[roscoepc]

imported post

On another thread ChuckyT33 asked the question:

"From what I read in the past, the SE were not known to be a problematic bike. I'd appreciate some imput on that viewpoint. But aside from the problem I have,I can't help but be in love with the bike, more than my wife might appreciate."

So I started this thread so's he can get some input from the GL1200 "Fuelie" owners about their experiance's/problem's they might have had with their bike.

The problems I had with mine,, so far......

She had set for about 7 years when I bought her from my brother-in-law, who bought her new in'85, and caused the fuel tank to rust massively and was the first thing I had to tackle. Before I did that though I wanted to hear her run so I disconnected the fuel tank line and ran it into a small plastic tank to get her to fire up. Along about that time I discovered the fuel pump wasn't working. I thought "Not a Problem!! I'll just get both from Honda!!". I then discovered how Mother Honda likes to make money as I think the fuel pump price was around $350.00 and a new fuel tank was over $500.00!!:shock:The short story of this problem was I got a good used fuel tank and fuel pump off EBay from Whitey123 and got her fired up!

The 2nd problem was the entire fuel system was lacquered up from bad fuel and the engine was only running on 1-2 cylinders it seemed like and I had to hold the throttle cracked a bit just to get her to idle. So I imediatly created another problem by turning the balance screw to bring the idle up.. (No.. I had not read the shop manual that far yet...) The short of this problem is I used 91 octane gas and Gunk Fuel Injector mixed at twice the recommended dosage for a few tanks and the system cleaned itself. I also made a set of vacumn guages to balance the engine with and so far the best fuel mileage I've gotton was 50.1mpg @ 65mph... Not too shabby for a bike that Bristol Honda said was junk....:coollep:

3rd problem? The stator plug burning and the regulator going out and also the dogbone fuse cracking. As the repairs for this have been posted many times I won't go into this right now.

4th problem was the air filter for the onboard compressor had deteriorated and plugged the compressor reed valves so it wouldn't develop pressure. Fairly easy repair if you've got small hands!!

The 5th and last problem I've had so far was a faulty 30amp fuse holder controlling all the systems that are not on the Interstate or Aspy like the cruise control, auto level, CFI computer and such.. This was also the only problem that had me completely Bumfuzzled for about a week as I hadoverthought the problem and completely forgot about the K.I.S.S. Mandate...

Keep It Simple Stupid!!!!!

By the way for those that don't know, there are 2, 30amp dogbone fuses on the Limited Edition and the Aspy SEi.. Ones on the starter solenoid and the other is an inline fuse located behind the starter solenoid..

Final words on this?? The '85 Ltd. Ed. and '86 Aspy SEi were the top of the line when they came out and as far as I'm concerned, "Classic's" in every sense of the word and should be treated as such as there was less than 10,000 of them made total I believe.. Am I concerned about part's? Not really.. I believe that any sensor on the bike can be replaced with a comparable auto sensor from the same timeframe and I have NEVER heard of the CFI computer crapping out on one. The charging system?? Once the stator and regulator/rectifier connector's are removed and soldered/hardwired, the system is almost bulletproof in my opinion!! Is the fuel injection better than carburetors?? In my opinion, about the same as long as the bike doesn't sit for extended periods of time!!!
That's the one thing that can kill one of these bikes! As I said, my bike had set for 7 years. If mine had been carburated I honestly don't know how long it would've taken or even if I could've gotton her running!!

I wouldn't be afraid to ride this bike across the country and I wouldn't trade her for any other bike up to and including a 2012 GL1800 fully equipped!!! She's just too nice of a bike to let go!!!:coollep::coollep:


That's enough bloviating for the present......

 

[JWayne]

imported post

Good post Don.

 

[ChuckyT33]

imported post

Well, I only had mine for a short period, but CLASSIC sure seems to fit the definition. Mine came from Iron Mtn Michigan with less than 7,000 miles, purchased by a fellow in Red Deer Alberta who had it all this time and rode it sparingly......but rode it.



