I've mentioned it here before, when my 2017 was brand new, it slid into a deep hole and ended up on it's side, sucking muddy water into the crankcase and hydro locking it also. I had to drive it over half an hour to get to a camp where I changed the oil, but it was too late, from that day on it burned oil. Last fall, it started free wheeling down hills, which scared the crap out of me. Consensus was that the "sprag" bearing, aka "one way" bearing, was bad.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I decided to tear it down and fix both problems, insitu. I took the seat frame off to get to the engine front cover, unbolted the front differential so I could slide it forward to disconnect the front prop shaft (drive shaft), the front engine cover off to get to the clutch, pulled the clutch to get to the sprag bearing, and found the clutch surface that the sprag bearing acted on was polished to a high shine, a result of using water as a lubricant. Cleaned everything up, lightly sanded the bearing race, and put it back together. Cost? $0.00, just hours of work to get the seat frame off and fight and curse the engine cover to get it off, and to find where the parts went that fell off as I took it apart. PDF Service Manual saved the day.
While I was "in there", I pulled the head and jug (cylinder), and found the same issue. The jug was shined up so smooth that the piston rings could not seal properly, hence the burning oil. So, I had the jug bored out .010 over, bought a new Honda piston, rings and gasket set, $350 CAD. Re-assembled the engine with new parts, cursing at the 3 piece oil rings as they didn't seem to fit in the groove, but finally it just seemed to come together and fit inside the piston, tighter than a, well, you can insert something sexual here if you wish. Had some difficulty getting the piston to TDC to set the valves as I didn't want to take off the box on the back rack. But, 2nd gear and gently pushing for half an hour and we got it there and got the valves set.
Finished up at 1:30 last night as I wanted to join the boys on a run today. Took her for her "new" maiden run, and she ran like a new bike. Didn't burn any oil, and had great engine braking down several long, steep, rough hills. Success!!!
Well, not entirely. When I put the engine cover on the front drive shaft had to slide through the mechanical seal, and it tore it. So it's leaking oil, but being in a hurry, I just took a couple litres of oil with me and went on the run. Went about 100 km, and it leaked about 1/4 of a litre out that seal. Not bad! I'll replace that seal asap.
All in all, it was a joy to drive the P500 again, and there was no burning oil smell coming back into the cab. It felt like my first time driving it, only this time I stayed away from the deep hole.
Oh yeah, if I can make a suggestion, SNORKLE YOUR P500!!! And put the air intake in the MIDDLE of the bike, so if it's on it's side, it might not ingest water... DAMHIK
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I decided to tear it down and fix both problems, insitu. I took the seat frame off to get to the engine front cover, unbolted the front differential so I could slide it forward to disconnect the front prop shaft (drive shaft), the front engine cover off to get to the clutch, pulled the clutch to get to the sprag bearing, and found the clutch surface that the sprag bearing acted on was polished to a high shine, a result of using water as a lubricant. Cleaned everything up, lightly sanded the bearing race, and put it back together. Cost? $0.00, just hours of work to get the seat frame off and fight and curse the engine cover to get it off, and to find where the parts went that fell off as I took it apart. PDF Service Manual saved the day.
While I was "in there", I pulled the head and jug (cylinder), and found the same issue. The jug was shined up so smooth that the piston rings could not seal properly, hence the burning oil. So, I had the jug bored out .010 over, bought a new Honda piston, rings and gasket set, $350 CAD. Re-assembled the engine with new parts, cursing at the 3 piece oil rings as they didn't seem to fit in the groove, but finally it just seemed to come together and fit inside the piston, tighter than a, well, you can insert something sexual here if you wish. Had some difficulty getting the piston to TDC to set the valves as I didn't want to take off the box on the back rack. But, 2nd gear and gently pushing for half an hour and we got it there and got the valves set.
Finished up at 1:30 last night as I wanted to join the boys on a run today. Took her for her "new" maiden run, and she ran like a new bike. Didn't burn any oil, and had great engine braking down several long, steep, rough hills. Success!!!
Well, not entirely. When I put the engine cover on the front drive shaft had to slide through the mechanical seal, and it tore it. So it's leaking oil, but being in a hurry, I just took a couple litres of oil with me and went on the run. Went about 100 km, and it leaked about 1/4 of a litre out that seal. Not bad! I'll replace that seal asap.
All in all, it was a joy to drive the P500 again, and there was no burning oil smell coming back into the cab. It felt like my first time driving it, only this time I stayed away from the deep hole.
Oh yeah, if I can make a suggestion, SNORKLE YOUR P500!!! And put the air intake in the MIDDLE of the bike, so if it's on it's side, it might not ingest water... DAMHIK
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