SteveK Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Getting seriously bored with being stuck inside, so I put on my mask and decided to take the wife's Honda Wave for a potter about. Ended up driving around 40km through some very rural and mostly deserted villages, whilst also keeping an eye open for a new fishing spot, as someone as put signs up at our local lake threatening a lovely 5k baht fine for anyone fishing there for some reason. All the rivers and lakes seemed dried up almost certainly due to the weather so looks like my intentions to get some quality fishing time in are scuppered for now. On the way back home, I noticed the bike seemed a little noisy so pottered home at about 30km/h, and picked up a litre of castrol 10w40 for 85 baht intending to check and change the oil. When I asked the wife when was the last time she put oil in, she said yesterday, and taking a deep breath I asked her about nam man kreung, to which she didn't know what I was talking about. Never mind. So I put half of a 2l Coke bottle under the sump plug and loosened it waiting for a trickle of oil, then pulled it out entirely and a pathetic flow of oil started. Can't have been more than 25mls in there I was shocked, and what came out was like treacle, even after a long ride. My concern now is that the engine might be buggered, from the sounds of it the bike has never been serviced or had much done to it since it was purchased in 2010. If there are any mechanics reading, should I be concerned about this? Presumably if there was too little oil to reach the big end then it would have failed catastrophically by now I would think, correct me if I'm wrong. Obviously I have put the right amount of decent oil in it now, it seems to be running much better now. But if a main bearing or something goes it's going to be my head hitting the tarmac, so I am not sure what to do about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwasaki Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Put the Castrol in to the amount required and see what happens and check for leaks. Oils these days coat impact moving parts so it might be OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreFarang Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 You might find this interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacessit Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Not much you can do. I'd recommend draining the oil again and refilling, to get rid of any metal. Take comfort from the fact it's pretty hard to kill a Honda Wave, although your wife has given it a pretty good shot. Have you spanked her yet? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liddelljohn Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 in 1978 my mate Neil , girlfriend borrowed his 400cc CB400 honda 4 cyl and went from Brighton to Wales and back over 4 days must have been 400miles at least ,, he was not amused as night before he had drained the sump of oil overnight in order to change for fresh oil next day !!!!! but the bike was still running 3 years later albeit a bit noisy and smoky .... put fresh oil in see what happens ,, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumbastheycome Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 About 2 years back my wife ground to a halt on her 6 year old Wave!. Some young guy stopped to help her out and checked the oil level after a couple of other tings. It was dry ! So he kindly rode off and came back with some 4 stroke oil. Poured it in and then rocked the bike back and forth a bit while in gear until the engine cooled turned over having cooled off a bit. It then started no problem and has done so ever since. Did not before and never since has blown oil smoke even since. Also performance wise no different. I can only credit Honda with some remarkable tolerances in engine design. I also feel embarrassed that I never thought to check it myself which for my own transport regularly do ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denim Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Waves are not like Harleys or modern bikes. They are really tough and can take incredible abuse. I was once riding a C90 on the A413 and came to a long low hill. I had had the throttle full open on the flat and did not slacken off . Half way up the hill the bike had a partial seizure and the piston licked solid. Pushed it to the top of the hill then coasted down. Gave it a kick and off I went as though nothing had happened 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surelynot Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Stick some fine saw dust in the oil and sell it (only joking). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VocalNeal Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Honda Wave has roller bearing crank and is splash fed. The oil pump is only for pumping oil to the top end ie the camshaft and rockers. Bung the correct amount of oil in it and open a beer. Let the wife continue to use it to go to the market. Post again in about 5 years to let us know how it is running. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreFarang Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 12 hours ago, liddelljohn said: in 1978 my mate Neil , girlfriend borrowed his 400cc CB400 honda 4 cyl and went from Brighton to Wales and back over 4 days must have been 400miles at least ,, he was not amused as night before he had drained the sump of oil overnight in order to change for fresh oil next day !!!!! but the bike was still running 3 years later albeit a bit noisy and smoky .... put fresh oil in see what happens ,, 4 days and no contact. No mobile phone, no facebook, no email or internet. I am happy that I still remember that time... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveK Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 So seeing as I had changed the oil, I took a look at the battery and noticed some crusty yellow deposits of what I assume is sulphur around the negative terminal. So I pulled out the battery and was off to get a new one. Then I thought "why does a kick-start bike even need a battery", so I checked to see if the bike ran without it, and sure enough it ran fine. So it seems on a little kick start bike the battery is only needed to put the lights on when you turn on the ignition, so there isn't any point in putting a nice new battery in. 400 baht saved, unless I am missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VocalNeal Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 (edited) If bike stalls at traffic lights at night with wifey riding all her lights will go out. Clean the old battery terminal with baking soda from Tesco Mini/Big C mini and put it back in? But 400 baht isn't going to break the bank? Edited April 1, 2020 by VocalNeal 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveK Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 2 hours ago, VocalNeal said: But 400 baht isn't going to break the bank? Of course not, but with no discernible benefit it handing over 400 baht, I may as well spend it on something more worthwhile. Worst case scenario is the battery goes 100% kaput and the lights don't work for the second or two it takes to kick start the bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canthai55 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Must be a carburetor Wave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreFarang Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 29 minutes ago, SteveK said: Of course not, but with no discernible benefit it handing over 400 baht, I may as well spend it on something more worthwhile. Worst case scenario is the battery goes 100% kaput and the lights don't work for the second or two it takes to kick start the bike. You can be sure Honda would have saved the money for the battery if it was good for nothing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VocalNeal Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 55 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said: You can be sure Honda would have saved the money for the battery if it was good for nothing. I'm no expert but there is a possibility that the bike needs the battery as a load to help regulate the voltage. Without it there maybe a risk that you will blow all the lamps. Which maybe why there are so many bikes up country with no lights? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveK Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 40 minutes ago, VocalNeal said: Which maybe why there are so many bikes up country with no lights? I think that's because the bulbs expired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreFarang Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 4 minutes ago, SteveK said: 45 minutes ago, VocalNeal said: Which maybe why there are so many bikes up country with no lights? I think that's because the bulbs expired. And the bulbs will expire a lot faster with 16V. And once the headlight is expired then the voltage will even be higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the jungle Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 (edited) On 4/1/2020 at 3:57 PM, canthai55 said: Must be a carburetor Wave The PGM Fi Wave 110i with ECU and fuel injection starts and runs just fine with no battery too. There is an interesting article on Honda's global website explaining how this was a specific objective for their small fuel injected bikes and how they achieved it. I pulled the battery out of curiosity to see if what Honda said on their website was true and, sure enough, it was. In fact everything worked as normal except for the indicators which flashed erratically. Edited April 2, 2020 by In the jungle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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