Our 87 LT500 Summer Woes:

[RickWilliams]

Our 87 LT500 Summer Woes:

I found a clean LT500 last year (spring) at a garage sale $2,800.00; the bike ran and ran strong, came with stock wheels and tires, a set of new Sand Shark paddles, slicks and Douglas wheels and another set of new Hole Shots and Douglas Polished wheels. FMF pipe, a few franky repairs, small tear in seat, owner said top end was just rebuilt, shocks just rebuilt, spare chain and sprocket, but over all looked and ran great, no signs of salt water. I thought it was a great deal since they where selling at $3k+ for beat up 500’s in the area.

We took the bike out to the lake bed for some summer fun, running 91 oct. at 50:1 (previous owners specs – Dumass) bike ran great all day on the trail, up the hills, and on the lake bed fully pinned – very fast! No one could touch me. The second day out, we rode hard again on the lake bed, I noticed that it ran hot and used a lot of water so I carried extra with me at all times, on one trip across the lake bed it just died, no compression nothing – I could push the kicker with my index finger – Bummer!

Story begins:

Took it to a local shop (Riders Choice – Lancaster, CA) said I blew a hole through the piston and needed the top end rebuilt, new pipe and filter ($1400.00), crap! Planned a Pismo trip that summer – OK fix I said – a month later I get the bike back – runs great again, strong as it should – Oh, they also recommended 32:1 ratio and JB Red or 100+ oct. We rode several times in the desert very hard and long – it was perfect!

Off to Pismo:

Arrived at Pismo with the LT500, TRX450 and the little TRX90, of course the boys wanted to get out and play right away, so off they went, 30 minutes later the 450 returns stating he needs $20.00 to have the LT500 towed in – WHAT! The bike returns and sure enough it will not kick over – we head into town and pick up a new plug – Nope not that, drained the fuel by removing the tank and noticed no head bolts installed to the frame (Nice – Thanks Riders Choice), blend new fuel, nope not either, check the filter and noticed no bolt – filter is just bouncing around (Another thank you to Riders Choice)
Finally on the third day we got it started again, idle was OK, a little low – had to keep it feathered but it was running – We let the bike warm and then I took it out for a test run, got to the front of camp and it wouldn’t go anymore – it ran, just wouldn’t go (Got to be the clutch)

The return home:

We pack up and get off the beach with out incident a week later (well, we almost blew the neighbors up with a stray mortar round – opps!) We had two vehicles, my truck and the wife’s van. She calls me on the cell and claims the van has no power – Great! I tell her to keep going and well check it later but I’ll follow just incase. About five miles down the freeway doing 40 MPH (Dark now) I noticed a glow from under the van – it was a really cool effect – almost like orange neon, then I see orange sparks – Houston we have a problem! then glowing orange CHUNKS come flying from the exhaust, we pull over and sure enough the headers, exhaust, and CAT are glowing bright orange! Crap, that looks HOT!
We let it cool down, and start it again – real rough idle – Ah! it's got to be a plug wire, open the hood and reach in – sure shit! it was a plug wire, lit me up like a Christmas tree – sent my elbow into the hood – Well back a few years ago when we bought this van we got crappy reception and GM thought it would be great if the put metallic coated tape on the plug wire to help with interference, well I guess the salt air just did in the insulating coating of the tape and it shorted on everything. Removed all the tape – engine still hot and started it back up and Walla! It ran smooth again – and we where back on the road 1-1/2 hours behind schedule.

The Clutch:

After returning home, I put the bike on blocks and crack the clutch cover of the 500 only to find the basket falling out – What the F**k!, again Riders Choice when reassembling the bike did not bend the lock washer over and the clutch basket bolt spun right off, well since I have it off, lets service it – replaced the clutch and when reassembling, trying not to apply pressure to the spring posts – I did it anyway and snapped a post from the sleeve, another $60.00 bucks later I get it assembled – crap! The shifter was dead and bottomed out – well the kids thought it would be cool to hop on and vroom vroom and knocked the shifter down and popped the lever fork out – cracked it open again and resolved the problem.

OK, ready to run:

Not so fast! Kicked it over – two kicks YES! It’s back! – Down the street, low RPM,s, runs great! High RPM’s it chokes – Adjust, adjust and adjust the carb no changes.
OK, got to be the carb, call the new Suzuki dealership (Because we don’t patronized Riders Choice anymore) and it will cost $175.00 to service the card, I took it in and spoke to the service manager – explained that it worked great and the work that was done, I told him not to service the carb if it doesn’t need it but to diagnose the problem and call me before any work is done, OK no problem.
Well I get a call back in a week with them stating that the CDI went out and that’s why the idle is bad and it chokes and the cost is another $600.00 for the CDI and labor, oh and we serviced you card for you any way so that another $175.00.
Sorry guys! I don’t have that much chump change; I’ll pick it up tomorrow, what do I owe you – Only $175.00 for the work you asked us to do ONLY if it needed it.

