Hello to all!!! I have a 94 EX500. Been riding for years mostly on dirt and this is my first street bike. Got it for a steal at the end of last summer and have had a blast riding it. Put it up for the winter and descided that since I was working on it I would tear it down and fix what ever was wrong with it. Started with fixing the cracks in the fairings and fresh paint. Got the bike back togther and this is where my problems start. (bike looks new again minus the decals) After putting it back togther it didnt run for ****. Thought hummmm maybe some trash got stured up in the tank and found its way to the carbs. Nope carbs were clean. Turned out the fuel stabilizer fuged the plugs up. Bike was running again but had a bad ticking to it. 24K miles on it thought it would be good to have the valves adjusted. Bartered that out for some paint work as the stealership wanted $480 to do it. I would have done it but also needed to have the front fender put back on and I dont have a big enough allen to get the spendle out. Here is my problem I know how to adjust the valves but dont know what all is involved in getting to them on this bike. He said something about spilling coolant down into the crank when he did the job. I chaned the oil again and it looked fine but I noticed that I'm loosing coolant now and cannt see where. (it's not going the outside of the bike) The oil doesnt seem to be getting contamanted where else can I be loosing coolant? Oh and it's still ticking bad is this normal? Any help would be greatly apprecated as the wither is getting warm again and I am iching to take this thing back out.

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This is a slightly noisier engine than a shim-under-bucket I-4, so you might want to find another 500 in your area and listen to it.
Here is an unfinished how-to guide on the valve adjustment. It will give you an idea as to what's involved with the valve adjustment.
Who spilled coolant down into the crank? Don't ever take your bike to this buffoon again. (And please feel free to tell him I called him thus.)
I don't know why everyone calls them 'stealerships'. $480 is a bargain compared to getting your engine ruined by someone who doesn't know what the heck they're doing.
Also, this is absolutely the WORST time to try to get major work done at a dealership. Now that it's Spring, every swinging-Richard with a Discover card is flocking to the dealerships to get things like this done. (Except of course for the mouth-breathers who are flocking to the dealerships to buy new bikes right now.) If you want a good deal, you have to do this kind of thing when there's still snow on the ground and the dealerships are a little hungrier.
Are you sure you're losing coolant? If it's not getting into the oil and it's not leaking outside the bike, there is a decent chance that whoever added coolant back into your system simply forgot to 'burp' the air-bubbles out. If the bike has been running awhile, fill the coolant back up and run it some more. If the coolant level does not go down again, then it was just air in the line.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
Peace!
-CCinC

 

id agree that 480 is a bargin compared to a new engine, but then again, there is no guarantee that the guy at the dealership knows what the heck he is doing either...

dealerships can go either way really. there are a couple really good dealerships in my area. there are also some really really ****ty ones, and how they manage to stay in business is really beyond me...

i think people call them "stealerships" because they charge 44.95 for a turn signal relay that costs 8.99 at any auto parts store.

 

Ok got it all back together and went over it well. Found a few loose bolts but nothing big. Took her out last night runs bad at an idel (worse when cold) but screams and runs great down the road. Throttle responce much better than it used to be. Hoping ruff idel is becouse of little bit of fuel stable still in tank. Once up to normal operating temp went home parked it went over it again. Found pinhole in radator was blowing coolant out under presure. And as far as dealer ships go anyone going to charge you $82 and up for labor is ripping people off in my opion. Oh and with a minum of 1 hour charge time.

 

Thankfully not all dealerships have such conditions. I used to know a terrific dealership that was honest, didn't charge so much, had competent techs and didn't charge the 'handling and prep fee' that all dealerships now charge. And if they ever did anything wrong, they accepted responsibilty and took care of it completely. (They put my headcover gasket on slightly off, [which is very easy to do with the W650] and it leaked a little, but they paid for the replacement.) Of course that dealership is no longer in business. Why? Because it's very easy and popular to simply dismiss all stealerships, because we go there to try on the boots, helmets and jackets to find out what size we need THEN buy them online to save 5 or 10 bucks.

I've never worked for a dealership, but I seriously considered going to Motorcycle Mechanics Institute after I graduated with some of my GI Bill remaining. But I quickly put the kibosh on that after talking to some techs and finding out what they make. People then of course like to blame "the management" or "the owner" for being greedy, but they have to pay for the building, the tools, the upkeep of the manual library. Just because the one near you doesn't offer special deals during SPRING when every mouth-breather suddenly decides it's time to fix his bike or buy a new one doesn't mean all dealerships are dishonest or greedy. People who love to slam stealerships as a whole usually haven't a clue what they're talking about.

 

i do this too. but not for 5 or 10 bucks. if something is 10 bucks more at a dealership than it is online, ill gladly pay the extra 10 and get it now.

however when i can get an AC-12 carbon online for 290 shipped, then see it at the dealership for 370 or more, its hard to NOT buy it online.