be changed by moving the small clip up or down. In real life, the top-most (richest) or bottom-most (leanest) settings are not used. The needle seems to be set at the fac- tory on the richer of the two middle posi- tions. Many people find the bike runs as well or better at the leaner of the two middle settings. As the carb goes back together, I apply a tiny bit of anti-seize to the two or four top screws. I could feel a difference in how the Mex-
ico bike ran on the few trips I took on it after doing this work. I have put it away for the summer and am back on Strider, my “original” Slash Five. As I noticed after the work done at 200,000 miles, the bike again runs noticeably better after getting the new parts. I haven’t really tested the R 100 S or Susanna’s R 100/7 but the work is done on both of them as well. I’ve also done this for a couple of the local riders who have air- heads with high mileage.
Hydrostatic Lock The R 100 S fell over about a month ago. It was in the back yard, on the side stand, and the wind was enough to push it over on the right side. It received a new scratch on the fairing but, thankfully, no major damage. The bike does show that it has a few miles on it so the new marks sort of fit in. The bike was on its side for about 20 minutes. When I picked it up, I was aware of the
possibility that oil had found its way into the combustion chamber. Over the years, I have repaired two or three airheads that had suffered bent connecting rods due to hydrostatic lock.
I’ve also repaired bikes
that suffered broken starter housings for the same reason. Liquids do not compress. This is the
principle behind hydraulic brakes and clutches. If there is liquid in the combus- tion chamber, either water or oil, the piston simply cannot get to the top of its compres- sion stroke. If the other side manages to fire, the engine will rotate with the piston on the side with liquid in the chamber pre- senting an immovable barrier. The result usually is simply an engine that won’t turn over. On occasion, the engine will suffer a bent connecting rod. The “fix” is to be careful with a bike that has been on its side for more than a minute or so. When I laid my Slash Five on its side to extract that flat tire in front of my room in a Mexican hotel, I knew it would be okay because it was in that position for just 45 seconds or so. The R 100 S could have been down for up to 20 minutes. So, I picked it up, pulled and grounded both sparkplug caps and just touched the starter button. Sure enough, there was a “clunk” sound instead of the regular noise of a turning over engine. I removed the spark plug on the “down- hill” side, grounded it and hit the starter
button. A heavy oil mist was blasted out of the right spark plug hole as I idled the bike, with the left side firing away. After a min- ute of this, I turned the bike off, cleaned the oil off the extracted plug and put it back. I started the bike up again. LOTS of heavy white smoke! I rode the S for several miles and never really got rid of the smoke. It also did not feel like it was running prop- erly. I figured there could be oil in the car- buretor, so I delved into it. Sure enough, there were pools of oil in the area of the diaphragm. There was also oil in the needle jet/mixing tube area. I pulled all the jets and other parts out and cleaned them off with spray carb cleaner. When put back together, the bike ran much better, and the smoke quickly vanished. What could have been a major repair became a few minutes of cleanup to the right side of the engine. I am starting to get excited about the
Hamburg rally. Susanna and I are still deciding on bikes or the car to get there. We’re combining the rally with a trip to New England to see the grandkids. Either way, we will be there and involved in vari- ous events. Susanna is the Door Prize Chair this year, and for the past two months or more, this activity has sort of taken over the house. When you enjoy the Rally, just remember A LOT of people are volunteer- ing their time and talents to a very large extent to make it happen. See you there!
The right-hand carburetor of the R 100 S after falling and spending around 20 minutes on its side. The intake valve obviously was open to allow the oil to get to the carb from the combustion chamber. I'm surprised that side of the engine ran at all!
Ten miles after the fall-over, the bike was still blowing a LOT of smoke! It quickly went away after I gave the right-hand carb a good cleaning.
August 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS 51
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134