The Pickup:

I went to pick up the bike, and the bill was $225.00, with $175.00 crossed out and $225.00 written below it, what’s this I ask; well it’s your bill sir! We’ll you can kiss my Irish F’g ass, no way you told me $175.00 (Thinking to myself – they just want to fuck with me) we’ll the service manger comes out and states, no sir I told you $225.00 on the phone – Liar! I exclaimed, is this how you service bikes here? (Service desk full of customers) you say one price and then hold hostage for another? Well sir we did a lot of work – Maybe you did, but under what authorization? We’ll I stormed out and told the Mrs. to take care of it, shouting profanities throughout the showroom about how they cheat and lie at the service desk.

Cowboy Up! Mr.

We’ll, I have had enough with service departments lack of knowledge and their cheating ways, so I figured I would just order the CDI myself (two bolts and five wires for $300 bucks labor) piece of cake! I ordered the CDI, new Coil and regulator another $400.00 towards my bike (The wife is beginning to question my judgment and this bike). The parts arrive and I take a day off work to pamper and repair my zilla. I installed and on the second kick it fires, idle is still low but I’ll fix it later, take it down the street; same thing still chokes when pinned – crap! OK, I give! Maybe it’s time to rethink this bike.
1) New top end ($1400)
2) New Pipe ($200)
3) Rebuilt Carb and jetted ($175)
4) New electronics and ignition ($400)
5) New clutch ($150) (thanks Riders Choice)
6) Replacement of many missing F*cking bolts (Thanks Riders Choice – You Suck) ($50)

Green side up – Paco!

It’s not that I’m not mechanically inclined; it’s just that I figure I have reached an age that I can afford to have others do the work for me, shoot! I have a very well equipped 3 car garage – I have built several engines successfully and have never thrown anything away because it didn’t run – I just didn’t want to do the work. Well it’s time to get dirty!
I figure I recheck the carb. rebuild, it looked good, jetted as stated, clean but lots of OIL – probably to much oil in the freaking filter (again Rider’s Choice). Check the reeds, wait what’s that! That doesn’t look right! It’s the freaking wing nut from the air cleaner stuck in the freaking reed valve and it’s been their awhile because the reeds have warn away around the nut – GREAT! Hey Riders Choice, have you ever heard of Lock Tight? You freaking butt lickers, again another part, and another $75. Oh, and Palmdale Super Cycle, great job on diagnosing the problem! Sorry, it was a $1 bolt from your freaking competitor – At least I know where not to take my equipment now.

Well, I am now awaiting the delivery of the new Reed Valve assembly; I have assured the Mrs. this is the problem and has been all along, just took my lazy ass to find it. (I wonder what it would have cost me for the dealership to find that nut.)

The trip to Pismo is planned again for August, and the part should arrive shortly, if all goes well next year I will replace the plastics, Steering shaft, new alum radiator, new fatty pipe, strip and powder coat (already started this) Shoot! At least, I have new paddles and slicks that I didn’t get to use last year!

[ROACHIE]

1400$ for a top end?? thats a rip...also zillas have that problem where they can be running 110% for a while then just because it feels like it...it will blow up...

[zillaguy89]

Zillas don't blow up because they feel like it. They blow up from lack of rider knowledge, or in this case, lack of repair technicians knowledge, or lack of maintenance. Just like any other quad ever rolled off an assembly line

I've been in your shoes before too, dropping $2,000 at the drop of a hat because some dumb f*** thinks he knows everything. Not claiming that I do either, but we'va all heard it before, If you want something done right, do it yourself!

I rebuilt my zilla engine from the ground up by myself, I didn't have the money to pay for labor I can do myself. Corrected a few things suzuki did a lackluster job of designing, and I've been beating the snot out of it for months, and not any problems, other than pulling the chain loose on a regular basis. =)

[FPMXer]

That is exactly why I do all my own work. I don't trust any stealership to do any work not even an oil change. I have always wanted a zilla and someday wil have one. But it's good to hear YOU figured out what the problem was.

[RickWilliams]

The new read assembly arrived last Friday (Finally, like a little kid waiting for Christmas). Once assembled and a few kicks it fired and idled smooooooth!

Took it down the street and it ran great! A little cough at ¾ throttle but after a few adjustments on the carb and some fresh gas it went like a bat out of hell!

While it was down, I rebuilt the front end, checked and repacked all the bearings, rebuilt the calipers, and cleaned her up, compression tested at 180+ PSI.

Cal City next Sunday with Pismo planned in August.

[flotek]

175 +$to service the junk mikuni carb ? lol you could have bought a brand new keihin 39pwk which is like 1000 times better than the stock carb ,what is there to service? maybe a new needle and main jet and a 2 minute cleaning with gumout?thats worth like 17$ lol what a freakin rip off ,they didnt even use any vaseline on ya.and 1400 for a topend ? my God i could have bought an entire running zilla out here in pa for that much

[RickWilliams]

Yea they used Vaseline, the tube with the extra sand in it!

We all live and learn, and you’re absolutely right! That carb takes about two minutes to clean and that’s why I started to wise up after they wanted $300.00 labor to install a new CDI. Oh, and by the way, the OLD CDI was not bad after all, another miss diagnosis from Palmdale Super Cycle.

Well I have learned and learned well, this board has a lot to offer and I’m glad I found it.

[4x4kingx889]

i wish i knew how to work on my stuff

[ThrowinRoost89]

you may wanna try running the zilla at 24:1


i run it at that and dont hinder performance a bit...

[quadracerrider01]

nice deal for the zilla