So I got it with 50,000 miles and hopefully with the Sea Foam fiasco resolved soon it will be back in fine form. That model and color is a head turner and the SE attracts a lot of attention, esp since it was not available in Canada.



But being new to the bike, I would love to hear more on your take on this model



Chucky:congrats:

 

[peterbilt]

imported post

i had a chance to buy a fuel injected 1200 a few years back but as you bought yours in a bit of a sad state this one sat for along time too it took me a bit to realize it was fuel injected and due to the fact that it sat for so long i backed out because cleaning carbs is easy but replacing fuel injectors and fuel pumps is expensive too.


but im glad you had a good experience with yours.

 

[jobe05]

imported post

I got my GL1200 LTD with 8500 miles on it. When the po purchased the bike, he was not able to ride it till 1994, when he emptied the fuel tank, filled it up with new gas and left new Hampshire and rode it to Florida for a week of riding around with his brother. When he came home, he parked it back in his family room, moved from New Hampshire to NC were he put the bike back in the family room till 2011.

When he sold it to me, he did the same, drained the gas, added new and it started right up and ran fine, and is still running fine now...... 500 miles later..........

I love the bike. I have done a lot to her (tires, brakes, brake cylinder rebuild, master cylinder rebuild, Oil, filter changes, brake fluid flush, radiator flush and new hoses, new timing belts)and still have some more to do (front fork seals...... Again, plugs), but I can ride her daily. The only thing I have noticed is the wind really effects it. Going down the highway at 65 - 70 really knocks ya around, even on a calm day. The low speed driving is also a little rougher than I thought it would be, but maybe the front fork seals will help with that, rear shocks seem fine, air works good, but still not smooth as ice. Gets a lot smoother above 55...... but then ta got the wind thing.

Really thinking of putting this one up for safe keeping and getting a 1500 though, I love he looks and sound of them......wait........what sound? But before I think to hard on that, I need to drive one first to see if there is a major difference between the two.

 

[blackknytecnc]

imported post

I got mine with 114,000 miles, it had been sitting five years in indoor storage in AZ. Fuel system was furniture polish with the consistancy of maple syrup. I got the bike in a package deal with an '84 aspy, sitting same time in the same unit. Knowing my way around fuel injection on cars, I figured if Honda did it right, the LTD would be easier to get back on the road... It was.

I pulled the sending unit, pumped out the gunk using a hand pump and about two gallons of carb cleaner, then taped a wire brush to the end of a metal pipe to scrape the tank, then used a shop vac to clean it out. The PO, in his infinate wisdom, tryed to fire the bike up in that condition before selling it to me... Yep, fried the pump. So I check with honda... Ready for it... $600, three weeks out. Kiss my hairy white ***. So I came on the forum here and was told about an autozone pump, an E8000 Ibelieve, $100, some rubber to make up the size difference, good as gold.

After all that, it needed a fuel pump relay, a couple cans of sea foam, and every single system flushed and bled. I fired 'er up, let it run until the idle smoothed out and the smoke clear up (took about 30 min),haven'thad a running issue since. It also had flat spots on the tires from sitting, so a new set of dunlops and a steering head adjustment and she rode great.

But then the tripcomputer started acting up by giving a scratchy sound on the fade/balance stick, then the stereo quit all together. I couldn't seem to find the problem so I tore it all out, made a new harness, and put in a kenwood deck with boston speakers. All of my handle bar controlls were gummed up, shot 'em with contact cleaner, good to go. My valve cover gaskets and cam sensor seals were leaking (sprayed oil all over the place at speed :shock, those were harder to change than they needed to be, but that's solved. Now all I have left to fixis the PO's half assed repair onthe stator wires, the timing belts,and that **** bulb in my right driving light.

All in all, most of my bike's issues have been from sitting to long, or poorly planned out repairs from people who never should have worked on a bike. I'm very happy with my LTD and plan on the old girl takingme all the way through my 4 year degree and then some.

