Dual-sporting a 2010 TE 450, with cheap tricks

11,000 mile report
10,000 mile report was on Sept 11th

New fuel filter is doing well, I am getting 35 MPG at 4000-6000 feet elevation on a ride I just finished, about the same mileage I get at home at 1000 feet elevation. The bike ran great on my trip to New Mexico except for one troubling problem: hitting water crossings hard caused the bike to blubber up and die (see pic 2 below, 50 water crossings in 15 miles). It might try to fire back up, but apply any throttle and it would die again. If I could get it started, it might run if I kept the throttle babied, or it might die anyway. Happened again the second day when hitting some smaller puddles but hitting them fast enough that I could feel the spray hard against my boots. After 10 minutes of drying out, the bike would be fine, run just as good as before the dying. I am thinking wet TPS somehow, maybe I have a chafed wire or a connector that has worn all the grease out of it, I also have read that steam from the water hitting first my boots, then deflecting into the hot pipe and then steam getting into the TPS. As long as I tip-toed thru the water, I was OK.

Maybe water around the base of the spark plug where it enters the engine?

I was stalling on my 2005 TE 450 after some nasty puddle crossings during a dual sport and that area was wet. It would start and then die. I got it to keep running by making the idle really fast. Once it dried up it was back to normal. I assume the high idle created lots of heat and dried up the water?

Somebody told me to keep an eye on the very small drainage hole to make sure it was not blocked by dirt/mud.

I looked at my spark plug area and there was no water any where near it. I am leaning towards the gear position sensor now, it's down there where the skid plate could really direct alot of water to flood it and the wire entry into the sensor may be wallowed out letting a little moisture in. I also unplugged the sensor and tried to start the bike and it kinda sounds like what it was doing after the water crossings. Tomorrow I am going to flood the GPS with a water hose and see what happens.

Today, the bike was running good, so I turned on the water hose and hosed down the gear position sensor, the bike never died but an hour later, I came out to start the bike and it was acting just like it did in NM when I did the water crossing too fast, wouldn't start, when it did, it blubbered under throttle and died.

I took the bike to the car wash, 2 miles away. It needed cleaning anyway and I wanted to see if I could make it die out again....well, it wasn't hard, $1.50 worth of rinsing with some attention to the GPS area because it was real greasy there from chain lube, and I ended up pushing the bike 2 miles home, got a real good work out, AND I bruised the hell out of my right foot instep trying to kickstart the beast with tennis shoes on. Sheesh, I am a true idiot.

Anyway, got the GPS pulled, was lucky the spring didn't come out with the bullet pin, and I found terribly worn insulation with exposed wire, most likely letting water all the way into the system, thus grounding it out or at least, interrupting or distorting the correct resistance values for each gear. I used some hi-temp silicone, and plenty of it, plus layered on some more when I had it installed since the wire had to be flexed back and forth some to get the unit back in, I didn't want any openings to expose the repair. Looking at the location of the GPS and knowing that alot of chain lube end up there, I am now thinking that the water that flooded the GPS out came from the chain, deep puddles that the rear wheel HAS to go thru, even when you lift the front wheel over the water, the chain is still bringing water up and then down on top of the GPS.

Is that what there calling the "idle transponder assy" in the parts catalog? And is that what sends the "N" indication to the dash?

Yes, funny name in the parts book. The smallest little brass dot in the pic above is neutral, with 1st and 2nd gear on either side of neutral. I would assume that this is where neutral is determined

A few months ago, I'd get this grabby, snatching feel from my clutch on cold take-offs, never really had it happen at full temp running. I DO abuse the clutch alot on tight sections, since I am geared so high, I have taught my left hand to be my Rekluse, this bike never dies, but the plates takes alot of abuse as I slip and feather the clutch. New Husky frictions are packaged as a set with the steels, for about $150. I got some Honda CRF450 plates for about $60 delivered, below are the specs.

EBC friction plates, part # CK1247
Width of tab = .540 - .542 in.
Distance between tabs = .915 in. (approx)
Thickness of plate = .114 in.
Diameter of plate = 5.4 in.

The plates fit into the hub but so far, the measurements are disappointing, the .114 thickness is the wear limit for the 450-510, new Husky plates are supposed to be .118 thick.

Wow, just took a test ride and the time when I usually get the grinding/snatching/jerking action is GONE, it's all butter-smooth now, on cold take-offs in a high first gear with plenty of clutch slipping. The new EBC plates reduced my tab gap (Clutch housing to friction disc clearance) from .8mm to .6mm, the limit for wear. The .6 gap is probably the smallest I'll get it to, with all the wear on the clutch basket slots, but the .8mm gap that I did have was what I thought was giving me the snatching action on colds take-offs. Here's a pic of the plates for comparison, the EBC plates have the steel plates stacked in them, the Husky plates are on the right, the EBC plates seem to have more cork surface area than the OEM plates. I can tell there is no slipping going on, the new plates are hooking up real good.

The EBC clutch plates have really been abused the last few hundred miles, with my high 13/43 gearing and some tight trails I've been following my friends on, they have passed the test, I'll be buying them again.

