem (I
think).
5 or 6 solderings are bad (not enough thick) and disconnect with the
components. I think it's due to current or voltage power. So I re-solder all
connections. And it works great.
These operations take me about 2 hours of labor and it's worth the trial.
So I think that it could help somebody with these ... CDI.
And here is, what Johnny Reitan from Norway suggests:
I recommend to remove the whole back cover!!
I personally use a Dremel with a cutting tool.
A shows the area where the fault is.
B shows exaktly, where the defective solder point is.
But it's a good idea to re-solder the whole area once the unit is open!
You canīt see the fault, but just solder and try it! It should work fine!
Thomas Stock from Switzerland told me, that in Switzerland you can have a new OEM C.D.I. for SFr 160.-, so if you ever happen to visit Switzerland, you should check that out. To probably prevent damage, remove the rubber cage the units are in and mount them a little bit deeper, fixing them with a tape. Or, as Carlo suggested, mount the cage of the '94 model (ca. DEM 27.-, Honda part-# 30401-MM9-010). That makes the units lie behind each other instead of standing next to each other. I think, that's the better way. When I had this problem, there was no spare cage, so I put a 1 cm (0.4 inch) thick peace of wood under the seat across the tubes. With the second effect, that the seat comes up a little higher ahead and I sit a little bit more comfortable. Well, in those days I supposed this being a provisional agreement, but until today, it works (knock on wood - oh shit, have to dismount the side facings and the seat before. Ok, gonna take my head instead...). And nothing will last longer than a provisional agreement. That's one of the conclusions from Murphy's laws.
Also Vilmar from Estonia had this common problem. He wrote:
*Problem: after 5-10 min warming one cylinder stops working
So far so good :)
BR, Vilmar
*Done: Solderewd every f**** pin there :) and removed connectors (soldered directly).
Somewhat radical, eh? But if it helps ... ;-) THX, Vilmar!
| Honda part# | Marking, printed on the cover | Model code & year | Price app. EUR | 30410-MM9-008 | MM9 CI529 | XL600VH, 1987 | 170.- | 30410-MM9-830 | MM9 CI558 | XL600VJ, 1988 | 170.- | 30410-MS8-610 | MS8 CI558 | XL600VK ff, 1989-1995 | 250.- |
When being on a Sunday ride , I noticed my tacho needle jumping to and fro when having reached 6,000 revs in 5th gear: Up to 8,000, 9,000, back again to 6,000 and so on. First idea: clutch? Second idea: no, clutch came new some 10,000 km ago, and this was an untypical behaviour for a slipping clutch. So I tested it in first gear: needle jumpin' to and fro when reaching 6,000 ... and no increased rev level could be heard or felt. Thus, an electronical problem. I swapped the C.D.I.s to find out, if it was a C.D.I problem. Nope, so I decided to ride home below 6,000 revs ... Back at home, I finally found the reason: the cable between one of the rear cylinder's sparkplugs and it's ignition coil hat scrubbed against the clamp fixing the air dome, and now there was a little hole in it ... As first aid, I put some duct tape around it, and everything was ok ... Guess, I should replace the cable ... ;-) Hopefully I can replace just the cable, and don't have to buy a complete set of ignition coils ... :-\
Sunday ride again (guess, I should better not ride on Sundays ;-) ). Watching the tachometer, I noticed showing 0, zero, nothing, nix. Strangely, I noticed no lack of performance. Stopped and heard engine's idling sound. Both cylinders were working, but tacho needle was at 0. I unplugged one of rear cylinder's spark plug connectors, and - aha! Just one cylinder working. I learnt: tacho is connected to rear cylinder's second spark plug, the one you can't reach without dismounting seat. Back home I resoldered any connections I could reach inside the partially opened C.D.I. (see above), and everything was ok ...
Normally a Transalp should not consume oil (even if Honda accepts as normal an oil consumption up to 1 ltr/1,000 km). If your Transalp is from 1987 or 1988, you may notice a growing oil consumption beyond 40 - 50,000 km, caused by worn piston rings and probably worn valve guides and worn valve seals; newer Transalps won't have this problems. You may live with this or not; if you decide to fix it, you may discover pitting on exhaust valve clearing adjusting screw, exhaust valve rocker and possibly the exhaust cam of the camshaft. This will refer only to the rear cylinder, but to all engines of this kind: the 500 cc VT500, the 650 cc Revere, the 650 cc and 750 cc Africa Twin and even the VT600C, I believe. Honda dealers likely claim that this is caused by a wrong (i.e. too small) valve gap clearence, but funny enough, it really refers just to the exhaust of the rear cylinder... Every long distance test report says this. So I don't believe this, but I have no explanation for this phenomenon. This is not a real severe fault, but once the engine is open, you may fix it.
