Engine life of a T500

Speed3 · Post by **Speed3** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:31 pm

The bike I'm working on has 40.000km = about 24.000mls on it as I mentioned before I don't remember how it was when I took it apart 16 years ago. I do remember the miles being a mix of secundairy roads and freeway at speeds of about 75 80mls/hr for good distances.
How long do these engines last before they need a rebuild ??

Gary

Arne · Post by **Arne** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:34 pm

I'd just check the compression and go from there.

Realistically age of rubber and gasket engine components is more of a problem than miles on alot of these.

Arne

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:53 pm

Except for the 4th and 5th gear oil starvation problem, gents.....

Wayne Meuir · Post by **Wayne Meuir** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:28 am

I bought a '75 from the original owner a few years ago. Had 39000 miles on the clock and he said it had never anything except a light hone and rings one time. Cases had never been split. He said it was his only transportation for several years while he was in college.

Wayne

diamondj · Post by **diamondj** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 11:38 am

H2RICK wrote:Except for the 4th and 5th gear oil starvation problem, gents.....

Rick - Don't forget that the factory changed the crankcases in '74 to fix this.

Gary - If the cases are marked 1400cc or if you modified the crankcase last time you had it open and you have kept 1400cc's of a good quality oil in the crankcase then you should have no worries regarding the gearbox.

Check the compression. It will run with 100psi as a minimum but should really be somewhere between 120-150psi on each cylinder with both cylinders within 5psi of each other.

Check the crank seals by pressurizing the crankcase to 6psi for 6 minutes. I describe an inexpensive test set-up here:

http://www.motorcycleracer.net/phpBB2/v ... ght=#77585

If everything is working correctly, keep riding and don't worry about it. Running a T500 for 50K miles before it needs anything is not unheard of. Look at the mileage Allen (H2OKettle) has been putting on his GT750 (over 100k by now I believe) without any major issues. The 500 and 750 are very similar engines.....

Jim

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 2:46 pm

Thanks for straightening me out on that, Jim. I just don't remember too much about the Titans because back in the day when they came in the shop it was just to change the gearbox oil, check/adjust/time the points, put in new plugs, MAYBE balance the carbs and away they went again.
In 4+ years at 2 Suzi dealers I do NOT remember EVER having any Titan bottom end apart. In fact, I don't remember ever having a TOP end apart, for that matter. Tough old brutes, for sure.

johnakay · Post by **johnakay** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 4:00 pm

H2RICK wrote:Thanks for straightening me out on that, Jim. I just don't remember too much )

well thats old age for ya

Speed3 · Post by **Speed3** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:33 pm

Jim Thanks for the info.
I don't remember any shifting problems. The cases say 1400cc it is european market bike so a 1974 is really build in 1974 not in late 1973.
Getting closer to getting it running.
Rebuild the carbs today most of the kit I had did not fit, did the euro models get different carbs ?? The kit had 150 mains the bike has 97.5 !!
I forgot the camera so I don't have pictures if it.
The tank is cleaned with an acid for stain cleaning on porcelain etc. I found it at Lowes (could not find phospheric acid but this stuff worked excellent and I only used 28 ounces)
new petcock installed. Maybe tomorrow the 2 stroke oil will go in than gas and hopefully we will RingDing again after 16 years.

Speed3 · Post by **Speed3** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:59 pm

Well I did not check the compression yet since I worked too many hours last week and went home for the weekend.
Back on the jobsite with the bike yesterday, tonight I figured I put the 2-stroke oil in and the gas. (I cleaned the tank 2 weeks ago).
The bike started but ran terrible and there was smoke, lots of it. Drained the crankcases and got a bit of oil mostly from the forward plug. Tried again same thing.

The oil looks and smells like the motor oil from the gear side. I guess that means I have a rebuild in the future right ??? You saw what the bike looks like. I think I will need some motivation, if I do the engine I'll have to do the rest of the bike also, that be a PITA when i'm home only on weekends.

Gary

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:38 pm

Maybe a T500 guru will speak up, but the excessive smoke you see is very common on bikes that have sat for years. Usually it only takes a few miles jaunt down the freeway to clear it out. I wouldn't resign myself to a rebuild till I hammer the piss out of it.
Remember, there is old dried up oil in the exhaust pipes. When it gets hot, it smokes like crazy. Take it down the freeway and blow it out. That may be all you need. Chances are good that it will clear right up.

Speed3 · Post by **Speed3** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:52 pm

I'm not to worried about the smoke, more about the oil I'm able to drain from the crankcase after a few minutes of running.

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:18 pm

You should be able to tell the difference between the gearbox oil and the injector oil....right?? As Coyote says, take her for a good blast and then check the gearbox oil when you get back....or even during the ride to make absolutely sure.
How much oil IS draining out of each crank chamber ?? What do the plugs look like ??

Speed3 · Post by **Speed3** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:30 pm

I mixed up the drain plugs yesterday , I'll discribe the plugs as if sitting down on the bike as normal looking down.
After running the bike up and down the street twice the front right plug gives me a little bit of unburned fuel enough to get my hand wet but not dripping down the floor.
The left front plug gives me hardly anything, maybe a drop or two of fuel.
The rear plug however gives me a bunch of what seems to be motor oil mixed with some fuel there are also some brash shavings in this.
This actually is enough to run down in a little stream for a few seconds. get's my hand wet and drips down into a little container. It is not 2 stroke oil cause it is clear and I run the Castrol blue oil.
Plugs are wet with oil and fuel and black.

Any suggestions ??

Arne · Post by **Arne** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:29 pm

I'd clean it up and run it for 100 miles and then see what everything looks like.

Good luck. Arne

bikegeezer · Post by **bikegeezer** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:59 am

Speed3 wrote:I mixed up the drain plugs yesterday , I'll discribe the plugs as if sitting down on the bike as normal looking down.
After running the bike up and down the street twice the front right plug gives me a little bit of unburned fuel enough to get my hand wet but not dripping down the floor.
The left front plug gives me hardly anything, maybe a drop or two of fuel.
The rear plug however gives me a bunch of what seems to be motor oil mixed with some fuel there are also some brash shavings in this.
This actually is enough to run down in a little stream for a few seconds. get's my hand wet and drips down into a little container. It is not 2 stroke oil cause it is clear and I run the Castrol blue oil.
Plugs are wet with oil and fuel and black.

Any suggestions ??

From the way you're describing the plugs, it sounds like you're opening the shift drum stopper, the transmission drain, and the shift drum detent. Crankcase drain plugs on the older models are centered under the crankshaft from left to right. There's no forward or rear crankcase drain. The newer models don't have any crankcase drains.
BTW, if you don't put that shift drum stopper back into the correct hole, your transmission will self-destruct very quickly.

Stu

Engine life of a T500

Engine life of a T500

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