found a deal on a klr, can you give me advice.

[boulder_adv_rider]

Seems to work ok at slow speeds. No noise at slow speeds but somewhere above 40 mph it suddenly starts making a loud, humming noise. Also the needle will shoot up in speed and read 80 or 90 when I'm maybe doing 40 mph. Need new speedo? Maybe cable? Something at the front hub? Always used to work and suddenly went wild.

[Fred Hink]

It sounds like a speedo problem. I d start with some contact cleaner inside where the cable goes in your speedometer and then blow that out. Follow that up with a light shot of WD40. See if that helps. If your cable or drive were on their way out, I d say you could have the speedometer show a wobble or lower reading but not a higher reading. It wouldn t hurt to lube your cable and grease the drive. Anything is possible but I d start with the easy (cheap) stuff first. Fred www.arrowheadmotorsports.com From: boulder_adv_rider Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 11:31 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] speedometer gone wild Seems to work ok at slow speeds. No noise at slow speeds but somewhere above 40 mph it suddenly starts making a loud, humming noise. Also the needle will shoot up in speed and read 80 or 90 when I'm maybe doing 40 mph. Need new speedo? Maybe cable? Something at the front hub? Always used to work and suddenly went wild. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[RobertWichert]

Back in the old days, a speedometer going nuts on the high side with noise was the rotating part hitting the needle part (disk in cup). Those days are over, right? Robert P. Wichert P.Eng LEED AP +1 916 966 9060 FAX +1 916 966 9068 ===============================================

On 8/18/2011 6:09 AM, Fred Hink wrote: > > It sounds like a speedo problem. I d start with some contact cleaner > inside where the cable goes in your speedometer and then blow that > out. Follow that up with a light shot of WD40. See if that helps. If > your cable or drive were on their way out, I d say you could have the > speedometer show a wobble or lower reading but not a higher reading. > It wouldn t hurt to lube your cable and grease the drive. Anything is > possible but I d start with the easy (cheap) stuff first. > > Fred > www.arrowheadmotorsports.com > > From: boulder_adv_rider > Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 11:31 PM > To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] speedometer gone wild > > Seems to work ok at slow speeds. No noise at slow speeds but somewhere > above 40 mph it suddenly starts making a loud, humming noise. Also the > needle will shoot up in speed and read 80 or 90 when I'm maybe doing > 40 mph. > > Need new speedo? Maybe cable? Something at the front hub? Always used > to work and suddenly went wild. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Fred Hink]

Old days like in 1984? Remember this bike has been around for a very long time. It should be the same type of speedometer that you mention. If there is something in this cup then hopefully the contact cleaner would flush it out. I don t think you can easily get into the speedometer to see this cup . I may be wrong since I have not had a KLR speedometer apart lately. Fred www.arrowheadmotorsports.com From: RobertWichert Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 7:34 AM To: Fred Hink Cc: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com ; boulder_adv_rider Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] speedometer gone wild Back in the old days, a speedometer going nuts on the high side with noise was the rotating part hitting the needle part (disk in cup). Those days are over, right? Robert P. Wichert P.Eng LEED AP +1 916 966 9060 FAX +1 916 966 9068 ===============================================

On 8/18/2011 6:09 AM, Fred Hink wrote: It sounds like a speedo problem. I d start with some contact cleaner inside where the cable goes in your speedometer and then blow that out. Follow that up with a light shot of WD40. See if that helps. If your cable or drive were on their way out, I d say you could have the speedometer show a wobble or lower reading but not a higher reading. It wouldn t hurt to lube your cable and grease the drive. Anything is possible but I d start with the easy (cheap) stuff first. Fred www.arrowheadmotorsports.com From: boulder_adv_rider Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 11:31 PM To: mailto:DSN_KLR650%40yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] speedometer gone wild Seems to work ok at slow speeds. No noise at slow speeds but somewhere above 40 mph it suddenly starts making a loud, humming noise. Also the needle will shoot up in speed and read 80 or 90 when I'm maybe doing 40 mph. Need new speedo? Maybe cable? Something at the front hub? Always used to work and suddenly went wild. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Tengai Mark Van Horn]

