[skant153]

Guess I just can't help myself. Saw a non-running 07 shadow for sale and thought I'd take the opportunity to tear down my first bike. It only has 11,500 miles.

The previous owner decided he wanted to strip and paint the gas tank and front fender a satin black... Out if a can... So that's terrible but an easy fix. He also said 2 years ago it started running poorly so he took it to the shop, spent $600 on a carb rebuild and coils, still ran like crap so he bought a new bike.

I guess he had enough of it sitting in his garage so he listed it for sale. Battery is dead and he didn't care to charge it so who knows it it'll run. I popped the crank cover off and rotated the engine to make sure it wasn't seized and walked away with a bike for $800.

 

[nigelrb]

If I keep looking at that I'll want to buy one too!!

 

[skant153]

Plugged the battery to the tender and started working my way to the carbs. Quite the find in the air box.
That's about a quart of.... Something

 

[RBRR]

Does it smell like fuel? I found something similar once. Looked like oil but was more gas than oil. After needles/seats and float adjustment it stopped puking into the air box.

 

[skant153]

Yeah it may be fuel, carb cleaner or oil. Not really sure. Took the carbs apart, the shop definitely did a good job on the rebuild, looks great for 13 years old.

 

[RBRR]

Very clean.

 

[skant153]

Poor job with the float heights though, 9.3 and 10.8 mm. Spec is 9.2. you'd think they'd have checked when doing the rebuild.

 

[RBRR]

Don't like to be Debbie downer but a flat blade that fits jets better would be nice too. Although the jets might have looked like that when the shop started

 

[skant153]

I think those were from the rebuild kit. The PO had all the jets they took off. They show their age but are clear and not as beat up. Thought about swapping back to them since they're not chewed up.

 

[IanDoohan]

Love the documentation! Keep it coming! I've done a lot of work on Shadows over the years, they were ALWAYS easy to tune and get running smooth. They have hydraulic tappets and never need adjusting. I hope the running issue is just an air/fuel screw adjustment or poor fuel.....

 

[skant153]

I was going to check valve clearances but when I looked up the procedure, I saw it had hydraulic adjusters. I did see you could shim between the rod and tappet though and sometimes there are issues with the valves seating.

 

[skant153]

now that the floats are the right height i'm going to button her back up. once it stops snowing, i'll see if it'll start and run. if she does, i'll change the oil and plugs and take her for a ride, see how she acts.

 

[ShadowEnvy]

That much oil in the airbox is a BAAAAADDD sign man. Have you compression checked it yet. It's probably got an internal seal out or bad rings.
I'm thinking you should have ran from this one. Hoping for the best for you man, but don't be afraid to cut your loses because you could be sinking alot into this bike unless your going to do it all your self. Good luck.

 

[skant153]

i don't think it's oil. too thin. i'm not even sure it's all fuel. might be some cleaner that was sprayed on the bike. it didn't separate so i don't think there's water mixed in.

 

[ShadowEnvy]

I hope not. The way the story sounds though is the bike might have low compression. Would explain the still running like crap after the carb work from the dealer, and the residue in the airbox, and it sitting for 2 years while the owner tried to figure out what to do with it, because dealer repair is probably more than the bike is worth. I would definitely compression test it.

 

[skant153]

changed the oil and checked compression. the oil level was way high, smelled strongly of gas and was the same viscosity as was in the air box.

compression spec is 185psi +/- 28. front was 165, rear 175. that all seems fine, not sure how so much gas got in the crank case. oil capacity is 3.3 quarts at filter change. I drained about 5 quarts today and the quart from the air box, that's nearly a gallon of gas mixed with the oil. i don't know how that could happen and there still be good compression.

 

[IanDoohan]

Sounds like there is a needle valve issue in the carbs. IIRC no fuel pump on those, just an on off valve? PO probably left it on.

 

[skant153]

there is a pump, run off res petcock (which leaks). mixture screws were at 3.5 turns. brand new needle valves

 

[skant153]

Changed the plugs, clearly oil fouled as expected from the GALLON EXTRA. The front one also looked like it had been running lean, which is also expected due to the float being too high.

Put everything back together and cranked her over. Fired right up, and idled after she warmed up but noticed an exhaust leak out of the back cylinder. Hopefully it's just the gasket and not the wall of the header.

 

[ShadowEnvy]

That's awesome Good compression.. Great job.