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GL1500 - 300,000 mile rebuild

34K views 104 replies 42 participants last post by  siouxindian 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
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This 94 1500 has 300,000 miles showing on the clock. A friend of mine got it for a song. The body is in pretty good shape .The history is unknown but it doesnt look like the previous owner(s) had maintenance high on their list of priorities. It was smoking like a plugged up woodstove and #1 cylinder had about 40 lbs of compression. Today I removed one cylinder head and here is what I found so far. Lots of crud, carbon and a burnt exhaust valve in the #1 cylinder. I havent gone any further . ( I dont know what the owner wants to do yet) Just wanted to say that these are amazing engines... ..I drove it home the other day and despite these problems, and aside from smoking bad on startup and when backing off the throttle , it drove ok......If a poorly maintained engine with these problems is still running at 300,000 how far will a properly maintained engine go ?

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#5 ·
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Not too bad looking for 300,000 miles. it looks like the oil has been changed regularly, not at 3,000 miles, but at least changed.:X
 
#6 ·
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I would clean the heads, do a valve job put 4 oz Sea Foam in the fuel and oil.

Change the oil every 100 miles and more Sea Foam, then when the oil comes out clean, keep that up for another 300 miles with only 2 oz in the oil.

I would be willing to bet that engine is not nearly as dead as it looks.
 
#7 ·
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The cylinders look ok even though there may have been some coolant or other liquid sitting in #5 for a while, I can see some light stains. There is no significant movement in the pistons. The exhaust valve for #1 cylinder has a big chunk out the side and is cruded up pretty bad. The remainder of the valves in this head look ok and will probably clean up. The valve giudes are good.The valve seals are as hard as nails .I guess the smoke was due to oil getting past those seals......The owner doesnt want to spend a whole lot on this project right now so I think it will just be one new valve and do the rest over. I have not removed the other head yet.......
 

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#16 ·
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That ride home is important and will give a good idea of overall condition. If the engine didn't knock or rattle on the ride home, I would say just do the valves and seals and see how it goes. Check for side play in the valve stems as well.
The caked up crud in the head makes it look like that engine didn't see oil changes all that often, but it might still be good.
 
#17 ·
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Thats a good way to look at it.. the drive home... it did drive ok, and there were no knocks or rattles. The other five cylinders pulled the weak one along with them I guess. Thats exactly what I plan on doing..replacing the one valve along with new valve seals, head gaskets etc. I removed the left head today. These valves had lots of carbon on them but cleaned up ok. There are some marks in the #5 cylinder that look worse in the picture than they actually are. The owner wants to be very frugal with this repair and would be happy with no or . at least, reduced smoke.......
 

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#21 ·
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I think it will be just fine after you finish cleaning it up.
Just make sure he runs Sea Foam in the oil and gas for a while.

The first 100 miles of Sea Foam in the oil, I would drain it and refill and new filter.

do that again until the oil drains out clean. Then just ride it and enjoy the thing. It will run a long time yet.
 
#22 ·
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Jim, I see that you are still hard at it. Interesting find--by someone--



Folks, I want to tell you that Jim is by far the most knowledgeable Goldwing man that I know, and a well and trusted caregiver to the vast majority of Wings in our area. He is very busy most of the time but could be/should be the gurus GURU on this forum. But that is, of course, his choice.

He has helped memany a time, and I am proud to call him a friend.
 
#23 ·
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:)This rebuild is well interesting if a poorly maintained wing can reach 300 000 mile.Then hopefully mine should last till oil runs out:dude:eek:r £10 per litre:shock:
 
#24 ·
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Update on smoking Gl1500...........I was able to save,restore and reuse 11 valves. I have one exhaust valve on order to replace the broken one from the #1 cylinder. The heads have been cleaned up and the valves have been lapped in and so far I havent run into any major problems. Parts on order cost $440.00 ....thats head gaskets, valve seals, valve etc. One picture shows a hint ofhow to keep head bolts, cam bolts etc in order.......hopefully the smoking problem will be elininated or at least reduced. Will update further as the job progresses.....Gm
 

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