LFB hasn't been used for some time but has been started and warmed up on a regular basis. About a month back it started spraying water on the floor from no.3 exhaust where it enters the silencer. The more I revved it, the better the shower.

'Fck. Head gasket'.

Motorworks kindly relieved me of almost £100 for a head gasket, four exhaust gaskets and a new set of rubber parts for the cam box and cam box screws. I very carefully inspected the old head gasket; sure enough, there was an area about 2mm across where the copper ring for no.3 barrel showed signs of corrosion between the barrel and the water jacket.

'Ah! Right - found it'

Hours of cleaning and scraping the mating surfaces on the head, barrels and cam chain cover followed. Hours... and hours... Maybe two anyway. So... reassembled the engine and was about to fire it up when I remembered I hadn't attached the exhaust system. That really would not have done my tinnitus any good whatsoever.

Exhaust on, fired it up and - it sprayed water all over the floor. You... are... joking... me.  It was coming from the same place. I could not for the life of me figure out what was happening or why. Got under the bike with a torch - it looked like it was coming out of the side of the silencer where the split is for the exhaust clamp (I don't bother with those - two much grief and the exhaust seals it up with carbon anyway).
Looked up at the back of the engine and 'aw fck crap'. Noob error - i'd forgotten to put the D-gaskets in.  Went to dig in the spares drawer for a couple of new ones; no. Not a chance. Then remembered I'd used them on Kostenlot. Scrabble round in the waste bin hoping... yes!! Very carefully cleaned them before removing the cambox and buttoning everything up again.

Fired it up for another round of troubleshooting - no shower. WHAT!!!! No. Shower. Not even a tiny drip. Can only assume that there was water in the silencer from the original fault, but as it had been standing for three weeks, I'd have assumed that any water would have dried out by now.

So there it is, ticking over perfectly and smoking fit to support the entire tobacco industry on its own. I noticed the rev counter wasn't registering; a quick check with a multimeter and the problem is isolated to the instrument pod. No problem - I have spares in the roof.

Then the fuel pump packed up with the god-awful screech of a ban shee from hell. AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dai, I can feel your pain.

I do have the weird impression that your LFB and my Eco might have been twins separated at birth.
All the best.

Motobikes are a bit like women.  If you go too long without taking them out, they can get kinda nasty.

Point-Seven-five wrote:Motobikes are a bit like women.  If you go too long without taking them out, they can get kinda nasty.

That may be because - tradroles assumed - they've been 'taking us out' every night for years when we've arrived home, with a meal set at the table, and if we're lucky, a peck on the check, and if we're really lucky...

Point-Seven-five wrote:Motobikes are a bit like women.  If you go too long without taking them out, they can get kinda nasty.

I really don’t know how the Arab Sheiks or Mormons do it…more than one wife/girlfirend/Kbike is just multiplying your grief…you can (ahem) only ride one at a time and the neglected one will feel unloved. Heidi & Gretel, my trusty pair of K100LTs are a case in point. No matter how much I love & nurture them, when I ride one, when I come to give the other a run…she sulks and needs a little personal attention before she runs like a dream. Meanwhile…the other sits quietly in the garage sulking and plays up before her next outing.

Dai wrote:
Looked up at the back of the engine and 'aw fck crap'. Noob error…

Then the fuel pump packed up with the god-awful screech of a ban shee from hell. AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I feel your pain too Dai! 

I picked up a pair of brand new fuel pumps off eBay recently 

Fitted one…now carry the other as a spare (sealed in its manufacturers poly bag). I never want to sit at the side of the motorway awaiting breakdown recovery for 6 hours again!

