Lias
19th September 2008, 16:03
Hi folks,
A few weeks ago I jumped on my trusty steed and went to goto work, however it was very sick. Absolutely gutless and backfiring like a fat bastard on a diet of nothing but baked beans and cabbage soup.
Given I'm relatively mechanically clueless, I need advice.. lots of it.
I took it into a local bike shop, who after 2.5 weeks still cant definitatively tell me whats wrong. What they've told me is that it has "30% leak-down" in the rear cylinder. They've told me that they cant hear where the problem is which makes it harder to diagnose. They've told me that to diagnose it anymore they need to pull the engine out of the bike and take it to pieces. This will cost 4-5 hours labour, plus assorted parts to put it back together again, on top of the couple of hours its taken to figure out this much.
They've then outlined some of the possible issues, and rough costs to fix them. Cheapest option was "valves" at a cost of ~1800, up to rebore and new pistons at around 4-5k.
Now these are not small sums of money, which I simply cant afford to pay, but worst case could probably secure a loan for as I am gainfully employed even if I do already owe my soul to the moneylenders.
What I'm asking is
A: Do any KB'ers near Hamilton think they could do this all/some of this work(even if its just to open it up and say for sure whats wrong) at a reduced cost, or perhaps even for a few slabs of beer, bottles of bourbon or whatever.
B: Do these sound like reasonable estimates for the work, or should I shop around other bike shops in the area.
C: Assuming I could even find one (my bike seems to be quite rare), what sort of cost would I be looking at for an engine from a wreckers?
D: The bike is only worth around 6k (Same model/year with 18000km vs my 33km currently on tardme for 8grand). At what price of repairs should I walk away, sell it as is on tardme and just not be able to afford a new bike for several years and be miserable.
Thanks in advance for you time folks.
A few weeks ago I jumped on my trusty steed and went to goto work, however it was very sick. Absolutely gutless and backfiring like a fat bastard on a diet of nothing but baked beans and cabbage soup.
Given I'm relatively mechanically clueless, I need advice.. lots of it.
I took it into a local bike shop, who after 2.5 weeks still cant definitatively tell me whats wrong. What they've told me is that it has "30% leak-down" in the rear cylinder. They've told me that they cant hear where the problem is which makes it harder to diagnose. They've told me that to diagnose it anymore they need to pull the engine out of the bike and take it to pieces. This will cost 4-5 hours labour, plus assorted parts to put it back together again, on top of the couple of hours its taken to figure out this much.
They've then outlined some of the possible issues, and rough costs to fix them. Cheapest option was "valves" at a cost of ~1800, up to rebore and new pistons at around 4-5k.
Now these are not small sums of money, which I simply cant afford to pay, but worst case could probably secure a loan for as I am gainfully employed even if I do already owe my soul to the moneylenders.
What I'm asking is
A: Do any KB'ers near Hamilton think they could do this all/some of this work(even if its just to open it up and say for sure whats wrong) at a reduced cost, or perhaps even for a few slabs of beer, bottles of bourbon or whatever.
B: Do these sound like reasonable estimates for the work, or should I shop around other bike shops in the area.
C: Assuming I could even find one (my bike seems to be quite rare), what sort of cost would I be looking at for an engine from a wreckers?
D: The bike is only worth around 6k (Same model/year with 18000km vs my 33km currently on tardme for 8grand). At what price of repairs should I walk away, sell it as is on tardme and just not be able to afford a new bike for several years and be miserable.
Thanks in advance for you time folks.