Two different problems.
The bike was parked. I inserted the ignition key and turned the switch on.
Run/Off sitch in "Run" position. I pressed the starter button and the engine
started. I released the starter button, and the starter still kept running
(engine running at the same time)! I put the "Run/Off " switch to the "Off"
position. Engine stopped but starter still running. I turned the ignition
key to "Off" position. Starter still running. I took away the ignition key.
Starter still running for more than 5 minutes. I got off the bike, I took
out the right back plastic panier and I lightly hit the starter relay (next
to the regulator unit). Starter finally stopped. This happened at least 3-4
times during the summer in very hot temperature.
I took out the relay, I opened it and I lubricated it inside. I re-mounted
it and the same thing happened 2-3 times. So I decided finally to replace
it.
Looking at the TA electrical circuit, the starter relay contacts are
connected directly (with very thick cable) to the battery without any
intervening switch. Probably the relay-output contacts were getting easily
stuck (no current through the relay coil) and they were not released. That's
why the ignition key had no effect on it. And this was only happening when
the outside temp was very high.
Same symptoms as before, except for starter stops working when switching off
ignition. However, even if any gear engaged, starter keeps on running (greetings to
Spencer Davies Group ;-) ):
This is most probably caused by a short-cut inside the starter switch. I "fixed"
it while repeatedly hitting and releasing the starter button. Appeared just once
up to now, therefor no further steps taken.
The other day you may find, that your neutral light doesn't burn, even if gear is
in neutral. Also, you cannot start your engine ... To get on, pull the clutch lever
and hit the start button.
Most likely this is not an electrical, but a mechanical problem. There's a
little pin inside the switch, and that is worn. I never did try to repair it,
it's easier to replace it. You'll find it behind the front sprocket's plastic
cover. Replacing is easy: Pull off the leads and screw it off, you'll need a
14mm socket wrench, AFAIR. Mount the new one, reconnect the leads - voila.
No oil draining or engine dismantling necessary.
Appears after 30,000 km or so and sounds like a totally worn out or misadjusted steering head bearing. The cause is, if it's not really the steering head bearing, the bush inside the fork. To replace this is a **-job, i.e., you should be a qualified mechanic to do this. Also, to replace steering head bearings, is a **-job.
Right now I figured out another possible cause for this. Recently the fork made a noise "dass es 'ner Sau graust" (means really terrible). I changed the fork oil, and what should I say - it's ok. So if anyone will notice this noise, first check out the steering head bearings, then change the fork oil before doing anything else. BTW, the stock fork oil is IMHO too thin-bodied (it's a SAE 5, I believe), so the damping is too soft (for me, 100 kg full dressed). I currently use a mixture of 1 part SAE 5 and two parts SAE 15W-30 Castrol fork oil, resulting in a good damping. Additionally I added a little bit more of oil (standing 122 mm instead of 125 mm), resulting in a better progression rate of the suspension.
Some Transalp owners complain about high speed wobbling (high speed? Har-har, it begins at 140-150 km/h). Hard to say, what the cause is. I watched this phenomenon mainly, when the following conditions came together:
Another two possible reasons are:
Sometimes my bikes wobbles, too. Then I'll press some grease into the bronce bushes of the ProLink, and it's ok. It's a good idea to put some weight on the tank, that seems to help in many cases.
Some words to the bronce bushes bearings of the ProLink. They need a special
maintenance. There are two nipples to press grease in, which will reach two
bushes. The other two bushes will not be supplied with grease, so grease them
explicitly whenever you dismount the ProLink (for example while changing the
chain). On my bike the bushes lasted for 100,000 km, then it was time to replace
them. I found a complete ProLink in a very good condition in a second hand shop
and gave DEM 50.- for it. I think, this was a real good deal.
Ok, after 150,000 km this ProLink also is gone, and I decided to make Emil Schwarz reconstruct it with needle bearings.
To prevent dirt from soiling the Prolink, I mounted a duster on the front part of the rear mudguard, made from a piece of the inner tube of a car tire. Also have a look at the 1994 model of the Africa Twin to see what I mean.
This problem, when it cropped up at my bike, I thought had been caused by lack of maintenance (and surely it was), but since other Transalp owners reported the same problem, I think it should be treated here. The front brake of the Transalp is a floating caliper brake, and the problem is a bolt going tight in his sleeve; this one, or, since model year '90, this one. You may not notice it while driving, but when changing the brakepads, you may find, that the new pads won't fit. In my case, the bolt sat so tight, I couldn't loosen it; the complete saddle had to be replaced. So, ever when you change the brakepads, check if this bolt moves slightly in the sleeve. If not, dismount it carefully (be aware of these rubber seals, they can easily be destroyed!), clean the bolt, polish it with some polishing canvas, if necessary. In any case, check it and grease it with special brake grease or copper paste (don't use normal grease, it wouldn't stand the temperatures).
