Thursday, December 12, 2019

VT250CR: Post Oil Change Notes

VT250CR

Post Oil Change Notes

Well, the first oil change is done!

 Here's some notes related to it:

There's a shim missing in the oil filter assembly


 Put in the missing shim on the next oil change (15414-300-000)

 https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/assignment_spare_parts/15414300000

The oil change cover is heavily damaged


 Change the oil filter cover (15411-KE8-000)

 https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/assignment_spare_parts/15411KE8000

The crankcase cover is still good



REFERENCES





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Wednesday, November 13, 2019

VT250CR - How to Use a SHENGXIANG 12v 2A Motorcycle Battery Charger


In a motorcycle, it is the the battery that provides a massive shot of voltage / current to the starter motor in order to turn the engine over and start the internal combusion engine process.  

 This is typicall called "battery cranking power".  A healthy battery can provide several shots of cranking power.  Depending on how bad it is, an unhealthy battery can provide some, sometimes even none.  This is called a flat or dead battery.

 Batteries lose their charge over time, and the VT250CR had been sitting in the bushes for a few years, exposed to the elements, so my guess was that it's battery was flat.

 So I bought a battery charger on Carousell, a local Hong Kong Buy & Sell website, for HKD100, or about USD12.50.  Of course, it came without any instructions in English:
Here's what I got:



Description:


 Here's what the unit looked like and some of its associated images:

Specifications:


Vendor Provided Instructions:

Proper Instructions:


I'm not really keen on battery charger instructions that just say:

 "automatically stop when fully charged, no need to care"

 Especially when it comes to high-current, no-name products.

 So, for anyone who has ever bought a SHENGXIANG 12V 2A Battery Charger, I thought I'd provide some proper instructions in English, so here you are:

Method:



01.  Unplug the charger

02.  With the charger unplugged, connect the BLACK clamp to the NEGATIVE pole of the battery (-).

03.  With the charger unplugged, connect the RED clamp to the POSITIVE pole of the battery (+).

Your setup should resemble this:


 04.  Turn the charger on and inspect the charger interface to make sure there's no fault light illuminated.  If there is a fault light, unplug the charger!
05.  Use a multimeter to directly measure the voltage coming out of the charger when it is under load:  The value should be ~15VDC.

06.  With no fault lights illuminated, let the battery charge in a well-ventilated place for about 10 minutes.
07.  Turn off the charger.

08.  Measure what the battery is putting out after a 10 minute charging session:  

 I got 5.26VDC but you may get a diffferent value, which is not that important because we are using this measurement to establishing a baseline reference value.  What really matters is that the next measurement will demonstrate that battery voltage is increasing, which is what we want.

09.  Turn the charger back on.

 10.  Leave the battery on charge for 1 more hour.

12.  Turn off the charger.

 13.  Measure what the battery is putting out:  

I got 7.62VDC but you may get a diffferent value.  What matters is that the value is going up.


14.  Turn the charger back on.

15.  Leave the battery on charge for 1 more hour.
12.  Turn off the charger.

13.  Measure what the battery is putting out:  



I got 7.82VDC but you may get a diffferent value.  What matters is that the value is going up.

 14.  Repeat the off-measure-on process  

14.  If your voltage is what it should be (12.6VDC), disconnect the charger from the battery.

 15.  Wait for a total of 190 minutes (60 more, 130 have already passed).
16.  Measure what the battery is putting out:  

At this point, the battery should be putting out ~12.6VDC.

17.  Wait for a total of 250 minutes (60 more, 190 have already passed).

18.  Measure what the battery is putting out:  



At this point, the battery should be putting out ~12.6VDC.


Here's the readings I got:

 010 minutes:  4.98VDC
070 minutes:  6.95VDC
130 minutes:
190 minutes:
250 minutes:

Conclusion:


In the end, my motorcycle battery charged up to 12.6VDC, and was able to hold its charge for several hours, which is exactly how a motorcyle battery should behave.

REFERENCES:

https://www.gnbsystems.com/faq.php

https://www.amazon.com/Bulary-Battery-Portable-Maintain-Damaging/dp/B07MKNG9GR

 https://www.autobatteries.com/en-us/battery-testing-and-maintenance/car-battery-voltage-and-testing


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Friday, November 8, 2019

VT250CR: How To Prepare for An Oil Change and Putting in New Spark Plugs


VT250CR - Oil Change and New Spark Plugs

Preparing the EZ-RIDER for its first oil change turned out to be a pretty difficult task.