One issue with the plates cropped up, since they are thinner than the OEM plates, when they broke in and lost a few thou of thickness, my 7602 slave piston was topping out inside my slave cylinder. I found a thread here on CH that explained this happening to others with end-of-life clutch plates. The qucik fix was to shorten the clutch rod, which I did, at the left/slave end, and I've had no problems thus far with that.
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I think I forgot to post this Cheap Trick when I did it, I think I was gonna wait and see if it would hold up under riding conditions, and it has. I noticed one day i could hear the chain rubbing against the aluminum of the chain guide, since I had worn the inside edge of the rubber out (again). I really didn't want to buy anymore rubber inserts, so I got an old cutting board that I was saving for this purpose, traced the outline of the OEM guide onto the board and cut out 2 identical pieces, with holes drilled for the stock mounting. Now, I don't hear any rubbing and the board material is perfect for this application. When it wears away enough of the inside piece, I'll just cut another one.

Time for the 12th rear tire. This one is the Michelin AC10, 120x18, it looks like a 130 but when mounted its 135mm carcass width shrunk down to 106mm, making it more of a 110 tire. I love the round shape it took on when mounted (pic 2), I can already tell it will be a fast turning tire on my 450. The used up tire in pic 1 is a Kings 963 DOT 120 width and it was well worth the $60 it cost, no chunking, good traction, lasted 1000 miles.

Almost time for the 12,000 mile report, I think the rear wheel bearings might need a freshen up.

12,000 mile report
11,000 mile report was on Nov 12, 2012

I think I've lost a couple of HP, I got outrun by a 2012 KTM 500 EXC in a drag race to 65mph, he pulled me at the end.

Having some problems losing slave clutch fluid with the 7602 piston and the OEM cylinder, I can keep the clutch pumped up but I start running low on fluid. Gonna have to pop for a new cylinder I guess. Carrying a bottle of baby oil I got at a drug store on a ride, just top it off every so often.

The rear plate holder finally gave up the ghost, I got home from a ride and my plate and inspection sticker were MIA. It lasted 2 years and a lot of get-offs. Got a new plate for $6 and put it on with 2 pieces of strap metal and some pop rivets. Friday, I'll go looking for my $20 inspection sticker.

The bike was running great, after fixing all the stuff I've fixed, I thought I was done for awhile. Nope. Went and got gas for going to look for my lost inspection sticker, came back home, parked the bike, couple hours later went to start it.....all cranking and no fire, no start. Pulled the tank and the fairing and was searching electrical, couldn't find anything, I had pulled the plug and saw that the spark was yellow and weak, so I kept searching electrical, found nothing, then I pulled the injector to check it, I removed the ECU from its mounting points and went I went to put everything back together I saw this, the top of the injector housing with individual rub marks from the underside of the ECU wire bundle:






The Brown with white stripe wire had a bare spot and was grounding to the injector housing. This wire is connected to:
Dashboard
DC relay
RH switch
Main switch
Pump relay
Fan relay
ECU interface
ECU
O2 sensor

The short was weakening my spark to the plug, the plug fouled badly, I fixed the wire and put my 10,000 mile plug in, and it started right up. Going to look for my missing inspection sticker now.

How is the Michelin AC10 holding up? Michelin's always run narrower than listed.

It's gonna burn up fast, I only get 500 miles of good traction from any tire, after 500 miles, I'll be slippin' and slidin' the rear around all corners...

I had read that Michelins ran narrow, and I wondered if it was true because the AC-10 120 was so much wider on the shelf than my other 120s, but when it was mounted, yeah, it got skinny.

I'm not sure what you have budgeted for tires, but the Michelin desert racing tire is a very long lasting tire. Most everyone in Dakar is running one so stock might be a little low. It only comes in 140 for the rear, but it seems like it is like a 130.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/29/392/45674/ITEM/Michelin-Desert-Racing-Rear-Tire.aspx

Looks like I may have a leaking head gasket, at 12,400 miles. I had been plagued by what I thought was water in the gasoline for several weeks now, but the problem would only really happen after I had put the bike away after a day's ride and then go to start it later that night or the next day, it would be water logged. I'd get it cleaned out, with the decomp lever and pulling the plug, sometimes draining the tank, but now, after several different sources for the gas and using regular gas which is supposed to be less contaminated than premium, I am still getting water logged, so it's gotta be the head gasket, even tho there are no bubbles in my rad water stream, and my oil is fine, it must be a very small leak that transfers small amounts of water, usually under pressure when the bike is cooling down. I am going to use Treadstone's tip about removing the cylinder studs to do the gasket swap in-frame. I think I'll ride one more weekend and do this job next week....lazy butt that I am...




http://www.treadstonecycles.com/Tech_Tips.html#Husky_Tech_Tip

At 12.400 miles, I wouldn't try pulling those studs, I'd pull the head the right way. Remove the carbon. And I would replace the timing chain and tensioner too because you know that is going to go soon.

So you'd pull the engine out of the frame? I'd also have to pull the magneto stuff to get the cam chain replaced right?

Why not pull the studs, what bad thing can happen?

I am thinking my bike does not have the stress that a 450 race bike would have on it, I spend 90% of my time at 5000 rpm. I think that I have not stressed a lot of the mechanicals in the engine.