| Author | Message | ||
     Jeffroj |
Last week I had my 5K done. Rode home, took off the seat and noticed the nice hole that was burned in it from the bike getting so flipping hot. Tech put dino oil in instead of syn, thought that might have been the problem, nope. Trailered the bike back to the dealership the day after I picked it up, which was Wed. Today I got the call that they found an intake leak and that their Buell tech can't get to it until Friday, another week! WTF! But they said that they have a Harley tech that can get to it on Tues. I don't feel like waiting any longer! Does anybody have any experience with an intake leak? If so, how hard is it to fix and how long will it take? How much disassembly does it involve? I told them to have the Harley tech fix it, so I can get my bike back sooner. Would I be better off having the Buell tech fix it and waiting longer? or is it really not that hard of a fix? Thanks, Jeff | ||
| Gschuette |
The bikes aren't that hard to work on. Any competent tech should be able to fix an intake leak. | ||
| Jeffroj |
I'm trying to understand what happens when there is an intake leak. From what I gather is that the leak causes more air to be pulled in to the cylinder causing it to run lean, which makes the cylinder hotter. Is this right? But also what causes an intake leak, too much hard acceleration? | ||
| Brianb |
Seals go bad. Nothing to do with riding. Makes the cylinder lean(hot), erratic idle, poor fuel milage, more pronounced backfire. Any HD mech can fix. Good luck | ||
| Ferocity02 |
I don't see how an intake leak would make burn a hole in the seat. Probably something else going on. To replace the seals, you need to rotate the engine down. No special tools are required other than a scissor lift and some large allen head wrenches. First time it should take you 2-4 hours to change the seals. | ||
| Ferocity02 |
Actually you might need the Buell intake manifold allen wrench. I bought one and didn't try a regular one so I don't know if it's necessary. | ||
| Jeffroj |
The rear cylinder got so hot that it heated up the section of the frame right next to it, which also is in the same location of where the seat comes in contact with the frame. That contact point is where the hole was burned into the vinyl, and the vinyl wrapped on the inside of the seat pan became blistered/frayed. | ||
| Jeffroj |
I would enjoy fixing it myself, but until my warranty runs out I'll let the dealership fix these things. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
You can double check that it really IS an intake gasket by spraying brake cleaner around the intake manifold while the bike is idling. If it's leaking, the motor will rev when you spray. The telltale sign that my gaskets had blown was idle hanging at 2k rpm when i got off the throttle.    | ||
| Midknyte |
Pkforbes87 - I was gonna ask someone to post up some pics, thanks. Could you post up one more, not so close up, maybe with an arrow drawn to where the intakes are that you'd spray around? Do we need to remove anything to get near it? (Air scoop or airbox. I dunno.) | ||
| Jeffroj |
It definitely was hanging at 2K when I got home from the dealership, I just thought they set the idle too high. I didn't know that was another sign of an intake leak, thanks. I always enjoy learning more and more about these bikes. They are going to take a crack at it on Tues. hopefully I get back that same day. I never had a problem like this, so I'm not really sure of the time frame the techs take to fix it. | ||
| Buell_41 |
The engine doesn't have to be rotated. the buell tool helps but I did most of my work with a sawed off regular allen wrench. When you spray brake/carb cleaner the revs will DROP (least my bike did). You already have a lean condition so the bike is adding fuel to compensate (thus the poor mpg).. add more combustible fluid to the mix and its just too much (especially when cold at idle). It takes time.. most of the day for me... but it fixed all the irregularities mentioned above. If you still have the warranty, I'd let them do it. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
"Could you post up one more, not so close up, maybe with an arrow drawn to where the intakes are that you'd spray around?" Mine is already fixed, but the top picture (intake manifold) is directly between the cylinders. I have an X1 which is pretty wide open to work on, so I don't know how you can spray the manifold with your XB frame in the way. On the X1, it's easier to spray from the left side of the bike because the air intake is all over the right side. I haven't looked at an XB close-up but I believe all of the air intake comes directly from the top? I've used different types of spray to check for the leak, and brake cleaner will by far give the most obvious results, and won't leave messy residue afterwards. If you've got a leak the RPMs should race if you get anywhere close to it with brake cleaner. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
Brake cleaner?????? | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
ohio - the brake cleaner is used to test for an intake leak. If you think you may have one, it's easy to confirm by spraying brake cleaner onto the intake manifold while the engine is idling. If the intake gaskets are leaking, the brake cleaner will be sucked in through the leak(s) and cause the engine to rev. If the RPM doesn't change then you don't have an intake leak. | ||
| Sparky |
Brake cleaner dissolves rubber, oil, grease and other organic materials. The intake manifold has a rubber seal, doesn't it? Don't use brake cleaner to check intake manifold leaks; it may actually damage the rubber seal and cause leaks. Use propane instead; that's what the factory recommends. | ||
| Midknyte |
Are there improved/better intake gaskets that one can change them out to so that it stays fixed? Or are they considered a wear item? | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
Tried S&S gaskets in my X1 and they lasted less than 500 miles. After replacing them again with OEM gaskets, they've been good for almost 4k miles. | ||
| Rhun |
changing the gaskets is the same on a sportster as on a Buell. Only thing is that there is way more stuff in the way on the Buell, like the frame covering most of it. No need to rotate the engine, but you will need to shorten an allen for clearance reasons. Took me about two hours to do it. A half an hour to read all of the stuff you have to do to rotate the engine.  I didn't think I'd need to. and didn't. It will probably take an hour if I ever have to do it again. Probably on a Sportster remove tank and the four bolts and you are done. On the Buell remove a bunch of stuff to get to the four bolts (nuts) | ||
| Punkid8888 |
Man u guys are crazy, I would not be spraying anything flammable near the engine. just grab good ole WD40, a quick spray, if the motor hicups or dies for second, you gots a leak | ||
| Yardsale |
um....you do realize that WD40 is also flamable right?? | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
"I would not be spraying anything flammable near the engine. just grab good ole WD40" There's my dose of humor for the day =] | ||
| Jeffroj |
Woohoo! Got my bike back, leak is fixed! Bike is running a lot cooler, exhaust seems to be deeper or maybe it's just me. Only bad thing is it doesn't feel as powerful as before, could the leak have given me more power? or is it because all the fluids have just been changed? Oh well, I am just happy to have my bike back. | ||
| Yardsale |
could the leak have given me more power? it probably only felt better at certain rpms while running lean (due to the fact of how it was burning in the cylinder) but there is no way it was more powerful overall...and it was definitely not good on the engine either (or your seat for that matter hehe) | ||
| Snowscum |
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/391779.html?1221227271 If the leaks keep coming back install a pair of those. |