 This is because of the following factors:
  1. I was totally new to this motorcycle
  2. It didn't come with an owner's manual (Found one!  See below) 
  3. It didn't come with a service manual (Found one!  Click here)
  4. It is 22 years old and information about it is starting to disappear.
  5. It is not a popular displacement (250cc) compared to others (750cc)
  6. It is relatively rare, having mostly been sold (apparently) in Japan and the UK.

Without an owner's manual, it was nearly impossible to research even the most basic things about the VT250CR, like what parts were needed to perform a service maintenance that included changing the spark plugs and changing the engine oil and oil filter.

 Thankfully, I was able to find an online user manual for the VT250C early on in this process. as well as a bunch of online resources that I hope to share in this post.

 In the end I was able to answer all of my questions, which were:
  1. What is the Size and Location of the Oil Drain Plug?
  2. What is the Size and Location of the Oil Filter Housing?
  3. What Type of Oil Filter Should I Use?
  4. What Type of Engine Oil Should I Use?
  5. How Much Engine Oil Should I Use?
  6. What Type of Spark Plugs Should I Use?
While searching online for information, I found a really useful diagram online that showed an exploded parts view of the 1997 Honda Magna VT250CR oil pan, as well as links to all of the parts:

What is the Size and Location of the Oil Drain Plug?


 Part #23, the Oil Drain Plug on the 1997 Honda Magna VT250CR is located, logically enough, on the very bottom of the engine.

 It is a 12MM bolt:
Here's the diagram from the Online Owners Manual I found:

What is the Size and Location of the Oil Filter Housing?


 Part #11, the Oil Filter Housing is also located on the bottom of the engine, adjacent to the Oil Drain Plug.  I modified the above drawing to show where it is:

It is held in place by Part #14, the oil filter bolt (15420-KE8-000).  The oil filter bolt is specialized and its head is 12mm in size.


What Oil Filter Should I Use?


Part # 29, The Oil Filter (15410-KEA-305) looks like this:

Here's how it sits in the Oil Filter Assembly:


Wait!  What About the O-Rings?

It's important to note that when you change the oil, there are two o-rings that also need to be changed.  

 Part #22, the Large O-Ring (91315-MA6-003) fits inside the lip of Part #11, the Oil Filter Cover (15411-KE8-000).


Part #19, the Small O-Ring (91302-377-000) fits on the Oil Filter Bolt (15420-KE8-000).

Here's their location in the assembly:


Aftermarket VT250CR Oil Filter Kits


There are aftermarket oil filter kits that also come with the O-Rings needed.  One I found, the Bikemaster 17-1605, costs about 33% of the Honda kit.

- It can be found on Amazon
- It can be found on eBay

What Type of Engine Oil Should I Use?


According to the online VT250C user manual I found (thank you!) the proper Engine Oil for EZ-Rider, given the fact that the temperature in Hong Kong ranges from about 10C to 40C, is any one of the following:

  • 10W40
  • 15W40
  • 15W50
  • 20W40 
  • 20W50
Why are there so many choices?
Because motor oil is a highly engineered product designed to behave differently when it is hot or cold.  There are entire articles devoted to how to choose the right motor oil.

 In my case, because the engine rings are almost certainly worn, causing the motorcycle to "burn oil", I will use a thicker oil because it will probably slightly reduce my oil consumption:


Because EZ-Rider is "burning oil", I will probably go with a 20W40 or perhaps even a 20W50.

How Much Engine Oil Should I Use?

According to the online VT250C user manual I found, the proper amount of engine oil to add after an oil and filter change is 2.1 liters

What Type of Spark Plugs Should I Use?

According to the online VT250C user manual I found the right kind of spark plugs for the VT250CR is NGK CR8EH9, which are factory gapped to .9mm:

Here's some more information about the NGK CR8EH-9 plugs:

NGK CR8EH-9 SPARK PLUG.

 High quality spare standard spark plug.

 Details
- Type: CR8EH-9
- Wrench size:16,0 mm
- Thread diameter:10,0 mm
- Thread Length:12,7 6,3 mm- Spark gap:0,9 mm

- Resistance:interference-free, 5 kOhm

 That's it!  All my answers found.  

 I can now buy my parts and service EZ-Rider.

 Thanks!

To see how the oil, filter and spark plug change went, visit my YouTube Channel and take a look around.  The first spark plug change was a complete FAIL, because I did not have the right size spark plug socket (see above wrench size, mine was 21mm, or way off!)  
I have recorded dozens and dozens of videos about rescuing EZ-Rider, a 1997 Honda Magna VT250CR that you might find educational and entertaining.


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