Talking of noob errors though (somehow I don’t think you can be classified as anything resembling a noob btw), I replaced the clutch on my E91 BMW 3 series last weekend on my drive. Now that is a whole level of challenge that makes K bikes a dream to work on. Re-assembled, refitted gearbox with some difficulty…but clutch didn’t work. Out with gear box again (why is there always one fastener that is located out of sight and nearly out of reach that a contortionist would struggle to get to…and you need to go and buy a 500mm socket extension bar to do the job?), found my noob error with release bearing and repeated whole rigmarole of refitting the gearbox. Fortunately, successful second time round and saved enough money by doing the job myself (against BMW servicing prices) to buy another K100! I’m not going to though…2 K100’s will do me fine 

Fuel pump was foobar'd. I put it on the bench and connected it up to a battery - it didn't sound too happy and was sort-of just leaking fuel out of the base. Then it got revenge; there was a load pop! and it sprayed the remains of the fuel all over the bench. Obviously something inside was blocking the outlet. Unfortunately the replacement pump doesn't seem too healthy either, but I've no idea of its provenance, how long I've had it and if it even worked when I got it.

When I was thinking about adding another bike, Izzy overheard me. After parking at a lookout I was walking away when I was crash tackled to the ground. The guys had to extract me from under Izzy and I ended up with bumps bruises and sprains. I managed to get back on Izzy with help but I had to be manhandled off when we got home. I've learnt my lesson, Izzy however didn't even get a scratch on her.
Regards Martin.

The four bikes I rotate through regular use have ALL had tyre punctures this year alone, one has had two in the same tyre, after barely having one puncture in about five years. One was in a brand new, freshly fitted tyre. 

They're teleporting foreign objects into my travel path from the comfort of the garage out of jealousy, clearly

So you won't want to be coming to any part of Ireland then. I went through almost a decade of never wearing a tyre out because of nasty sharp objects on the road. One tyre lasted a whole ten days before getting slashed by a piece of scrap metal; that left a 40mm x 3mm hole in the rear tyre. That was also the point that I discovered that a puncture in a tubeless tyre isn't something to worry about too much. Normally I would have gone through two sets of tyres in a year, but in that decade I was getting through a tyre every couple of months on average. The tyre shop started giving me staff discount... I kid you not.

A PM to MartinW has confirmed that the replacement pump is foobar'd too. It's delivering very low pressure, so I might consider a trip to Ali Baba's Magic Market for a couple of pumps as per Paul's suggestion.

New pump ordered and should be here tomorrow.

I was warned the Chinese pumps won't last but I've been running one since mid 2017. Still waiting for it to leave me stranded and as a precaution I have a spare in the tail. See https://www.motobrick.com/index.php?topic=10054.msg86054#msg86054
Regards Martin.

Fixed. As Martin had said; full fuel pressure was reached before the engine fired and the engine fired as soon as pressure was up. And I found that pair of bloody D-gaskets I thought I'd used in Kostenlot

ebay Kemso Japanese-made fuel pump

I keep this particular brand as a spare for my K40 series K bikes, with good results over the years. I've got one on order as a spare for the two K1100RS, too.

On the K12/13 you simply slip the three rubber mounts off the main pump assembly and the Kemso slides right into place, choosing the clip-on filter screen that best matches the original. BMW does not sell the actual pump as a separate piece and the assembly costs upward of US$500 last time I checked.

TWB, thank you so much for mentioning this Kemso fuel pump.

Why?
'With an Eco, you never know' as my favourite mechanic always says when something needs to be replaced.
Again.

And each and every time, it is something else.
Of course.

bad boy wrote:TWB, thank you so much for mentioning this Kemso fuel pump.

Why?
'With an Eco, you never know' as my favourite mechanic always says when something needs to be replaced.
Again.

And each and every time, it is something else.
Of course.

Kemso is a solid brand, and well-made. I don't wish to be blatantly xenophobic - but here goes anyway. They're made in Japan, where they endeavour to design and build, with pride, things to last, unlike some 'other' places where it's often simply junk built in huge volume and sold at a cheap price. I have toured Japanese factories as part of a work delegation. I have not toured other Asian factories. Sometimes you get a good'un, and sometimes you just don't.

TWB, there is nothing xenophobic at all.
The Japanese are renowned for their diligence, first class engineering, work ethics and the resulting products.
True Swiss virtues.

bad boy wrote:TWB, there is nothing xenophobic at all.
The Japanese are renowned for their diligence, first class engineering, work ethics and the resulting products.
True Swiss virtues.

And some 'others' are not so inclined.