Guzzichondria

[cola]

Hi All,

 

I'm a bit of a lurker here. I've had a 2002 V11 Lemans since March last year - bought as NOS with 8 miles on the clock, now up to 5000+ mainly because work keeps us apart

 

 

I recently read about Guzzichondria where you start to worry about all the things that could be wrong

 

I use the bike a bit over winter but not much. Come spring this year the battery had lost its charge, so I quickly gave it a blast with my car's (old) charger. That got the bike started but it wasn't holding charge - clearly a bad charging circuit, so I take the tank off, battery out, battery tray out etc. etc. clean-up all the contacts / earth points etc. and reassemble. Jump start the bike and go for a short run. When I get back the battery voltage is OK if not great (12.5v after a 2 hour wait). Try and start the bike - nothing. Ah-ha! clearly its the relays (although I had replaced the originals with the recommended 'good' ones). Swap them all back and .... nothing.

 

OK its not the relays - will it jump start? Yup no problem. OK so the battery must be a bit sulphated, time to get a proper bike battery charger / conditioner. So off to town to buy a nice new Optimate. Sure enough it diagnoses a weak battery so on overnight charge it goes.

 

Next morning dawns beautifully sunny so its battery back in and go for a ride - no joy on the battery ar$e! Oh well jump start the bike and go for a short ride to empty the tank so I can pull everything apart again. 5 miles from home the bike starts cutting out, will only run below 2000 rpm and that not reliably, eventually dies for good half a mile from home. Time to push!!!

 

Back in the garage I check the battery voltage - 12.4v WTF? SO I turn on the ignition and the fuel pump won't run (damn those relays!). Try the original ones again - same result. Now I think about checking the battery under load - 7v (hmmm that's not right ...)

 

The experienced of you will have already picked up that I used a crappy battery charger on a sealed for life battery. I now have a 12v lead acid battery that won't deliver more than about 1 amp . Time for an Odyssey PC545

 

Fit the battery, check voltages, vroom!!!!!!!!!!! Check voltages, 13.1v just off idle, rises to 13.8v and no further. Time for a ride!!

 

So I get about a mile from home and the oil pressure warning light comes on . Time for a push home... Check the oil, hmmm fine by the hand book, low based on the advice here. So I top it up, start the engine (battery is still working at least) and the oil light stays on eek. I'm getting quite quick at hitting the kill switch now.

 

Obviously it's the oil filter spinning off, or the oil pump drive has sheared, or etc. etc. So I came on here again and found the thread about oil pressure switch, don't get dirt in it, keep it dry. Back out to the bike - sure enough with just the ignition on the oil pressure light is flickering. Reading back a few lines you'll see that I cleaned up all the contacts on the bike with the tank off. Including lots of dirty, soapy water between the V just beside the crappy Oil Pressure switch. So I give the switch a tap and with great trepadation re-start the bike - no oil pressure light result!!!

 

So I'll get one of those ordered, now should I worry about the transmission spring?

 

Back to happier times ...

[felix42o]

Congrats on finding such a pristine V11...that color combo is nearly my favorite (next to the Tenni, of course). Seems like, if nothing else, you have the perfect mentality for Guzzi ownership. Just ride the damn thing, and fix what pops up as required. Like any other forum, the problems with these things are focused on and discussed here, which makes them seem more fragile and problematic than they really are. After you get the basic bugs worked out, you find out these things are more or less bullet-proof.

[raz]

I agree, you seem to be the right breed.

 

The more you ride it, the less problems you will have per mile. I seem to create most of my problems myself, in the winter when I can't ride it

[mdude]

It runs in the family. The first year of ownership I couldnt sleep, the mechanical hypochondria got fuelled by reading all the disasters on this site.

Now I react only to the sole absence of strange noises, strange noise themselves are generally good.

As you have found out, its usually a bad battery anyway......

[docc]

I was completely cured of my Chronic Guzzichondria when I cleaned my (working) ignition switch. But, that was before my rear drive leak, trip odometer locked up and the tail light quit.

