condensation

[marky99925]

Hi all
bit of a panic but with a quick happy ending, after 9 years and never a starting problem i can recall, during the last couple of starts my MK1 seemed to be running on 3 before settling down after a couple of seconds, then today wouldn't start at all.
having just changed the plugs i suspected some ham fistedness on my behalf with the plug caps, or a plug not torqued up etc. The puzzling bit was that after changing the plugs 2 weeks ago the 30 mile test ride went without a hitch. Last Friday was the first time i noticed the roughness upon starting but the subsequent 15 miles down the by pass also went perfectly. Puzzled,i have been starting the bike each day and the roughness was still there again for a couple of seconds.
After today's non starting i ran through the flooded engine process repeated below and after two cycles started and ran perfectly. So i can only assume condensation, as it's out in the shed and Ireland has been one long monsoon for weeks, but i would have thought that 15 miles at by pass speed last Friday would have cleared any condensation and I'm surprised that it would have built up so quickly. I kept the bike in the house for 7 years and last winter was it's first in the shed, i had no problems last winter. I have a dehumidifier and was thinking of running that in the shed. Just to confirm for anyone else with the same problem the flooded engine process sorted me out:

1. Leave the engine stop switch set to RUN.
2. Open throttle fully.
3. Press the start button for 5 seconds.
4. Follow the normal starting procedure.
5. If the engine starts with unstable idle, open the throttle slightly. If the engine does not start, wait for 10 seconds, then follow steps 1-4 again.

[Art]

Mine occasionally suffers from a stubborn cold start, I suspect most likely due to being stored in a cold, damp garage, the flooded engine start technique always gets it going. I remember one frustrating occasion where I must have cycled through the process 20 times or more before it fired up and then that was on three cylinders until I gave it a blip or two on the throttle

A curiosity with mine that may be related is my No2 spark plug always comes out showing some corrosion.

[marky99925]

Well i'm a long way from 20 cycles! count myself lucky !
 might hook up the dehumidifer and a fan heater with a thermostat tomorrow, my wife put up with the bike in the lounge for 7 years while i 'looked into buying a shed' i doubt it will get back into the lounge.
I checked the drain from the airbox and all was good, next to nothing in the tube, also no sign of condensation around the airbox or filter.
Maybe moving to Spain might fix it.

[Art]

It was a good test for the recently installed Motobatt MBTZ10S battery (8 Ah, 190 CCA). The old Varta TTZ10S (8 Ah, 150 CCA) still had some life in it and continues to be of use for bench testing but it would have been proper flat before 10 or 12 cycles.

I'd never get away with a motorcycle in the house. I once stripped down and rebuilt a Cortina engine on my mothers dining room table, what with waiting for the the crankshaft re-grind and spare parts it lived there for about 3 weeks. Her indoors has made it very clear that type of shenanigans would not happen in her house.

[marky99925]

Jesus i don't think i would have got away with the engine on the table! Aren't mum's great?
Having said that before i had the shed my beloved didn't bat an eyelid when i had the bike in the kitchen on a stand for a month as the forks and shock were away at Maxton having their service done, happy days.
And you have the skills to rebuild an engine!

[Art]

I was very keen back then, picked up a low mileage MkIII 1600 GXL Cortina with a poorly engine for next to nothing. Complete engine nut & bolt strip down revealed it needed the crankshaft re-grinding + over sized big end shells, re-honing to the cylinder liners + over sized piston rings, a replacement (fubar) camshaft and a decoke with some re-porting of the cylinder head for good measure. The re-build was during my apprenticeship years and only possible because I had full access to the college workshops (and mothers dining table of course).

The engine failure was a known fault and due to Fords poorly designed oil feed pipe on their early 1600 OHC engines. The most satisfying part of the re-build was the 'Boy made on dining room Table' modified camshaft oil feed pipe! That Cortina ended life being mini cabbed and knocking up over 200,000 miles on regular oil changes without any further engine issues, we knew how to build 'em if the Ford Motor Company didn't 

[marky99925]

Wasn't aware of the built in problem with Cortinas. i recall my older brothers having several though i think they were mostly MK11's. How the hell would a design fault like that not show up in bench/road tests before they started flogging the things? Possibly it did and was too late/expensive to fix ?
What a rip off.
You should have offered a conversion oil feed pipe kit to all the boy racers !
I thought i was doing well with 180k on a Peugeot 406 diesel, then traded it in, but they did have a reputation for clocking up the miles, i saw it on the road later too, still chugging along, but i was pretty fastidious with oil changes, although back then it was a major feat of engineering for me!

[Art]

Fords were well aware of the fault, the average Cortina probably covered less than 5,000 miles per year and with a 12,000 mile/12 month warranty Ford's chose to ignore it at least for a while. It only affected the 1600 cc OHC engines of the mid 70's, the camshaft lobes would prematurely wear and fail at 20,000 miles due to oil starvation caused by a poorly routed oil feed pipe with narrow outlets that easily became blocked.

[marky99925]

Jesus, so it was a case of 'don't worry lads we'll be outside the warranty before most problems occur' amazing.
Separately i 've heard a lot about all balls bearings having little or no grease when new, i saw a guy remove the seal on a brand new set on youtube and sure enough virtually nothing so he repacked it.
As the dealer in spain used all balls on the back i was thinking of greasing them while i have the wheel out next week, what grease would you recommend? I have plenty of LM2.

[pedro]

If you are leaving the bike in the shed for long periods, then to reduce the moisture you could possibly think about using a bike cover as well. Obviously it'll only be effective if the bike is nice and dry before you put the cover on.