[CityHunter357]

Before I make the ignominous phone calls to the towing company and my local Honda dealer…I thought I ask the experienced maintenance folks if they might know what I did to kill my motorcycle. This morning I went to check the oil level, which was low and I wanted to see if an oil change was necessary. I flipped through the manual and read the engine needs to run for a few minutes before checking the dipstick to get an accurate reading. I started the engine, let it idle for a few then stupidly proceeded to remove the dipstick without shutting the engine off to check the level (like I do on a car or something). The stick got caught on something and the engine died. The stick got pretty bent. After straightening out the dipstick and sealing everything back up, I tried to restart the engine to no avail. I also noticed that the shifter is not moving through the gears to find neutral like it did before. Any thoughts on what I might of done hear?……Don’t worry…I’m not expecting to get an answer right away…I need to wait for the peals of laughter to die down first…..

[Ben]

Hmm… I’m not quite sure. Was there a piece missing from your dipstick when you managed to get it out? If so then maybe there is a piece jammed in the gears somewhere.

Is your bike the type of bike that needs to be in a specific gear (like neutral) before it will let you start it? Is the bike even turning over at all when you press the starter? Have you made sure that the kill switch is in the On position?

Thats all of my moto mechanic knowledge. I have a sight glass on my motorcycle to tell my oil level so I have never had to deal with something like this

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[BoOZe P-ti Motard]

I wonder how the stick could have get caught into some gearings or metal parts because I know that it is away from these and is made to a certain length to just have the oil level. It was good the engine was not hot because I too did something stoooopid: removing the dipstick while engine is running and having done some 20 kms. What bike is it? Most probably the big kinda gear (lol is sux in mechanics) but why don;t you take the bike to the Honda garage and have a bike surgery? but stil ROLF about your irresponsibility

BoOZe
Solomolo Rider

[CityHunter357]

The dipstick was bent but no pieces were broken off. When I have the bike in neutral and hit the starter button, I can hear the starter motor turning things over and I hear pulsing from the exhaust, but it doesn’t catch. I had just installed a new battery and before this morning’s incident, the bike started almost immediately with a quick touch of the starter button. I hate learning things the hard way………..

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[ShannonG]

That sucks. I have no idea what you did. But I smell $$$$$.

[CityHunter357]

I spent most of the day trouble-shooting the problem…As best as I can figure so far, I’m getting fuel to the cylinders because I can smell it coming out the exhaust. I’m getting compression because when I removed one spark plug and tried turning over the engine, it turns over. The missing component seems to be electrical. I grounded out the spark plug against the cylinder block and didn’t get a spark. After looking a little deeper, I was able to trace what looks like two wires going to what appears to be a sensor in the crankcase. Is there an electrical component normally found as part of the crank case assembly? Is there a sensor that could have gotten damaged which would prevent all four spark plugs from firing? It seems to make the most sense to me since when the dipstick got caught on whatever was moving in there, the engine suddenly stopped. If there were no electronics in the crankcase, I would assume if it was a mechanical issue, the engine would probably make some weird noises, and if it was serious enough would have made some kind of grinding noise. Any thoughts?

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[AaronMerlot]

Have you tried removing the battery for about 20 minutes? I know in cars that will reset the computer, so maybe by removing the dip stick you made the oil pressure fluctuate enough to trigger some kind of engine cut off to protect it self. Just a thought. I hope you get bak up and running soon!

[CityHunter357]

I’ll give that a try. I have a theory as to what’s going on. I mentioned I saw a 2-wire cable going into the crankcase. The ONLY thing I can think of that would be electrical in there is the alternator. If the alternator is located just inside the crankcase on the near right side, I think i got the dipstick caught while it was spinning and I probably damaged some of the insulation on the alternator which would cause the short. I hope I’m wrong, but that’s what I think is going on………….sigh.

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[BoOZe P-ti Motard]

electric start device in crankcase..butbut..no kickstart?try pushing and breaking in 2nd gear..btw?the oil,have you left it the way is was or filled it up?

BoOZe
Solomolo Rider

[BoOZe P-ti Motard]

inside??dunno above i meant electric start device on crankcase..there is some kind of connection on the chassis..check that out…i got a prob similar..bike wont start and I found out a pin/screw was missing to the connection…electric start sux sometimes…bike is good but the electrical stuffz…bah…

BoOZe
Solomolo Rider

[CityHunter357]

I found a pretty good resource for the problem I think I have.

http://www.hondashadow.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63714&highlight=pulse+stick

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[Budd]

So glad that my bike doesn’t have a dipstick.

“I am the best there is at what I do, and what I do ain’t nice.”-Wolverine

[CityHunter357]

Hey guys,

Just thought I’d fill you in on the latest regarding my motorcycle faux pas. After removing the right side crankcase cover, reseting the gap for the pulse generator over the rotor to 0.02-0.04 inches, resealing the cover with HondaBond HT and filling her up with oil again, I believe I corrected the problem. The engine starts up no prob. I’m going to wait until tomorrow to take her for an extended test ride, but I’m hopeful I fixed the problem. I have to say that this was a tremendous learning experience for me. I’ve only had the bike for about a month, and because of this issue I’ve had to learn how to:

1. Do a complete oil and filter change.
2. Remove a crankcase cover, clean it and reseal it.
3. Get familiar with the inner workings of the engine.
4. Troubleshoot using the shop manual.
5. Use online resources like HondaShadow.net for information and advice.

I also learned the Honda has a lot of what I would consider to be critical parts on Back Order which means it could take a significant amount of time to receive…say… a new pulse generator. I may yet order one of these just in case I need it down the road. I was almost going to cave and take the bike to the shop and get it fixed, but decided to tackle it on my own first. A special thanks for those of you who gave me advice if not sympathy

–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”

[CBennett]

glad to see it made it! And glad I have a mechanic guy at work that can figure stuff like that out lol.

[MileyCyrus12]

Great Article and useful tip this blog gives people good information.

You really mention here some great points,Good job sir,very helpful post.

[Author]

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