Ulf Kiese reported a kind of clattering from the front brake. The reason was obviously a defective anti-whirr sheet, you'll find behind the pads (pic will come): two noses were broken. When changing the pads, be sure to pull out the old pads, before pushing the pistons back in their default seat. To do this, I use to use tongs, with an old brakepad as shelter between the tongs and the pistons.
Ulf also reported another problem: poor performance while front braking, noises from the front brake lever. This seems to affect bikes being ridden all the year. The reason is slight corrosion on brake piston/cylinder. Remedy: Every now and then remove the front brake lever, carefully pull off the cuff a bit and lubricate the piston with silicone spray.
David Mason experienced following:
Rgs....David M.
On wet days (plenty in the UK), I would be too nervous to even try to brake!
If I pulled it on gently, nothing would happen, if I grabbed it hard it would
brake but not before 'giving' at the lever causing a rather jerky motion.
I stripped the calipers, greased the sliders and dabbed a tad of grease
at the lever end. Everything was fine for a few days and then the problem
returned. I was sure that it was not the caliper so I dismantled the lever
and lo and behold, there was the problem.....wear between the lever and
the metal casting of the master cylinder.
The solution was to gently file (swiss needle file) away the worn part of the
casting and to fit thin (wavy washers) above and below the lever to fill the
gap. This restored smooth braking and had the advantage of taking the
slack out of the lever. I did the same to the clutch side.
The wavy washers are difficult to get hold off, they are used in the repair of
electrical motors. I tried several hardware stores before getting lucky in an
old tool shop. (wa'hey). The guy had an assortment of several sizes
loose in an old jam jar, Just the ticket, so I bought a dozen of the right
size.
If anyone would like some to effect a similar repair to tired old levers,
drop me a note with your address
(as it should be written on the envelope) and
I will be happy to renew my stock and post a few off (yes anywhere in the
world).
And always remember: working on the brakes is a **-job, i.e. you must be a qualified mechanic to do it. BTW, I prefer using the original Honda brakepads. They are more expensive than third party pads, but I never had any problems like fading and things like that. And the use of third party pads occasionally results in a faster worn out rotor, because some of them are harder then the OEM ones. And a new rotor will cost you one hell of money! The last info was ca. DEM 500.- (US$ 333.33). Italian brake specialist Brembo manufactures an aftermarket rotor for the Alp. For further info check here. Erik found another company manufacturing aftermarket front brake rotors in the US. Check out Erik's parts list. The worst pads I ever had mounted IMHO have been these "Dunloppads metal pads". I noticed extensive fading while riding down Alps passes, and a very high wear out of the brake rotor...
Roundabout 5 times my speedo faulted. Once it's been the speedo cable, being broken.
The other times the reason was wearing out of this white plastic wheel inside the
speedo gear at the front wheel, transmitting the wheel's rotation to the cable.
The speedo gear is recommended to be greased. I heard of people having never greased
it and having no problems with the speedo. At last I found out, that the reason of the
problems has been the grease. I used a normal grease. Those greases contain certain
amounts of acids and resins, and these components will destroy the plastic, the
gear wheel is made of. Thus, for greasing the speedo gear, use an acid and resin free
grease, like White Grease (tm) f.e. Since I'm using White Grease, I didn't
have problems with the speedo at all (knock on wood...)
How to decide, if the cable is broken or the gear wheel is worn? The simplest procedure is,
to remove the cable from the speedo gear (remove the Philips head screw you'll
find there). Turn the front wheel and watch the little shaft inside the gear box,
driving the cable. If it doesn't turn, the plastic gear wheel is through. If it
turns, remount the cable and remove it's upper side from the speedo. Turn the wheel
again and watch the shaft inside the cable. If it doesn't turn, your cable is
broken. If it does, the speedo itself is the problem. But that's improbable.
This is not a Transalp specific problem, but many owners reported it (including myself!). It refers to the REGINA chain and sprocket kits. You know, this golden chain, looking very nice, when it's new...In any known cases the clasp broke after some time, and as all of you can imagine, that's a rather dangerous thing!
