Air filter change

[piebuss]

Hi I just bought my first bike, an FXR 150 about 2 weeks ago and decided to pull it apart to figure out how it all worked. I cleaned the air filter as I dont yet have the money to do a full service and noticed that down the bottom of the air box was filled with oil. I thought this was a bit dodge so I drained it. what was even weirder was that there was a nipple type thing under the air box to drain it, I can only assume, of oil. Is this normal. Should I replace the oil. I heard that it is soaked up by the filter and helps it to filter out dirt and dust. Thanx for any help on this.
Also does anybody know where I can find the oil filter on an FXR? I've got my suspitions but don't want to go and take the electric starter out by accident.
Cheers
Woody

[merv]

Its quite normal for foam element type filters (I hope that's what yours is) that have a bit of oil squeezed into them to drip some of it into the bottom of the airbox. Whether you clean the little bit out doesn't matter really. The drain nipple thingy you talk about will be more for draining water out automatically if you were ever to get any in the air box than for draining the oil.

[F5 Dave]

Also the cam case & possibly crankcase will be vented to the airbox. This may blow some sludge & oil residue into the airbox, Some bikes seem to produce more than others, my CBX produced a bit of water & quite a bit of tan coloured sludge would build up (oil+water). The drain on the airbox had a bung & you had to open it every so often. When I first got it the bottom of the airbox was 5m deep as previous owner was a bit negligent.

If the airfilter is paper then it will need replacement, if foam as we suspect then you wash it in petrol (wearing gloves) let it dry fully & re oil using air filter oil. It’s cheap & other oils can clog things up without filtering properly if you choose badly. I use a small squeezy bottle to distribute the oil evenly (like honey on toast as a kid) then squeeze the filter in a plastic bag. Repeat till you are confident it is all covered, but it doesn’t need to be dripping.

Do change the oil & filter (can’t tell you where it is sorry) & don’t leave the valves un-adjusted if you are uncertain of the bike’s last service. Quiet is not always a good thing. You can specify what you want done in a service to keep the costs down. Mostly on a single as long as the carb jets are clean (you can blow through them yourself, no balancing of course) air filter, plug, oil & valves will pretty much see you straight (engine wise only of course).

[piebuss]

Yeah its a foam filter but it looka a bit worse for wear. I think the engine has done a bit of back fireing as alot of the filter is burnt.
Thanks for the tip on cleaning it in petrol, did'nt know that.
How do I adjust the valves? I think I will do all the servicing myself, its always fun pulling an engine to bits and playing around.
Also the chain is a bit loose. I tightened it but not so that it was actualy tight. How tight should it be? When I go from accelerating to engine breaking it jerks a bit. I think its the chain taking slack. Is this normal or should I tighten it more?
Thanx for the advice.
Woody

[F5 Dave]

If the filter is a ‘bit worse for wear’ then it may need replacement, they don’t last forever. Whether they are quickly available or after market (perhaps they are the same as a dirt model?) will influence this, but a stuffed filter will cause bore wear &/or bad performance. Re note; petrol is bad stuff to absorb into your skin, wear decent rubber gloves (steal the ones under the sink will do).

With the chain be careful. Get someone to sit on the bike for you & check how much the chain tension changes. Some bikes hardly change & some go from loose to tight. If you tension these too tight then the stress on the output sprocket shaft will likely cause gearbox bearing problems. Also the chain may vary with tight spots, check in several positions. Replace if they get too bad.

I’m not trying to treat you like a kid, but: Keep fingers away from spinning rear sprocket. Sprockets gobble digits & this is a messy way to amputate fingers. If anyone says you should put the bike in gear to oil the chain hit them with a kipper. I know a few people who have needlessly got hurt this way.

As far as the slop in the system, a badly loose chain will cause this, but once reasonably adjusted (‘bout an inch of movement either way, but use common sense wrt to above points on tension) then tightening it will not help any more.

Check out your rear cush drive hub rubbers. If the outer is sloppy then ideally the rubbers should be replaced. On a small capacity bike I have cleaned them up & run decent tape around them to pack them up so they are tight fit so you have to tap the hub back in. This helps a lot & don’t worry about how bodge it sounds. The tape can’t go anywhere & if it did so what?

Re the valves, not sure on this model what type they are, shim or adjustable tappet. A manual would be a good start if you wish to do this, but it isn’t too hard if you have some instruction. If shim type you will need to get new shims if adjustment required.

[vifferman]

Yeah its a foam filter but it looka a bit worse for wear. I think the engine has done a bit of back fireing as alot of the filter is burnt.

You can replace just the foam, if a replacement filter is too expensive.

Also the chain is a bit loose. I tightened it but not so that it was actualy tight. How tight should it be? When I go from accelerating to engine breaking it jerks a bit. I think its the chain taking slack. Is this normal or should I tighten it more?

Is there not a sticker on your swingarm or chainguard indicating this?
Depends on the bike, but normally it's around 30-40mm total movement up and down (i.e., from the highest point to lowest) measured at the middle of the bottom chain run, at the tightest part of the chain. If you rotate the rear wheel, you may find that the chain gets looser/tighter as it goes around. Note that the chain should be clean, warm and lubricated when you do this, as when it's cold and dirty the links can bind, making the chain tighter. Ideally, you would take the chain off to clean it in a pot of kerosene, but you can also brush the kerosene on with an old paintbrush, and wipe the chain with a rag. Another option is to spray the chain with WD40 as this has kero as a carrier. Make sure when cleaning/oiling your chain to put cardboard or summat between the chain and tyre, to keep oil and chain spooge off the tyre. What you use to oil the chain is rather subjective; the bike manufacturers usually specify 89-90W gear oil, but this is rather messy. I prefer spray-on wax, others use gel or tacky chain oil.