PS I never did get that **** apspencade running, those carbs are INSANE!!!! :ROFL:

 

[Bellboy40]

imported post

I bought a brand new 85 LTD off the showroom floor in 86. It was an unsold model and the dealer was going out of business and gave me a great deal on it. The odometer was showing less than a mile when I got it. I kept it for 24 years and put about 87,000 miles on it, just selling it last year to buy my present 94 GL1500SE. I wanted the reverse feature cause the bike was getting harder to jockey around in parking spaces at my present age. I never had any problem at all with it except for the stator. I had the stator replaced about ten years ago by a nearby Honda dealer. Then I cut out the connectors with the 3 yellow wires from the stator and wired them together and soldered them along with the ones at the regulator. No more stator trouble after that. One time a few years ago while on a trip with a couple of riding buddies, it rained hard one night and the bike was sitting out in the motel parking lot and the trip computer evidently got some water down inside it. The next day when I started it I noticed that the trip computer displaywas blinking off and on then finally quit altogether. I unplugged the trip computer and finished up the trip without it. The only trouble with that was the fuel guage did not work with it unplugged but at least I could get back home ok. When I got back home I went toa local salvage yard for motorcycles andthey had a used trip computer off a LTD they were parting out. I bought it and took it home. It didn't look very good because the bike it came offofhad been sitting out in the weather and was really faded. I was able to take it apart and justmove the electronicsfrom it over to the one on my bike and fixed it. That is all the trouble I remember ever having with that bike. Everything else was just the consumables like tires, belts, filters, fluids and lube. I really liked that bike and it was very reliable for me. Not a trouble at all with the fuel injection. It would always start instantly and ready to ride anytime, hot or cold. I kind of hated to let it go but I really do like this GL1500. I didn't realize how much low end torque these six cylinder bikes have. They are incredibly powerful and smooth.

Here is a picture of how she looked when I sold it.

 

[Metal99]

imported post

Thank you all for your stories and information about the '86 SE-i. As some of you know from my welcome post, I just bought mine on 8/6/2011, with 41k miles on it (avatar picture is from the sellers page). So far i've driven it home, to get an inspection, and to repair shop. I was planning on getting an oil change and a tuneup since the maintenance records didnt really exist. It needed new fork seals because of a wobble after turns, and they ended up having to take off the front ferring because the bolt that holds the forks in was stripped (at least thats what I understood).

Hopefully everything will settle down, and if I keep up on the maintenance and treat it right, it should last me a long time.

I'll have more pictures once I get it back from the shop.

Thanks again everybody.

 

[ChuckyT33]

imported post

Great photo of a great bike!!

 

[ChuckyT33]

imported post

That's a lot of helpfull data. I am still trying to sort out the problem with mine. Seems the Sea Foam did more harm than good, and bike just continues to run badly, stalling and burning very rich. On another 1200 site, suggestions are replace plugs (to no avail), and then replace fuel filter, and drain tank. What by the way isthe issue with adjusting the idle screw? I was not aware of that, and at one point did adjust it slightly as it was idling high.

Thanks again for the data. Sure hope I can get my baby back up to normal soon. My mech doesn't believe the fuel filter is the issue, because it is burning very rich and all 4 plugs were fouled, and he thinks it is a sensor. The 1200 site comments are more of getting the basics sorted out first. Me, I am lost on this right now.

 

[hexium]

imported post

Hi all,



I purchased an '86 1200 SEi last year. The PO owned it for several years and was the 2nd owner. I was only able to use it for a month or so last year before putting it in storage for the Minnesota winter! I'll post more as I find out more about it!

 

[ChuckyT33]

imported post

On a different thread I mentioned the list of things gone through with my bike over the winter, and finally got to the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor), and it seems the problem has now been resolved. In the process, found that the fan was coming on quite prematurely, so replaced the fan switch as well. Very lucky to find a TPS from a shop in Wyoming. Weather up here still sucks, cold and wet, so can't give you a 100% confirm, but pretty sure I will be riding this summer. :jumper:



Chuck