Sometimes I notice a remarkable lack of performance below an engine speed of 3,000 rpm. It feels a little bit like the engine running with only one cylinder. Since above 3,000 revs everything is ok, I assumed this being a carburetor problem, not an ignition problem. The problem mostly appears, when the weather is cold an wet. My Honda dealer told me, that the cause probably would be a drop of water hanging around in either carburetor, caused by condensation of moisture on the inner tank wall. Sounds plausible, and since it appears below 3,000 rpm, I think the drop would plug the idle speed jet. My dealer suggested to put some gasoline additive like Wynn's or Liquy Moly or something like that into the gastank, that would crush the drop and it could be sucked through the jets and be exhausted. And that seems to work.
Thomas Stock from Switzerland knows about another reason for this: Early TAs (i.e. model year '87) might have vacuum slides made from plastics instead of cast aluminium. The slides are heated from the cylinder and kinda cooled from the other side, where the gas-air-mixture comes in. This thermal difference will cause the slides to be bended, and they jam. The difference to the phenomenon described above is, that closing the throttle will not result in a lower engine speed, i.e. you may notice an idle speed of somewhat 4,000 revs or so. To remedy this mess, you either have to mount aluminium slides (Honda sometimes will do this for free as a fair dealing), or, like Thomas did, twist off the slides by 1.5 mm (diameter). But I'm not sure, if that's "the real McCoy".
If sometimes your bike suffers from lack of performance below 5,000 revs, feeling like the phenomenon above, but not getting better beyond 3,000, but only after reaching 5-5,500 revs, then you may have a problem with your air filter. I bet, it's a third party product, isn't it? Once this happened to my bike and recently to Imke's bike, and we both fixed it while mounting a genuine Honda air filter, and afterwards we never ever had trouble like this. Well, this may not necessarily be the reason, but in two cases it worked. And it's the easiest thing to check.
BTW, nowadays I'm using a K&N reusable air filter, and it works perfectly. A K&N is a real good alternative to the genuine filter.
If your bike consumes tons of gas, if the performance is low, especially on upper revs, and if you can start the cold engine without choke, then probably the valves of the floating chamber are not correctly adjusted, meaning, the gas-air-mixture is too rich. Find an instruction how to correct this here. If that doesn't help or if they are not misadjusted, respectively, these valves are worn out and you have to replace them (those of XR500 will fit TA as well). This may happen after roughly 80 - 100,000 km (50 - 62,000 mls). However, more probable is, that jet needles are worn. I recently increased my mileage from 210 km until switching to reserve to 270 km by replacing the jet needles. This will happen also after roughly 80 - 100,000 km (50 - 62,000 mls).
Reported by Christos Zervos:
In my TA I used to switch to reserve long before the gas level drops to the reserve level. I had to maintain always a high level of gas in the tank, in order to avoid running out of fuel flow. Especially, when being "on reserve", I was able to drive only for 4-5 Kms, although there was enough fuel in the tank. By changing the fuel cock, everything got back to normal. ... You experience this problem because the fuel cock diaphragm is sticky and you have to switch to reserve earlier than normal.
Backfiring can have different causes:
This seems to be a real problem, at least on golden rims. I never heard of this problem on a silver rim. It begins with slight bumps, appearing on the outside of the rim, most likely in the near of spoke hole or in the near of the valve hole. You can't do too much against it, you may try to grind it und paint it with some golden rim colour, but taht will help only for a short time, because the problem is on the inner side of the rim. Thus, if changing tires next time, have a deeper look at your rim!
I'm not really sure about the reasons for this mess, but I guess, it might have to do something with the use of high pressure car wash. Sic, it's car wash, not motorcycle wash ... ;-) Since I dont do this any more, I have no problems withe the rims (knock on wood). OTOH, I also don't use hair shampoo anymore as lubricant when changing tires ...
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| Beginning corrosion on my frontwheel | Final stadium on ... | ... my old rear wheel |
Some people on the TA mailing list complained about water or humidity inside the right (and only the right!) turning indicator glass. I never noticed it, but I must admit, I never payed any attention to it. The reason isn't obvious, some people say, it could be, because the right glass is warmed up more than the left one, if the bike is on the sidestand, and when cooling down afterwards, the humidity will appear. Some other people recommended using silicone to seal the glass (from inside the fairing). I'll watch it.
Transalp Eddie has a cheap solution:
... I discovered a cheap (free), easy "fix" for this problem.
On both of my Transalps I took the smallest drill bit I could find
( 1/32 in or smaller if you have one) and simply made a hole in the
underside of the lense...angling it slightly rearward, so water doesn't get
blown in.
Eddie,
Voilà! No more droplets inside my turnsignals. Nobody knows the hole is
there but me...and you,of course!
Got mud in the hole you made? A straight pin clears it right up.
Insomniac Motorcyclist
Pacific Coast and Transalp Rider
Dirk Spiessens recently recommended Hammerite barbecue paint-Aerosol"up to 600°C".
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