Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Hi Everyone,

It has been a while since I posted.

My beloved 1975 H2C (original 26,000 mile) has a leaking check valve for the left cylinder main bearing. It hydraulically locked (I hadn't started it in a 8 months) and I went through the process outlined on this forum to clear it out. Dramatic but effective!

I rode it for 60 plus miles afterwards and it still smoked out of the left cylinder for a long time but finally cleared out. I guess oil in the exhaust pipe.

I tested the leak rate and it is about a teaspoon in 24 hours of Belray 2T Mineral.

Of course, this bike has the non-rebuildable oil lines. I have heard that someone in the UK can repair these but don't have contact info. Googling didn't help. I also saw that reproduction lines were available but inquiries about those remain unanswered.

An alternative would be splicing in a good check valve and banjo for this one cylinder or installing an inline Yamaha check valve (I have both from my previous H1 project bike).

Advice or resource pointers appreciated!

Tim

I put a Swagelok shutoff valve in the line from the tank to the pump, with a switch to kill spark when it's in the closed position. No matter how well you get the stock valves working, you never know when one will start leaking. Looking back all the way to the late 1970s, I remember lots of blue smoke for the first few miles. Now there's no extra smoke at the start of rides.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

Hi,

A shutoff valve would be almost a last resort for me. (switching to premix would be the last resort) I would prefer to fix the problem. But if I had to, I would consider it. Does the valve include the switch or is the switch separate? If the Swagelock valve includes the switch could you provide details such as part number or where you got it?

Thanks for the reply and the suggestion.

Tim

I fixed the leaking check valve problem very carefully, only to have the valves seeping again within a year.

The Swagelok valve doesn't have a switch. It's a very high quality stainless steel valve that I happened to have a few of. I added a small Cherry brand switch on a bracket and wired it "normally closed" to the black and white wire of the ignition rectifier so it grounds the wire unless the valve is fully open.

You can find valves with built in switches, but I don't offhand know of one to point you to. I really recommend this modification to owners who leave the motorcycle parked for long periods, but of course those who prefer "correct" won't want to do it.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.