Say goodbye to my little friend – Farewell to my first bike
Zen and the Folly of Motorcycle Maintenance
The bike has been running kind of crappy recently – starting hard and getting poor milage. Since it’s pretty much the only thing I haven’t replaced recently on it, I ordered a new air filter. Took the old one out, and it was PACKED with dead bugs! Awesome! Slapped that new baby in there, and off to the next problem!
My oil level has been rising recently (not my personal oil level – although I have been eating quite a bit of greasy food lately). I wasn’t sure if I was leaking antifreeze into my oil, or what, so I drained some out into the ol’ pan to have a look. It came out really thin, but didn’t seem to have any antifreeze in it. It also smelled a lot like gas. The preliminary diagnosis is that due to a previously clogged air filter, the FI system was dumping excessive amounts of gas, and it was ending up in the oil. This is a known problem with the ‘97 TL1000S, documented here. I don’t think I have the new ECM – I should probably get it.
Either way, it rode way better this morning. I’m going to put fresh oil in (bummer, because I just filled ‘er up with primo AMSOIL) and see how it goes.