MartyNZ

An interesting idea. If you are right, then my thoughts in post 5 are wrong.The spine frame crankcase vent system looks to me like it should be an efficient oil separator, so your observation may explain why KGLM doesn't need to empty any oil from his extra separator bottle. Perhaps I should keep the engine revs high, so the inlet airflow pulses are shorter? KGLM, have you checked in your airbox for oil since you fitted the extra bottle?

Here is the link mentioned by LowRyter, http://ca-cycleworks.com/pf3c in case you need it.

Ian, I found the same in my bike. That oil and gunk can only come from the breather. Overfilling or cheap oil (foaming) can push more oil mist out the breather. Worn rings in my case (80,000km) make things worse. I agree with Docc's remarks about oil. Something else that may help is a Roper Sloppage Plate which will reduce foaming & venting, as the oil doesn't get thrashed around as much.

It may not be related, but I had a minor gearbox oil leak that was easily fixed. After I built a maintenance stand, I found that the gearbox was overfull. This was the cause of a leak somewhere around the top & back of the gearbox. I suspect out the vent, and/or past the rear seal. Previously I was lifting the bike up vertical from the side stand, then looking at the sight glass. With the bike held vertical on the stand, the viscous redline heavy oil took longer than I expected to reach a stable position in the sight glass. I might change to a thinner oil this winter. Also, I removed the sight glass while the bike was on the sidestand and cleaned inside it to make it easier to read.

Hey Jim, If there is still 4 more sitting in my V11 spare parts bin. If you let me know what angle you are concerned about, I can measure the others and send you another.

I used Sandstrom Lubricant, Solid Film, MIL-PRF-46147. Molycote 321 is just as good. But since anything is better than nothing, whatever molybdenum disulfide spray you can find in your local hardware store will be ok. Probably better actually, as the Sandstrom stuff I used should be cured at 60°C, (150°F), and I didn't bother. BTW, I got this idea of drilling the cush rubbers from Greg Field, who knows stuff about Guzzis. As Scud mentioned, Greg posted here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11820 I agree with him that the V11 is improved, and the drive train should last longer, with a cushier cush drive. But I don't share his view that engine braking causes damage to the wheel drive spline. I think that each 530cc piston slamming torque down the drive train every engine rev is the main reason for spline wear.

The hub definitely needs to be greased. If the splined drive plate seizes from rust, then the cush drive cannot cushion any more. You can see grease distribution grooves inside the spline drive plate bore, so we know the designer thought this is important. Of course some grease will get in there anyway if you are generous with grease in the drive spline. On my bike, I sprayed the rubber pucks and puck pockets with a thin layer of dry lube, and also on the large diameter spacer. The wheel stays clean, and the plate can still move in the wheel. I drilled the rubber pucks with lots of little holes, and only refitted half of the pairs of pucks so the cush drive would be "cushier". Also, an odd effect of rubber is that it does not compress much. If you squeeze in one place, it will bulge out in another place, without the volume changing (Poisson's Ratio for rubber is 0.5). This tells me that the pucks will be cushier if they could squirm in in their pockets easily, so dry lube helps. So to summarise, my bike rear wheel has: 1. Half the pucks drilled, half discarded. (optional choice for you) 2. Dry lube on pucks, puck pockets, large spacer. (optional) 3. Grease in bore of drive plate. (must do)

12 super springs arrived to my doorstep this morning. That's great parcel post service, across the Pacific so quickly. Thanks again Scud and Chuck. For NZ people, I have 4 firm orders from this forum members, and 5 orders from more normal Kiwis. So that leaves 4 still available.

Docc, if you are looking for an alternative if you can't get Wurth grease, BMW specifies Staburags NBU 30 PTM for spline lubrication. I think Kluber makes it. You can buy it on ebay Germany for a squillion per metric teaspoon. Castrol makes Optimol paste PL, which has molybdenum disulfide incorporated, another candidate which may be good too. If you have seen a dry spline which is all rusty, pitted, and worn, then you have seen fretting corrosion or tribocorrosion. You need to lubricate, and exclude water and oxygen. Grease is the answer.

Good question Steve. When I hold the driveshaft, the wheel has about 120mm of lost motion slop at the rim. I thought the bevel gears were worn or poorly adjusted, but no, all the slop is in the output spline. So I can say for certain that there is movement and wear in the spline. Grease will reduce wear, and exclude water & road grit. I'm not suggesting "so much grease", but I think some will help your bike last.

