HELP A MORON, please

[Wavey Davey]

Hey everyone. New member alert!!.
I was hoping for some help.
Well I fell for the oldest trick in the book on Sunday, let my heart rule my head and bought a 91 xlv600 transalp.
got it dropped off last night. was well happy with it until tonight.
I ran it up to temp just to check it over properly.( I know i should have done that BEFORE i bought it) and you guessed it. its a knacker.. its over reving where it should be on tickover.. it doesnt seem to come of choke. if you leave the throttle it gradually revs up to 3000 rpm and doesnt drop.
then i watched the temp guage go up...and keep going. and going. and no fans even when it just touched red.. err I know i'm a muppet buyer beware and all that. can anyone offer advice.
am i looking for something simple and cheap or am i looking at a scrapper??.
Sheepish cheers in advance...

David
whats that about fools and money???

[AIRWOLF]

welcome to the mad house mate

The chokes are probably stuck ; - tank off and remove choke cables from carbs ( its a bit fiddly), clean the 'holes' where the little plungers go, lubricate cables. make sure the choke plungers move freely in the carbs.

The fans ; - check the fuse, if ok, bypass thermostat (on right hand rad) to check fans are ok. Normal riding the temp hardly moves from cold, so i would'nt worry unless it gets hot when riding. You could bypass the stat and fit a switch for if stuck in traffic on a hot day.( if we ever get a hot day this year )

Haynes do a usefull manual if you dont have one already.

Stay cool it may not be so bad

[Zenarchy]

Don't shoot me for stating the obvious, but did you try the idle mixture screw/tickover screw? It might be that the previous owner has set it high for easier cold starting. Some people will turn up the tickover to get the bike started more easily in colder weather then as it warms up, back off the screw to lower the revs before riding off.

I'm not sure about the transalp but I know africa twins sometimes suffer from sticking choke mechanisms. If you do a search here for 'sticky choke' and 'sticking choke' you'll probably find some posts. I think the old transalp engines are very similar to the old africa twin engines aren't they, so this might be a problem with them as well?

If there's a problem with the fan coming on, you might be able to test it by wiring it up directly to the battery to check it's working (best to wait until someone with more experience comes along to confirm that's OK but that's what I'd try). If the cooling problem is simply the fan not working then I'd guess you can pick up a cheap second hand fan from ebay or a breakers fairly easily.

I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point as it sounds like the engine is running OK, and the problems might be fairly easy to sort out (hopefully).

BTW - I love those old transalps. Is it a white one?

[Zenarchy]

Beat me to it

[Zenarchy]

P.S. Maybe it would be worth checking the throttle cable to make sure it isn't too tight and returns to fully off?

Before writing off the fan and temp. sensor it might be worth asking around. I can't be sure but I think when I let my AT run hot to check the fan and sensor was working OK after rebuilding it, it actually moved slightly into the red before coming on. If it's just touched red then perhaps it needed to go just a little further to tip it over the edge (best to ask around first though as I may be mistaken and perhaps the transalp is different and you don't want to damage it if it is broken).

If the cooling is anything like the AT then it probably won't move much from cold even after a long run without the fan, when you're on the move as Airwolf says, and in this cold weather I'd guess it would be OK without the fan for a while if you keep an eye on it until you sort it out.

[piguglyshandydrinker]

As above, chokes could be sticking or tickover set too high.

The fans don't normally come on until a bit into the red, again, as mentioned, remove the little spade connector at the bottom of the right hand radiator and short it to earth (with the ignition on!), this will tell you if the fan/fuse/wiring is ok.
If it is, clean up the male spade connector on the thermoswitch (the bit thats screwed into the rad) and reassemble with a bit of coppa slip etc. It is unlikely that this is faulty.

If you are unlucky, the male spade part of the switch will have corroded to the point of where it will snap off when you remove the female spade connector. A new thermo switch is expensive. Fear not!

Gently file the plastic back enough to reveal enough metal to remake the connection - theres quite a bit to go at

Phil

[Lord Stig]

Yes, as already mentioned - the rising revs are almost definitely stuck chokes. Cleaning doesn't always help matter - I would have a go at getting some M10 blanking screws (like the ones that lock the brake pad retaining pins in the calipers on later models) and fit the plunger and spring without the cable. That way you'll really know if that's causing the problem - I now run my Africa Twin this way with no problems.

The over heating is far more likely to be the fan switch or stat than something serious, as piguglyshandydrinker suggested. Eitherway, the fixes are relatively cheap.

[Xander]

Agree with all of the above... One more thing that people are not mentioning ... I dont know much about 91 TA so this could also be off base... So are 91 TA water cooled? How fast is the temperature rising.. Like 20 minutes or 5? .. if 5.. I would make sure that your water pump is working and regardless flush and change the coolant and ..

finally (this should be done will all new to you bikes.. change the oil and the filter .. oil stops working Permanently if it get too hot (even just once) and if there is cheep oil in there it wont help this situation at all..

Good luck and let us know .. btw welcome to the nut house

[Wavey Davey]

Thanks for all the brilliant replies people...
Loads of good tips there. thanks.
I have just had a look at the oil ad coolant. and guess what there isnt any of either..so topped up the oil will have to get some coolant tomorow.
I did wonder if the cylinder head gaskets might be knackered but from what I can see around the oil dipstick theres no white gunge and theres no smoke out the exhaust either... although the lack of coolant is a worry.. i will fill it carefully tomorow and also have a check of the temp sensor on the rad as suggested.. thanks again you lot. much appreciated.

Regards
David

[Wavey Davey]

Oh yes forgot...... it took about 20 mins or so to get HOT. i think of heads gasks were beggered it would boil in like 5mins, am I right??