Minimal Damage? - 27 March 2018

27 March 2018 – I woke up in the middle of the night worrying about my motorcycle. I should have thought to have shut off the gas valve because if I had a full tank of gas and it fell over, I could have leaked a lot of gasoline into the cylinder and had a hydraulic lock. Plus, that gas could have gotten into the crankcase. That would have been a mess to straighten out. That would have required removing the gas tank and an oil change. The gas in the cylinder would have to be removed. That would have been at least a day’s work.

I got up after 8:00 a.m. and ate breakfast before going out to look at my motorcycle. It was still standing and no one came to my door asking that I move my motorcycle so they could get out. I unlocked it and backed it out of the doorway. I then put it in 5th gear and pushed it to see if the engine could be rotated 360 degrees twice to make sure it wasn’t hydraulically locked with gasoline. It rotated twice and I parked in a new spot. Then I did some checks on it. I finally deducted that the most gas that could have gotten into my engine was whatever the carburetor bowl held, and here’s why. The motorcycle fell to the right side. I had almost 250 Miles / 400 Kilometer on this tank of gas, which means I used about 4-1/2 Gallons / 17 Liters of fuel. When it was laying on its side, the fuel on / off valve was above the fuel in the tank. I also smelled the ground where the gas cap would have leaked and there was no raw smell of gasoline. The was no raw smell of gasoline on the bike itself. So, when the bike was laying on its side the gasoline in the tank was lower than the fuel valve and the gas gap. I know my gas gap leaks gas and it leaks a stream of gas, not just a dribble.

I decided to start it, feeling safe that the piston wasn’t hydraulically locked with gasoline. I started turning it over and it let out a bang when the gas in the exhaust system lit off and with a little choke, the bike was running. That exhaust backfire woke up all the dogs in the neighborhood, which then started barking. There must have been four of them. I let the bike idle till it warmed up and then shut it off.

I want to look at the right side saddle bag / pannier bracket. It looks bent to me. I also am going to change the air filter as long as I have access to the right side panel. I removed both bags and set my bike on its center stand. I believe this is as stable as I can make it. I know I can get it on the center stand without the bags on it. I changed the air filter but I cannot straighten the saddle bag / pannier bracket. So, I clean up everything as best I could and put everything back together. I will call it good and tomorrow I hope the engine has no unusual hiccups from laying on the ground for probably four hours.

I went up to my room and continued to work on my blog. I got two messages from my friends in Brazil, who welcomed me into their home. I will check my motorcycle again and probably remove my cover to stop it from acting as a sail as the wind is picking up again, to try to keep it from falling over.