Dewaterification

So leaving the Levin Trail ride after actually needing help to get the bike up on the ute (it sucks not having an engine) was a bit sad but I had to turn my attention to sorting the bike out - and sorting it out quickly.

At the ride I'd got advice from two bike mechanics (and I had the old man on speed dial too) and they stressed that I needed to get onto it straight away.  So on the way home there was a quick stop to pick up some cheap oil and then after unloading the ute I was into it.

Ten bolts to get to this point and one more for the tank

This scungy looking thing had been removed at the ride too

The bike had already been stripped down beside the river (the plastics rode back in the box on the quad and the rest just balanced in roughly the right place while I sat on the bike) so my first action was to drop the old water contaminated oil out.  This was done cold without the usual warm-up to aid draining.

Probably actually one of my "flushes" in there too

I then replaced the oil and moved to the top of the motor.  On Dad's advice I put a couple of squirts from my oil can down the plug hole before working the kick-starter (with my hand) over probably 20-30 times to see I could get any more water out.  I'd obviously got 99% of it out at the river as I only got the old bit of "mist" back out the top.

Now for the moment of truth.  In went the plug and then after plugging the fuel and pump electrical connections in, I hit the starter.  As it turned out the bike barely turned over before roaring into life - phew!

After letting the bike warm up for quite a while (I let her get pretty hot), I shut it down and promptly drained that lot of oil out.  I then repeated this and then left the bung out overnight so any condensation could drain out.

During the week I gave it another flush and then with the last 1L of my cheap oil gave it a final flush on Saturday.  After draining this last lot of oil I then changed the oil filter and I still wonder if I should have actually done this after perhaps the first flush - it's doubtful there was water in after the dunking but maybe after that first warm-up?

Filter changed it was then time to check the two oil strainers.

I had done the one above before and this time around I even laid the bike over a bit on it's side and found that I was still draining oil out that hadn't come out the bung - another lesson for next time.

Next up was the interesting one that lives under the magneto cover and there is all sorts of bits and pieces living under there.  Just watching the below video gave me the heebie-jeebies - checkout what he says at about 1:22.

But anyway, I needed to learn how to do it at some stage so I followed his instructions and...

All lined up...

Getting closer to the moment of truth...

And hey presto!  Stuff does fall out!

Then it was time to remove the oil pump cover and check out that screen.

Yet more oil hiding away that I was able to drain out...

Not exactly filthy

As you can see the screen looked pretty good - I'm not quite sure what I was expecting but at least I know that oil should be able to get to the pump ok.  I didn't even remove the screen (no circlip pliers - doh!) but gave it a good wipe and stuck it back in.

But, it was good to check in under that cover as there was the odd water droplet sticking to the inside of the cover and up around where those gears go.  There was even some "cappuccino" oil/water froth in places.  it was nice to be able to get a rag in there and clean things up - I wonder where else there could be some moisture hiding?

That done, I now had to work out how the clockwork jigsaw puzzle went back together.  I had three sets of gears, four washers, a spacer and a small bearing to find a home from.  The spacer and bearing were easy to work out and so were the sets of gears but I only had four washers - where were they supposed to go?  If you watched all of the video (and I'm thinking that maybe only fellow RMX riders will bother) you'll notice that he never shows how all the bits and pieces go back together...

I was seriously scratching my head and just a little bit worried.  I got even more worried when I lost track of a washer for a while - I sifted through the used oil and scoured the shed for it until finally I fished it out from behind the magneto housing.  Thank goodness for magnets.

Ok, time for a wee Google.  Well, pretty quickly I learned that I wasn't the only guy to have had the same quandary and some thoughtful guy had posted up a video and explanation on a forum.  After that it was just a matter of holding my tongue right to get everything in place before replacing the cover.

Here's what things should look like under there with everything in its correct place.

Clockwork Suzuki

Motor all buttoned up again it was time to finally add some decent Castrol into it and then also to replace that air filter before another warm-up followed by an oil level check.

Fresh filter with a spray of filter oil on it.

While the bike warmed up I put the tank, plastics, seat and bash pad back on and then shut her down.  A small top-up after letting the oil settle and I called the job done.

So hopefully the poor wee thing is ok - it seems to start and run ok but I guess if I'm really, really unlucky there could be some damage.  I'll get someone with a better mechanical ear to have a listen as soon as I can and I think I'll do the oil and filter again after the next ride.

Fingers crossed...