QuestionBill, Thanks for being part of the AllExperts network! All of us idiots out here need guys like you - I really appreciate your being able to devote some time to this volunteer service. Thanks!
I know you are most familiar with the 60's-70's era bikes, but I think this problem could happen with nearly any year motorcycle. I have a 1981 CB900 that I bought used and sight unseen from an aquaintance. Bad move on my part. However, that part of the problem is now in the past and I have to move on from that.The bike is completely stock with 11,000 miles on the clock. It was garaged with no service for 14 years - I spoke with the original owner - the guy prior to the guy I bought it from. The guy I bought it from never rode it, except over to my house. The guy I bought it from obtained the bike as part of a debt payment owed to him from the original owner. Anyhow, the base problem is electrical, and I believe I've got the solution to that problem - which is a faulty pulser generator. In order to replace the pulser generator, the pulser generator outer cover is removed. I was able to do that with no problems. However, the connecting cable coming from the pulser generator unit feeds through the left rear crankcase cover and back out and just above the swingarm to connect to the wiring harness just under the battery. The problem I'm having is that even though I've removed all the crankcase cover bolts, the left rear crankcase cover will not budge. I've tried rapping sharply on the perimeter of the casing with a plastic hammer, to try and break it loose with no success. I can see into at least 4 of the bolt holes, and there appears to be an alignment sleeve inside the holes to help get the cover back on straight once it is removed. Is it possible that the steel alignment sleeves in the crankcase bolt holes are corroded into the aluminum crankcase cover? If that is the case, then what is the best course of action to break the corrosion loose without damaging the crankcase cover? Once I get this cover off, it will be very easy to replace the pulser generator, but without removing the crankcase cover, it will be impossible to do. May factory service manual doesn't say anything about removal of this cover, except to say "Remove the left rear crankcase cover." There is no procedure in the manual for it. Any ideas short of a welding torch? Also, will all the oil drain out when I pull off this cover?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. My local Honda dealership (Andersons Honda) refuses to work on any bike they didn't sell and especially won't work on anything this old. What do you think I should do?
Thanks
Matchris@Ameritech.net
AnswerI go to http://www.powersportspro.com/partsfish/ and log into the site for access to online microfiche photos.
I found the left crankcase illustration and it shows at least ONE long locating dowl in the front of the case. Usually just about any side covers will have two, however.
Once all the bolts are out, you can keep trying to hit the edges with a plastic mallet, but you can damage the cover if you miss or hit it in the wrong spot. I would get a wide chisel or gasket scraper and get into the forward edge of the cover at the gasket area and carefully drive the edge of the tool into the gasket space. Try a little at front and back and anywhere you can get into the space.
Often once it is broken free ever so slightly, it will come away easily. If someone else has been in there and glued the cover on with RTV you will just have to be persistent until it releases. I am assuming that you have a CB900F and not CB900C, but I don't think that it matters in this case.
Bill Silver
