Back on a CB

Hi all

After a few sport bikes and supermotos im back on a good old CB

i have just picked up a dirty old 95 reg and am hoping to build it back up to what it should be with a few mods along the way.

this is how the bike looked when i picked it up.... ill try to keep you
all posted on any progress although its currently over heating and
running rough

Welcome to the club mate!

Re the over heating a very common fault is the radiator earth wire corroding & snapping off; it should be attached to the top rad fan bolt.

Check your coolant level, operation of thermostat, open the expansion bottle and pull off the overflow pipe from the coolant filler neck and check you can blow through it (radweld etc will block this up). Is the water pump working?

Yeah the overflow was blocked and bubbling over from day 1 so i flushed the whole system cleared out years worth of gunk and stripped the thermostat.. but it was still overheating

After further checking today the rad is buggered the switch wont work and the fan is rusted and will only run for a few seconds

So im now searching on the bay for new parts.. I am slightly worried about the head as i have no i idea if the bike has been driven like this but im going to fix the obvious first and hope it works

Fingers crossed it's not the coolant being pressurised!

If you have access to a compression gauge, it might be worth taking some readings before shelling out £100+ for a new radiator...

Anyway, good luck!

Well folkes its gone from bad to worse

The rad has had it and the fan has rusted away to nothing and i have stone like balls of old coolant in the system





I did manage to get my hands on a used rad with fan and switch plus the two center panels for £100 from a very helpful brakers but after fitting it the bike is still drinking coolant and overheating

So as im planing on keeping this bike for a while im gong to strip it right back ... just need to decide if im going to get my engine fixed or buy a lower milage lump

I feel your pain mate, I ended up swapping the engine in mine for exactly the same reason. I still haven't taken the head off the original lump yet but I'm 99.9% sure the head gasket has gone. Keep us posted and I hope the right kit comes up on ebay for you!

I've not tried it, but before giving up, have you tried this:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_categoryId_255217_productId_211647_langId_-1?cm_mmc=Shopping-_-Google%20Product%20Search-_-Car%20Maintenance%2FCar%20Parts%20%26%20Spares%2FHead%20Gasket%20%26%20Exhaust%20Repairs-_-Bars%20Flush%20Cooling%20System%20Cleaner&source=shopping#tab1

It might help get rid some of the sludge/bits.

Have you got a hosepipe? If you can, you could leave the hosepipe poked into the thermostat housing, turn it on, remove the drain-plug and give it a good flush out.

I still think that a compression test might be informative, before you right the lump off.

Anyway, here's one on ebay -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOOK-HONDA-CB500-CB-500-CB500R-1995-ENGINE-MOTOR-ONLY-49K-MILES-/200817824403?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item2ec1acd293

;)