At 6:01 AM -0700 8/18/11, David Nichols wrote: Well it turned out to be a 1997 instead of a 1991. Which makes it an even better deal since it has the thicker cylinder head and improved clutch. I am still puzzled about the colors though, aren't 1997's supposed to be the blue green instead of the olive drab green? Only the tank had paint on it, the plastics were not painted after all. The previous owner must have changed the plastics... Meh...to me, mileage is way more important than year. BTW, it's the cylinder liner that's thicker, not the head. That only matters if you over-bore anyway. Since I own many spare parts, I'll never be in that situation. .Also, the clutch improvement is no big deal (8 discs instead of 7). The EX500 and Ninja 600 have/had 8 discs, so I don't think a KLR650 has the guts to put too much strain on a 7 disc clutch. The color difference might be due to a previous owner buying a body kit off ebay. There were a lot of OEM body parts sold there that were stripped off the military diesel conversion bikes. Mark [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Tengai Mark Van Horn]

It's very unlikely that something's in the cup, and contact cleaner is even less likely to clean it out unless the speedo is removed from the housing. I've had a few speedos apart and everything always looked new in there. However, I could see if the bike went through a period of non-use that maybe a tiny insect built a cocoon in the cup. Mark At 7:55 AM -0600 8/18/11, Fred Hink wrote: Old days like in 1984? Remember this bike has been around for a very long time. It should be the same type of speedometer that you mention. If there is something in this "cup" then hopefully the contact cleaner would flush it out. I don't think you can easily get into the speedometer to see this "cup". I may be wrong since I have not had a KLR speedometer apart lately. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[revmaaatin]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "boulder_adv_rider" wrote:

> > Seems to work ok at slow speeds. No noise at slow speeds but somewhere above 40 mph it suddenly starts making a loud, humming noise. Also the needle will shoot up in speed and read 80 or 90 when I'm maybe doing 40 mph. > > Need new speedo? Maybe cable? Something at the front hub? Always used to work and suddenly went wild. >

IT just so happens-- I got a 'wacked-out' speedo as well! The speedo was growling/squealing this spring when I woke it up from its winter nap; now it is intermittent on its ability to report the MPH close to the correct speed. Sometimes it is 80mph-i at 20MPH/gps. sigh. or inverse of that speed; 20mph-i at 70mph gps. The good news, mine is strictly in the magnetic pickup, not the ODO. Presently I use the gps for mph and the bike odo for miles between fuel stops. List wisdom suggested: 1. I disassembled the unit and put one drop of 3in1 oil on the magnetic rotation device. 2. start looking for a used speedo Did oiling it help? Not much. The growling stopped but the mph is intermittent 'wacked'. When the mph indicator is reasonably stable, it is now only 10-20mph off the previous deviation of 5mph at any given speed. Note to self-- see: Step 2. revmaaatin.

[RobertWichert]

In the "old days" once they started to do that, they were junk. I tried to fix them, but it was usually a worn sleeve bearing and there was no chance of repair. Robert P. Wichert P.Eng LEED AP +1 916 966 9060 FAX +1 916 966 9068 ===============================================

On 8/18/2011 6:55 AM, Fred Hink wrote: > > Old days like in 1984? Remember this bike has been around for a very > long time. It should be the same type of speedometer that you mention. > > If there is something in this cup then hopefully the contact cleaner > would flush it out. I don t think you can easily get into the > speedometer to see this cup . I may be wrong since I have not had a > KLR speedometer apart lately. > > Fred > www.arrowheadmotorsports.com > > From: RobertWichert > Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 7:34 AM > To: Fred Hink > Cc: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com ; > boulder_adv_rider > Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] speedometer gone wild > > Back in the old days, a speedometer going nuts on the high side with > noise was the rotating part hitting the needle part (disk in cup). > Those days are over, right? > > Robert P. Wichert P.Eng LEED AP > +1 916 966 9060 > FAX +1 916 966 9068 > > =============================================== > On 8/18/2011 6:09 AM, Fred Hink wrote: > > It sounds like a speedo problem. I d start with some contact cleaner > inside where the cable goes in your speedometer and then blow that > out. Follow that up with a light shot of WD40. See if that helps. If > your cable or drive were on their way out, I d say you could have the > speedometer show a wobble or lower reading but not a higher reading. > It wouldn t hurt to lube your cable and grease the drive. Anything is > possible but I d start with the easy (cheap) stuff first. > > Fred > www.arrowheadmotorsports.com > > From: boulder_adv_rider > Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 11:31 PM > To: mailto:DSN_KLR650%40yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] speedometer gone wild > > Seems to work ok at slow speeds. No noise at slow speeds but somewhere > above 40 mph it suddenly starts making a loud, humming noise. Also the > needle will shoot up in speed and read 80 or 90 when I'm maybe doing > 40 mph. > > Need new speedo? Maybe cable? Something at the front hub? Always used > to work and suddenly went wild. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]