 

I remember reading about these bikes when they came out and one journalist suggested they are fine bikes that will require a bit of "owner involvement." Welcome to the club!

 

Oh, and yeah, your LeMans is an '02. Get the silly spring now and change it when the time comes.

[Slavomir Musilek (R.I.P.)]

last friday I rode home to South Bohemia, stopped at gas station and noticed oil light on idle. Shut off the engine, cleaned up all the contacts, the oil sensor - no use. Light stayed on on idle and slowly dimmed in higher revs. No use. Towed the bike home in a van and started to dismount the oil pan and etc. Friend who is a Guzzi experienced mechanician helped me. Firstly we measured the pressure of the oil. ZERO on idle and 1 atm in 2500rpm. Hm. So we took down the oil pan and cleaned the valve that regulates oil pressure in the engine. It worked fine. Hm. After hours of playing, we took down the oil filter (UFI) and finally found, the rubber seal ring on top of filter was broken, closer inspection showed it has been rotten by some kind, the surface was porous.

 

so filter was replaced and pressure is now 70 PSI on idle. Great!

 

better watch those UFIs now

[Guzzirider]

Nice pic btw- somewhere in the Highlands?

[pasotibbs]

 

 

Back to happier times ...

Nice bike

 

Not to add to your worries but as you've got a "new" V11 it would be worth sorting the rear hugger so spray off the back wheel doesn't get onto the rear shock etc.

(I fitted a ZXR750 hugger from an autojumble upside down inside the existing hugger)

 

Other than that just ride it and deal with things as they happen

[fotoguzzi]

I have not had any worries about the shift spring since I put a new one under the seat.

 

[mikie]

I think that owning a Guzzi is a great excuse for having more than one bike. I was always a one-bike-at-a-time person until buying a new 2002 LeMans (just like yours) eight years ago. Shortly afterwards, during my first unplanned stoppage on a freeway, I decided that having a spare bike would probably be a good idea. And you may even be able to sell that logic to your wife/husband/partner/whatever.

[cola]

Nice pic btw- somewhere in the Highlands?

 

Technically not, 'cos it's even further north in Sutherland, but well spotted.

 

Typical holiday weekend traffic (none)

[cola]

I was completely cured of my Chronic Guzzichondria when I cleaned my (working) ignition switch. But, that was before my rear drive leak, trip odometer locked up and the tail light quit.

 

I remember reading about these bikes when they came out and one journalist suggested they are fine bikes that will require a bit of "owner involvement." Welcome to the club!

 

Oh, and yeah, your LeMans is an '02. Get the silly spring now and change it when the time comes.

 

Great advice.

 

I didn't follow it now I'm off the road waiting for the new spring.

 

Failed at 5,550 miles

[raz]

My speedo cable snapped last week, or so I thought. New one arrived yesterday but when I was going to replace it I saw the old one had just unthreaded from the speedo. It was just fine when I attached it again. So now that I have a spare one the old one will never ever break

[grossohc]

My speedo cable snapped last week, or so I thought. New one arrived yesterday but when I was going to replace it I saw the old one had just unthreaded from the speedo. It was just fine when I attached it again. So now that I have a spare one the old one will never ever break

 

I changed my speedo cable after it had been on for 12000 miles. generally i have had them fail after 4-5000miles. I thought, what a great bit of pre emptive maintenance,changing it before it fails . new one failed at 1500 miles. Refitted old one,You cant win

[mznyc]

I used to insert "Harley" into this limerick.Now it applies to our beloved brand,

 

Buy a Guzzi ,buy the best.Ride a mile push the rest!

 

Hey you could be like a character in a Bill Forsyth movie.Go into the village at midnight,there's Cola pushing his Guzzi.First break of dawn,there's Cola,a drive thru the moors in a downpour,yup there's Cola,you get the picture,..

Agree with mikie gota have another reliable bike that doesn't require "owner involvement ",if you like to ride a lot.If I didn't I wouldn't ride half as much as I would like to,because of various ailments.I theorize that most of our members are too old or aren't allowed to ride regularly by they're better halves so don't mind a little downtime now and again, Ha,ha,..