If the front sprocket was concentric with (in the same axis as) the swingarm pivot point, you'd set your chain to have NO slack, but because the pivot point is behind the front sprocket, as the swingarm goes up and down, the chain gets looser /tighter, with it being at its loosest when the swingarm pivot, and sprocket centres are in a straight line, and tightens slightly either side of that. So you need some slack to allow for this.

Better to have the chain slightly too slack than too tight, as it causes less stress on the chain, and doesn't interfere with rear suspension movement.

[jrandom]

Hi I just bought my first bike, an FXR 150 about 2 weeks ago and decided to pull it apart to figure out how it all worked.

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your fine taste in motorcycles.

Unfortunately, so far, I've just let the guys at Colemans sort my servicing bits and bobs out, so I can't comment on your mechanical questions.

I don't recall a replacement air filter being very expensive, though.

[F5 Dave]

Well they probably just cleaned it. MY GS one was silly money for a bit of foam. If you are lucky as it is a current model it might be cheap, or the same as a DR or something in which case a aftermarket one will be cheaper.

[jrandom]

Well they probably just cleaned it. MY GS one was silly money for a bit of foam. If you are lucky as it is a current model it might be cheap, or the same as a DR or something in which case a aftermarket one will be cheaper.

My last service, the air filter foam was split in half. They replaced it. Wasn't pricey.

[piebuss]

cheers guys. I might have a go at it this weekend.
I heard that WD40 and CRC are no good for use on the chain as the spray-off in wet weather can cause a few problems it it gets on the tire. Would a normal de-greaser do the same? I've got tons of a product called "finnish line" which I use to clean my MTBike chain, would that be alright?
I really like the forum guys, its great help.
Woody

[vifferman]

cheers guys. I might have a go at it this weekend.
I heard that WD40 and CRC are no good for use on the chain as the spray-off in wet weather can cause a few problems it it gets on the tire. Would a normal de-greaser do the same? I've got tons of a product called "finnish line" which I use to clean my MTBike chain, would that be alright?
I really like the forum guys, its great help.
Woody

I use WD40 all the time. The trick is, you spray it on, then wipe it off. If you went for a ride immediately after applying it, yeah, it would spray off. Any lubricant would. Even when I wax my chain, I wipe the excess off with a rag, then leave it overnight.
Degreasers? Well, I've used one once, when hurriedly cleaning my bike before a group ride. Got a lovely film of chain spooge/degreaser all over the rear tyre, and the first corner I came to (at the end of our street) was a lovely off-camber 90-degree right-hander (ooh - 3 lots of hyphenated terms). It was wettish. I did the biggest slide I've ever done. Very thrilling it were.
Apart from cheapy chains, most bike chainsare now O-ring, X-ring, W-ring, PQRST-ring or whatever, and you need to be sure that the cleaner doesn't ferk the nitrile or whatever the rings are made of. F'rinstance - Simple Green isn't good, concentrated chlorosulphonic acid definitely isn't, petrol isn't, turps isn't, but kero is good, WD40 is very good (easy to spray on, has some lubrificant properties).
Look, you'll get as many answers to this as the number of people replying. You look on any bike forum, and there are always flame wars about oil, chainlubes, etc. On some forums, WD40 is all that is used as a chain cleaner/lube. On my VFR, that's mostly what I used, as it didn't collect dirt, and I didn't get crap all over my stripped and polished alloy wheel. However, on the VTR, I found that while it cleaned the chain OK, and stopped it rusting, it didn't provide enough lubrication, so I usually apply it when the chain is getting noisy, then wipe it down, then a day or two later (when all the WD40's been flung off onto my tyre ) I follow up with Spectro chain wax. Works for me, but Your Chain Cleaning And Lubing Experience May Vary.

[piebuss]

Cheers dude. I guess I've gotta make up my own mind about which I like best. I've got a can of WD40 so I'll start with that.
Jst bought a pair of tecknic pants today so I'm now all set to go for a long weekend ride. Wish me good luck that I dont crash.

[kerryg]

kero is good, WD40 is very good (easy to spray on, has some lubrificant properties).

A teacher once told me, when I exclaimed " gosh I didn't know that, sir!' that if he had to speak only in terms of what I knew all he would ever say was " goo goo, gaa gaa" . So it is not without trepidation that I say now that I didn't know that about the kerosene in WD40. Damn interesting. I think that's what I'll use to clean my chain from now on (even easier than an old paintbrush and a dish of kerosene). Being a tight fisted old miser, I wonder if that RP7 stuff that you can buy at the Warehouse (about $6 for big can) can exactly substitute the WD40?

[mccool]

Piebuss, the library should have a copy of the workshop manual for your bike. Thats what you need if you are going to adjust the valves etc.

[Motu]

WD40 is a ''secret formula'',just like Coke eh? here's what's in it...

Stoddard Solvent - 50%
petroleum based oil - 25%
Naptha - 15%

Stoddard Solvent is - nonane 85%,trimethyl benzine 15%

I haven't found what the missing 10% is,but some is a perfume,they deny silicones...but - on the forum I am on where I found those figures has a guy who worked in the aerospace industry - they were having a lot of trouble with weld porosity and cracking,they traced it to WD40,it is impossible to clean off and was penetrating and damaging the welds,they banned it completely from the site.Silicone is really hard to remove (ever sprayed Armourall on your windscreen?) and will actualy bounce when it hits the ground.The paint shop next to me goes ballistic if they see us squirting Silicone around.

I spray my whole damn bike with WD40,looks nice,protects and is easy to clean after a ride.Slip and slide?...I have no problem with that.