Intro and a maintenance question

[medulla762]

Hello my name is Joe Culpepper. I live in Rockport. My dad's knees have gotten so bad he can no longer ride. HE IS 83. I will be taken ownership of his 2000 tourer. It has not been started in about a year. The Honda shop in Houston wants$2100 to get it running. Dad's thinks this is a little much. He wants me to bring the bike down here to get it running. Any thoughts on what should be done and cost would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking clean the carbs, change all fluids and service final drive. What is a ballpark price to have this fine by a reputable shop. What else should be looked at? Any advice is greatly appreciated. I look forward to joining the ranks of proud dragon owners!

[Red Diamond]

Yes that is drastically over priced work. In this situation, with the bike sitting for a year, I would put in a new battery if needed, pull the tank and drain the old gas completely, don't pull the carbs just yet. Install the tank with good fresh fuel and fire it up, see how it runs. Sometimes that's all it takes, if it misses a bit after it is started and simply will not idle well after it is warmed up really good, then you can pull the carbs and install new jets, do not attempt to clean them, you will cause yourself additional work by having to remove the carbs a second time. Save yourself about $2000.00. There is probably a Valkyrie owner in the Rockport are who can help you out.
P.S. All this before you try to crank it up.

Welcome, there will be a lot more help coming and hope we can both ride as long as your Dad has.

[mrider]

if your are concernd about doing it your self take it to El Campo cycles sales shop rates are lower and they do a good job.

[Old Geezer Richard]

Hey Mr. Joe Culepepper , your in Rockport Tx. ??  Like Mr. Red Diamond said , do a little snooping around and just do the Basic's for now ... Now that STEALERSHIP in Houston was really trying to EYE GOUGE YOU BAD  .... FYI , in case all the basic remedies don't work , I have a very good and Honest Mechanic that and ONLY TOUCHES MY BIKE here in San Antonio .... He used to work for I-35 Honda in New Braunfels Tx. as the Service Mgr. / Mech. and decided to go into business for himself for over 5 yrs. now .... So if your interested give me a Jingle and I'll pass his name and cell number on to you , Thanks the Geezer 

[medulla762]

Thanks folks! The Fat Lady made it to her new home today. When I opened the gas cap and took a little whiff, it smells like fresh fuel. That's a good thing! Tomorrow the tank comes off and will be drained. Battery seems ok. Test 11.89V.  I get that grin every time I look at her. Can't imagine what it is going to be like to get her all cleaned up and have life  breathed back into the dragon!

[Red Diamond]

11.89V, I don't remember the exact numbers but that may not be enough voltage to fire it up. Try charging the battery to get the voltage up to about 12.9 and it should fire up from that amount. If it is below a given amount of voltage it will spin the engine but not start up, some times it will start upon releasing the starter button, but not always. If the gas smells fresh and not stale, I would just set the choke and start it up. Be sure to bump the start button first to be sure it is not locked up.

[medulla762]

    Drained the tank, put some fresh fuel in, shot a little carb cleaner to it and it fired right up. Talk about getting a grin on your face...lol! However, it would not run so we pulled carbs. Three of the carbs  looked ok and the other three(Two on the port side and one on the starboard side) were gummed up and corroded. Got 'em all cleaned up and back where they belong  and the dragon came to life.

    Paul, my winter Texan friend, who did most of the work,  took her for a spin. Got one block from the house and came back to inform me the brakes were sticking. We messed with the brakes and got them functioning properly. Went to start the beast and during the short time we worked on the brakes, thirty minutes tops, enough fuel had leaked into number one to hydrolock the engine. No damage was done and after turning her over with the plugs pulled and pushing that gas out the Fat Lady started  up and ran great. Is it safe for me to assume I have a faulty petcock(along with the faulty float) or is their something I could have installed improperly.

[Houdini]

Is it safe for me to assume I have a faulty petcock(along with the faulty float) or is their something I could have installed improperly.

No matter what you find, rebuild the petcock.  Better safe than sorry and you came real close to sorry.

[medulla762]

Put about 50 miles on the bike today and WOW these valkyries do indeed handle well! My only complaint...I wish I would have noticed Pop has removed the baffles from the cobra exhaust. Sounds great when at idle and when you blip the throttle while not moving but it's a little much when cruising through town...lol

[medulla762]

Rebuilt the petcock. It sure is nice entering the dragons lair and not smelling fuel

[CDuster]

If you ever need to take it to get service, James at El Campo Cycle will treat you fair.