I think that some grease on that spline is really important. So important that a little cleaning job is better than not having enough grease in there. I have to fit a new cush drive plate, and a near new bevel box to my bike this coming winter. The spline teeth in the crown wheel spline, and drive plate are 1/3 worn away, probably because of lack of lubrication in the bike's 80,000 km before I got it. Backlash makes the bike uncomfortable to ride really slowly in first gear. I bought the bike cheaper because of this spline wear, and I'm finally going to fix it. I have been greasing that spline with Penrite wheel bearing grease, and think a little too much grease is better than too little on that spline. Cleaning is easier than replacing worn parts.

I have a consignment of springs coming to NZ. The 6 kiwi guys who preordered from me will hear from me in 2 - 3 weeks. I will have some spares hangng on a nail in the attic for those that enjoy the thought of riding home in second gear. Thanks to Tim and Chuck for making this happen. For those fresh to this topic, this spring supersedes the troublesome gearbox shift spring (Guzzi part number GU 04238300) in the six speed V11. If you have this bike, and you don't want to do roadside repairs, you might want to consider buying and fitting this spring.

I can cut the excess off all the springs for the NZ consignment, just to save you some work. Can you PM me to let me know how much money you want? Like the other offers made here, I hope I can take a share of your costs, so you are not left with having spent lots of money for a big pile of springs.

Thanks Roy, you are right again. My bike seems to be wired like a 2004 model. Start relay terminal 30 is only powered when the key is on. The resistance from start relay terminal 87 to engine ground is 0.3 ohms, which I hope means that I should be cranking for a while yet.

Is it possible that the front crank seal has a slight leak? The alternator rotor could turn a drip into mist. It's only four screws to remove the cover to look at the alternator.

Well, I didn't want to say anything bad about your bike, but now you mention it...

Yes, I opened up the ignition switch, cleaned and lubed it, but it looked pretty good. It's a tricky thing isn't it. I cleaned and lubed the run switch, but I don't think it was the problem either. Things got a lot better when I replaced the 3 rear-most relays. Yep, all 5 relays are now G8HE. - So the bike started fine. Tach working? Yes. Headlight working? No. Oh wait, the headlight is still sitting on the bench. Tailight works, so all good now.

Out for a wee blast, engine surged and cut. Feck! Still plenty of speed, clutch in, through traffic on the next lane, and onto the shoulder. Checked fuses, swapped some relays, heard the pump run, so off home. On the way the tach stopped, then on, then flickered... Now I need to do the same to my bike as we did to Cash's Rosso Mandello. (and yes Docc, I have some supa dupa Omron G8HE relays fitted in 3 places, but I think I need to revisit KiwiRoy's relay base fix).

Those circuit breakers are designed to act as both a cb & a maintenance switch. That's why there is a rim on the head, so you can pull it. You are not ruining it.

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2000974783262577&id=100000502240025&set=a.854976921195708.1073741832.100000502240025&source=48&__tn__=EHH-RA V7 with 1400ccs wedged into it.

Pete Roper wrote about this here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2391&do=findComment&comment=21056

What? Your V11's Rocket Propulsion, Trans-Atlantic Space Displacement System is on the fritz? Check the relays . . . . 68C, it's only the EURO Spec bikes have that RPTASDS. Ditch it. It's a waste of time. DD disabled his, and now the bike does 240kph with the pontoon floats attached.

New Zealand converted to metric in 1976, and despite predictions, we didn't slip back into the dark ages. Australia got started in 1971, which probably was the motivation for NZ. There are still 3 countries left on the planet who haven't officially adopted metric. However, there is plenty of room for non-metric measurements, for example the Helen, used as a unit of beauty. Helen of Troy is known as "the face that launched a thousand ships". Thus, 1 milliHelen is the amount of beauty needed to launch a single ship. A derived unit, the negative Helen (the power to beach ships) also exists. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement Also things like a wee dollop, a good biff, a handful, and a decent shot, don't conform to SI.

Also check the bottom of your tank for rust, The 1000ss tanks seem to rust a bit so the ST3 is worth looking at. If you have rust inside a steel tank, PR-1005L is good stuff. You will never be bothered by rust again if the inside of the tank is coated with this:http://www.ppgaerospace.com/Products/Sealants/Specialty-Products/PR-1005-L-Buna-N-Slosh-Coating.aspx One can costs about $90, & is enough for several tanks, you slosh around and drain back into the can. Just be careful, spillage cleans up with MEK (methyl ethyl ketone), which also attacks paint, don't smoke while you are doing it, and don't do this on a V11 plastic tank unless you know for sure that PR-1005L won't attack the plastic.

Do you think that re-bleeding the clutch hydraulic system could help?