Service
SERVICE
Price gouging
JOE MINTON
Has anyone else found out that you cannot buy Honda parts or service manuals at retail cost in Southern California?
I recently bought the service manual and some fairing parts for my CBR 1000F. While I was waiting for my order, I noticed that the Honda price book (which was open in front of me) listed a dealer price of $24 for the shop manual, with a suggested retail price of $39. The problem is I was being charged $49.
When I asked about this pricing policy at Santa Monica Honda, I was told that “you cannot buy Honda parts in Southern California for retail.” The main reason claimed was that Honda publishes its price book quarterly, and prices rise faster than the book can be published.
Is this true? Is it impossible to buy Honda parts for retail in Southern California? Is it justifiable to increase the price of a shop manual 25 percent to cover possible price increases? Can a dealer charge whatever he pleases for parts?
Don Hayashi Culver City, California
The answ er to your last question is
yes, a dealer can charge whatever he wants for a part. There is no rule or law (beyond the law of supply and demand) that compels a retailer to moderate his profit margin. The only real pressure an individual can apply is to shop around. Let the dealer know that you are going elsewhere to look for the lowest price.
The motorcycle industry's practice of inflating retail prices beyond that suggested by the manufacturer is decades old and well established.
By the way. this practice is not confined to Honda dealers or to Southern California. It is nationwide, most likely international.
Unstuck Seca
in 1 981, i purchased my second new Yamaha motorcycle, a Seca 750. It is my pride and joy, and has always been meticulously cared for. The oil has been changed every 2000-3000 miles, the engine tuned every 3000-4000 miles. It has never been abused and I have never been a gear-jammer. At 26,000 miles, I began to encounter shifting problems: Changing gears was becoming increasingly difficult, with many false neutrals when upshifting and downshifting.
The dealer estimated that it would take about 10 hours of labor to investigate and fix the problem. After the bike was apart. I was told that the gears and shif t linkage were worn and needed to be replaced at a cost of about $ 1200. I was told that this wear was not unusual for a bike this old, especially if it had been ridden hard. I found this hard to believe. I expected to get 50.000 miles before any major repairs would be required.
I told the dealer not to repair the bike, but to just put it back together. To my surprise, the problem seems to have been cured. Anv explanations?
Stephen R. Parenteau
Windham, Maine
The most likely cause of your shifting problem was clutch drag. U hen the plates of a multi-plate clutch fail to fully release their grip on one another, the input shaft will continue to feed loads into the gearbox and make shifting difficult. You can either replace the clutch plates or remove them and lightly scuff the friction surfaces—both steel and friction—with fine wet-or-drv sandpaper. Either action should improve the release of the clutch and improve shifting, too.
When your dealer's mechanic removed the clutch during his disassembly of your engine, he probably separated the clutch plates and, upon reassembly, put them together in a new order. That would tend to let the plates move and release more freely, as their wear pattern had been disturbed.
Another common cause of clutch drag is the use of automotive oil additives. Many of these chemicals are tacking agents that make the oil more adhesive, and have been known to completely lock up wet-plate clutches such as the one in your Yamaha.
A Nighthawk for the long run
Please tell David Mann of Davenport. Iowa. (Service, June, 1991 ) not to worry about the longevity of his Honda Nighthawk S. I have more than 64.000 trouble-free miles on my Nighthawk S. including long trips, canyon-carving, two-up sporttouring and commuting on the toughest freeways in Los Angeles. Tell him I use Golden Spectro 4 motor oil, changed every 4000 miles, and always use Honda oil filters and Uni air filters.
Bill West
Covina, California
Done.
The $700 Suzuki
I recently bought a 1982 Suzuki GS1 100 for $500. I put another $200 into it and got it running, but I still have a problem.
Mv front brake feels like it is grabbing and letting go over and over again whenever I use it. Any clues as to what would cause this? Cpl. Bryan Rennick San Francisco, California
Your GSl 100's front-brake problem is almost certainty due to warped brake rotors or out-of parallel rotors. You can cheek for the latter problem with a micrometer. The thickness of the active surface of the rotors should be uniform. If there is a variation of even one-thousandth of an inch, the brake lever will pulse in your hand when you apply the front brake. This is due to the rotor pushing the pistons back into the caliper as the thicker part of the rotor sweeps by.
GSl 100 front-brake rotors bad a tendency to warp into the shape of a > potato chip. This war page can often be detected by spinning the wheel while holding an indicator (like a pencil tip) dose to the rotor. A warped rotor will move toward and away from the indicator. If the war page is large enough, your brake lever will pulse as you described.
If the rotors are out of paral lei you can have them ground. If they are warped, they will need to be replaced. / understand that the later GSI 150 brake rotors will fit your 1100. The 1150 rotors are a two-piece design that separates the hot working rotor from the center support by way of special rivets. The two-piece design allows the rotor to expand evenly as it heats, greatly reducing the tendency to warp. While I have seen and heard about many GSI 100 rotors warping. / do not know of a single example of a warned GSI 150 rotor.
Oily SR500
I have been riding motorcycles since 1938 and 1 still have four bikes. I have never had any real problems with any of them, except for my Yamaha SR500 Single, which I bought new. It now has only 2000 miles on it, but the problem is that oil shoots into the air cleaner from the lower end and is thrown out onto the ground. Otherwise, it runs great, and is the best handling bike I have ever owned.
Deforrest Most Mammoth Lakes, California
Your SR500's crankcase breather vents into the air-cleaner box. Any oil that collects in the box runs out a drain at the bottom. Very little oil should find its way into the box. I owned an SR500 like yours, and it spent a good portion of its time at high rpm, where any oil-pumping tendencies would be sure to show up.
Mine was dry.
It is possible that your engine's piston rings never fully seated. This would result in blow-by and a lot of flowthrough the breather tube. A leakdown test would tell you more.
Also, Yamaha didn 't always set SR500 pistons clearance as specified in its own shop manual. Specifications called for .002-inch clearance, but at teardown many would measure between .004 and .005. That clearance and a too-gentle break-in could lead to the blow-by problem you seem to have. E2
