belfastguzzi

soap, water and Oil of Ulay: though if you post a pic. of which body parts you are talking about, more specific advice could be offered

hmmm perhaps I exaggerated a little.

Same thing here. I did mine at 570 miles a couple of weeks ago and was very surprised at the grooves already worn in the rockers. Having worked on bikes and cars with much bigger mileages, I wasn't expecting this. But let's not worry. Yet.

I had been wondering if there's a dealer in Dublin that you had got it from. I have been in Ljubliana: Slovenia looked like a fantastic country to tour in. From a distance anyway, the mountains and forests looked beautiful. I think I'll try to get a couple of days before or after the V11UK weekend to ride around the Welsh mountains.

This sounds like the rubber bush that others recently posted about. SoCal Nick, would you mind reporting what mileage yours disintegrated at?

From post in other thread> After a little run this afternoon – so far, so good. The 'instant gasket' over the top of joint is keeping the oil in and looks to be holding up ok. The various comments about a slipped/broken gasket on assembly seem to make sense from what I have seen.

As a matter of interest, where and when did you buy your v.11? How did it (and you) cope with the big tour, apart from the spring problem?

Seems like the same problem I posted about earlier. I have put instant gasket on the outside to see if it will seal the leak. I then smeared black sealer over the blue stuff. I suspect that the gasket could have been damaged on assembly at the factory. I noticed that bits of gasket were sticking out of the joint at the engine mount area, where the leak seems to be. I've also encountered the flaking black wrinkly now. The leaked oil seems to have got into or under the black finish and it peeled off around the leak.

It's probably just a misleading translation in the manual. I guess there are no "wire mesh" filters. But on the subject of manual instructions, what is it talking about when it says to look for a 'notch' in the flywheel when setting the pistons to T.D.C.? I couldn't see what that would be, on the 2002 flywheel, when doing the tappets. [i think it's a notch: I don't have the manual in front of me.]

Just to clarify, Emry: did you smear the silicone over the top of the joint (not between the joint faces)? I see the posts are all re. 2002 bikes so far.

There is oil seeping from the right side of the timing chest down the front of my engine. It runs along the sump and blows back onto the exhaust. Baldini previously told me that this is a common place for leaks. I have just done a service and I tightened what allen screws I could get at. It hasn't made any difference. After even a few miles there is oil over the engine and a pool of lovely, clean, fresh oil under the bike when parked. The proper fix is probably to take the case off and reseal it. I'm not about to do that just now, so I'm wondering if it might be possible to make a temporary seal over the join? It doesn't really seem feasible that a good seal could be made, but it's worth a try. It will probably be a bit difficult to get a clean, dry surface on the black wrinkle stuff. Has anyone tried this? What sort of (non-permanent) sealant might work?

No, the light doesn't make any difference. This happens with the light off.

It seems a bit mad to me that a mechanic won't drop the sump to clean it out at an early service, more so because it is so easy. I have just done mine for the 600 mile service. Although I had drained the oil a couple of times, there was a significant amount of emulsion in the pan, which I would rather clean out than leave in to be recirculated. There were also black 'bits', possibly paint. I was disappointed with the mesh oil strainer. The Manual describes it as a wire mesh but in fact it is a flimsy plastic. The plastic cage base diameter is 'too big' for the groove in the sump pan. It has to be squashed in, with the result that it very easily pops out again. If it pops out then it isn't going to work too well. There also isn't exactly a perfect seal between the strainer top hole and the oil tube that goes into it. The plastic base on my strainer was quite out of shape, making me think that perhaps it had not all been seated in the groove properly. That's one reason to check the strainer at the first service. The strainer has to be positioned in the correct realtion to the oil tube that fits into it when the sump is offered up. Because there is no means of correctly orientating the circular strainer in its seat, beyond a best guess position, it can easily be popped out of its seat by the offset tube when the sump is lifted up into position. Something else I saw was that the bottom of the oil tube was broken. It looks like there should be 4 castellations on the end. Mine had 3 and a jagged edge. I presume that this damage was done at the factory. But imagine if that broken bit of aluminium ended up in the sump. For these reasons it seems better to me to take the sump off and check all this. Seems to be another example of why doing your own servicing is the most satisfactory, reassuring option. **Did older bikes have metal and wire mesh strainers and if so, are they more robust, a better fit and still available?

Imagine sliding too far back off the seat!

I asked exactly the same thing when I joined here at the end of last year. It seems to be very common. You'll find more discussion about it here Lake Como Fog Thoroughly drying it out made no difference. It must be a ventilation problem, but I'm still surprised that drilling the plastic and not the metal clock body fixes it. I haven't tried anything yet. If you fix it by drilling the plastic I would love to hear back from you.

Can you explain a bit more? What did the glass packs consist of? Did you cut down the seams and weld together again? Is there much weight difference? Ta

Maybe, but you've just got to be suspicious of golfers. Those Swedish 'snowbikes' would be good on a golf course. TX Redneck should try it out and report back.

– you need to put your Captain Nemo glasses on again you should have suspected from his 'fanatical golfer' post that there was something a bit odd about 'Mary Jane'.

**snort** England isn't an island. Britain is an island. But hey, maybe you've got a good idea there! Lets bring spades and saws to the Midlands rally and see what we can do. Baldini, can you do some prep work on the Welsh border before we arrive? (Just cut along the dotted line.)

Ok, recap: so, ZX 6R with 20,000 miles run the engine at 8,000 rpm for 30 minutes to sort of warm it up pipes glow... red hot coolant boils and overflows - all of it radiator fan switches off as no coolant to heat the switch continue to run engine at high revs for another half hour no apparent problems - could wear be increasing, oil burning or carbonising -- seized bearings or pistons???? the manual says 3,5 litres capacity is all that oil really needed? Drain oil, boiling oil melts plastic tank as explained before. Part 2: put in ONE litre of oil (funny, they don't seem to debate what sort would be best) oil boils immediately, but carry on anyway start engine, tape throttle fully open. Shortly there's a bit of a hiccup as backfires start. The rev limiter is cutting the spark so that petrol is exploding in the exhaust. Big flames, small holes appear, big holes appear, big noise, fire extinguishers appear. Leave the building, coughing. Conclusion of story: Come back next day when things have cooled put in oil start the engine it runs smoothly Hooray. The bike won. Go on - try it for yourself.

What about starting another dipstick thread then? Personally, I think it's a pity that no one wanted to know the next instalment of this story.

So you suggest using cheap oil during break-in when the friction is at its highest. Sounds like the right thing to do But cheap doesn't mean bad, it doesn't mean that it does not meet the specifications and does not do its job. One thing cheaper does mean is that you might be prepared to change it more often, which is a good thing on a new motor.

I have been searching for information on applying paint to the rotomoulded plastic tank. I will probably paint a bit of my mat black Scura tank (which I assume is self-coloured). I haven't seen any other plastic Sports tanks so have no idea what sort of paint finish is on them. I have only found this so far: 'Paul Minnaert - I think there is PE on it, PE= Polyethylene. Applying filler or painting is nearly impossible' which is what I expected, from experience with the plastic in rotomoulded canoes etc. What sort of paints and preparation have people used and do you know what the factory finish is?

Otto seems to have both issues taken care of.

...you use that in yours! (...and to think some people complain about the smell of burnt oil!)