Just thought I'd commiserate. Both my bikes are dead. They're gonna be expensive to fix.
My '97 TL1000S started acting up. It would idle but wouldn't take any throttle at all without dying. As I sat there with it running, trying to diagnose it in my head, it started pouring smoke from the exhaust. Blue smoke. Oil smoke. Way I see it, I've either got broken rings or a holed piston.
My '88 Hawk GT had had me scratching my head for a while. Since last summer, actually, but I'd been riding the TL, until the above problem happened. It would act weird when the engine was hot, but erratically. I went through a bunch of stuff - fuel pump/filter, valve adjustment, etc etc - and finally landed on the regulator rectifier being out of spec, and its malfunction being exacerbated when it got hot. Fair enough, its a common problem for Hondas of this era. Ordered one up. The very next day, riding on the highway, I began to hear an ominous engine noise. I was within a mile of my house, though, so I tried to ride it out. The ticking turned into a dull thud. The dull thud grew louder. The dull thud grew loud enough to drown out the sound of my very loud exhaust. And then the motor locked. On the plus side, you can still see the skid mark from the back tire - which was gratifyingly short, since I was quick on the clutch lever. Also on the plus side, I was only about six blocks from home, which is nice, since it was hot that day.
So, yeah. If you're rolling on two wheels, count your blessings. I'm doing triage over here. I think I'll try to fix the TL as cheap as possible and sell it off, and use that money for the Hawk. I can't sell that thing, since I've put too much blood, sweat and tears into it over the years. (A lot of tears lately.) But I suppose this gives me the excuse to build the motor like I'd been planning for a while...
I bought another car last year and need to get it up and going just can't do it the way i wanted. But not to worry something will come up.
