New owner of a 1998 Honda magna 750..looking for tips

[BurleyBiker]

Hello all!! My first thread in your nice little community here. I'm an avid motorcycle rider. I've been riding motorcycles since I was 16 years old. My first bike was a 1983 Honda 250 enduro. I then begin riding dirt for a number of years. My last bike was a 2001 Honda America classic edition. I sold it right after I got married to give me and the wife a bit of extra cash for our new life together. I regretted it ever since.

So I just bought a 1998 Honda magna 750. It's been garage kept for the past year and a half. I got a great deal on it as the previous owner took great care of the bike but was diagnosed with MS last year and it's progressing to the point the previous owner can no longer ride.

So I come to all of you experts out there to aid me with some general info. The bike sadly was left with fluids in it, so I know that I need to replace all the fluids, oil/air filter. Clean the carb, make sure the tank has no rust in it. all that general stuff I feel pretty capable that I can do myself. I'm no mechanic in an sense of the word, but I'm pretty handy and understand instructions well.

I'm basically looking for info from current Magna owner(s) (specifically owners with magnas around this year of production date.)

What do I need to know about this specific bike? I've read that the R4 engines can run hot. What else should I be prepared/ready for with this model of bike?

Also any advice on things I should do before starting it for the first time. The battery is long dead so I know I'll be replacing that. I didn't want to start the bike with old fluids...so I thought I would just get some needed info from all you guys before I proceed any further.

Thanks in advance for any comments and help. I really applicate your time in this matter.

-==BurleyBiker==-

[The_AirHawk]

Transmissions have a tendency to go South for the Winter in the middle of Summer. Usually not worth the several-thousand in parts and labour to fix them. Watch for 2nd-gear going AWOL-without-leave, or jumping to neutral on a hard (or sometimes not so hard) shift.

[pplassm]

I helped clean a Honda V-4's carbs once. Never again. Have fun, sir.

[Easy Rider 2]

Originally Posted by pplassm

I helped clean a Honda V-4's carbs once. Never again. Have fun, sir.

With fresh gas and oil.....and plugs.....and battery, if it will run at all, it would be WELL worth while to try some spray cleaner down the throats and a healthy dose of a good cleaner in the gas before you spend all the time, money and aggrivation of a manual cleaning.

On-the-bike chemical cleaning sometimes gives AMAZING results.
I like Berrymans B12 Chemtool.

And don't get too excited about some traces of rust inside the tank. A good inline fuel filter often will take care of that.

[BurleyBiker]

Originally Posted by pplassm

I helped clean a Honda V-4's carbs once. Never again. Have fun, sir.

I'm keeping mt fingers crossed and praying that I wont have to disassemble the carb for cleaning. Like I said the bike was very well maintained until the last year. All the Honda's I've ever owned were great bikes! I'm hoping this one will be as well!

I'm hoping I can remove the carb and just submerge it in some carb cleaner. That's going to be the first round fix anyway.

Transmission seemed fine, but still a lot I wont know until I get her cranked over.

Anything else I should know about these bikes?

And many thanks for the replies.

Cheers,

--==Burley==--

[Morbo the Destroyer]

"I'm hoping I can remove the carb and just submerge it in some carb cleaner..."

Enough with the half-assed efforts there, Burly Bee! Submerge the entire bike in carb cleaner. Let it soak overnight and pull it out in the morning. Fill the gas tank with carb cleaner too, then fire that sucker up. She's gonna run hot...but let 'er RUN!

[pplassm]

Originally Posted by BurleyBiker

I'm hoping I can remove the carb and just submerge it in some carb cleaner. That's going to be the first round fix anyway.

Cheers,

--==Burley==--

Please do not do that. There are many rubber parts in those carbs. They will swell and be unuseable after the cleaner contacts the. You MUST dissasemble them and remove all rubber parts before using carb cleaner on them. DAMHIK.

[Easy Rider 2]

Originally Posted by BurleyBiker

I'm hoping I can remove the carb and just submerge it in some carb cleaner. That's going to be the first round fix anyway.

You DO know that there is MORE THAN ONE carb on that bike....right ??

Is there some GOOD reason that you aren't going to try and clean them ON THE BIKE......with some cleaner in the gas tank and sprayed down the throat ???

There are LOTS of good reasons that you should not take them OFF the bike.

I can't help but get the impression that you are about to make a BIG mistake here, when something easy and simple might fix you right up.

[BurleyBiker]

Originally Posted by Morbo the Destroyer

"I'm hoping I can remove the carb and just submerge it in some carb cleaner..."

Enough with the half-assed efforts there, Burly Bee! Submerge the entire bike in carb cleaner. Let it soak overnight and pull it out in the morning. Fill the gas tank with carb cleaner too, then fire that sucker up. She's gonna run hot...but let 'er RUN!

Ohh ok well how bout enough with the smart ass comments. I'm pretty sure I stated that I'm no mechanic. I'm just trying to save myself a $350 dealership carb cleaning fee, But I'm not a complete dumb ass. I may be new at working on my own bikes, but I'm simply just asking questions. No need to make me look like an idiot.


Easy Rider- Thats the route I WANT to take. And that's what I think I'm going to try first. I was just down at our local Honda dealership talking with the head mechanic there and basically told me the same thing. Don't take the carbs off unless you plan to have them professional cleaned/replaced. The V4 carbs are a nightmare (his words).

pplasim- yea thought about that after thinking about it. then went to the Honda website and looked up the PDF owners manual for the bike. Realized that wouldn't be a good idea.

Cheers & thanks for the constructive tips!

--=Burley=--

[BurleyBiker]

ohh and that's why I'm here so I don't make any BIG mistakes! Thanks easy! I'm going to try anything and everything before even thinking about taking the carbs off. Figure I'll get a better look at the carbs once I get the tank off. And yes I did learn that it has 4 carbs...yeah!!!

Cheers,