Questionmy freind bought a 1981 honda cx500c 2 weeks ago for $350.00 i dont know how long it sat in the garage before he got it,but it ran great for two weeks. yesterday we rode it up the road a couple times and parked it ,about an hour later he fired it up went down the road about a 100 feet he said it the engine rattled and it locked up . i have read that this modle had a timming chain issue if they have sat for awhile or could it be a broke ring. checked oil levle before he rode it it was fine. any response would be greatly appreciated!
AnswerMike, sorry about the blank reply before... something odd happened with the browser or their site.
Early CX500s were plagued with issues of bad camchain tensioners, bad stators and even being assembled with the wrong bearing sizes. Water pump seals need careful attention when assembling, too, or they will drip.
Most of those problems were solved by 1981, but the camchain does have an adjustment that needs attention at tuneup time. These engines are pretty long-lived in most circumstances, but you do have to adjust the valves and camchain tensioner periodically... and change the oil.
Pulling the motor is pretty easy on these machines, and then you can pull the back off and see what happened. If the camchain broke or the tensioner scrambled itself, you may have bent valves too. May be cheaper/easier to find another motor to bolt in, rather than try to fix what's in there. Parts are getting scarce and are expensive from Honda.
Bill Silver
