White dot on CCT??

[vtrnut]

The CCT casings on my bike have a white dot on them.

It has no particular rattles or anything that im worried about but after reading the details here im wondering can someone tell me is this a sign that these are the originals?? (I know replacements come with pink or orange dots).

[steveb]

Hi Nut,

Just done mine and I replaced pink dots for some orange dots supplied by Dave Silvers spares

I would not take the risk and order some new ones. I took ages to go out and have a go at doing mine but following Sirch345's instructions (on this site) you cannot go wrong.
If you don't change them and one goes and it bends your valves and scores the top of your piston your looking at around a £700.00 bill

If you decide to change them and you get a bit stuck loads of people on here inc me who will offer you a hand.

Cheers Steve

[vtrnut]

Steve cheers for the response. Have the guide and the pics already downloaded in preparation!!! The dot thing is confusing though

My bike has 25k on it and good but not FSH. Previous owner never had it done and wasnt sure if it ever had been. Think im going to go down the route of manual adjusters though...........dont really want to have to do this in the future again

Besides weather is c**p and I might as well get it done now rather than the summer!!

[tony.mon]

Forget the dots, there doesn't seem to be much difference in the failure rate between them.

Also getting older ones just means that they've sat on a shelf with the spring wound up for a long time; shouldn't be a problem but you can't tell what the storage conditions were.

It's condensation that is the concern here, the spring snaps far too easily in normal use anyway, and if it's weakened by a bit of corrosion before you even fit it......

I had a new one go in 18 months.

Manuals fitted now!

[steveb]

I've been told from two seperate honda dealers that all the problems with the CCT's has been sorted with the current generation of CCT's - orange dot ones.

Can anyone confirm or rubbish this?

They both also said the oil struggles to get up to the front CCT and thats why that one usually goes, not helped by wheelies.....................

[Wicky]

I've yet to see anything empirical or official that that confirms anything meaningful about the coloured dots. So far it is semi-superstitious and anecdotal accounts that give no more meaning to the coloured dots signifying the birthday's of CCTs than reading their prospects in a horoscope.

Yup front ones go more frequently 'possibly' for that reason which has been passed into folklore - Wheelies seem to be an assumption on top of of a best guess. Same as starting and idling whilst on the sidestand

Problem stems wholly from Honda who have have never acknowledged there ever has been a problem with their CCTs.

Until they do admit any culpability or recall ;-) add it as a service item every 15,000 miles. And if you get it done at a Honda dealers, try and get it in writing that if they implode taking the engine out for a set milage they'll fix it all for gratis - or as Tony suggests fitting manuals.

I've been told from two seperate honda dealers that all the problems with the CCT's has been sorted with the current generation of CCT's - orange dot ones.

Can anyone confirm or rubbish this?

They both also said the oil struggles to get up to the front CCT and thats why that one usually goes, not helped by wheelies.....................

[vtr..al]

The CCT that let go on my yellow storm was an orange dot type.It replaced the original at 16,000 miles and broke at 31,000 miles.

The front is the one that usually goes due to not getting enough oil as it points upwards but doing wheelies if anything would help as it would level out the direction the oil would have to flow so i think that is not true.

Al

[sirch345]

I've yet to see anything concrete (in writing) saying the different colour dots on the CCT's represent up-graded versions either, but I know some dealers seem to say this is so.

Regarding the colour of your CCT dot, I expect it's more than likely a faded/weathered pink dot.

Chris.

[vtrnut]

Regarding the colour of your CCT dot, I expect it's more than likely a faded/weathered pink dot.

Chris.[/quote]


Chris do the dots fade like that and go white??
Checked history today and the bike has a FSH up to 18500mls (June 03) so im fairly sure they would have been done - now 25500mls.
Started loosening the generator bolt covers today and wouldnt you know it but the bl***y large one rung! Not looking forward to trying to remove this :mad2
Im gonna order these 2 bolts and get them replaced first.....just in case I need to do this........and I know this is the worst bit.
Good write up BTW on changing these by the way.

[Pete.L]

Dots! That old chest nut again
I still recon it's some little man in quality control marking them as they go by in the production line. The colour just signifies what pot of paint he picked up that week
Have a look at some new bikes in the showroom and they have paint dots all over them.

Vtrnut... If in doubt, change em out!
At least you will have piece of mind and know how long they have been in there.
Pete.l

[sirch345]

vtrnut,
Yes the dot's will fade in colour especially if the bike is used all year around. Usually the back one fades more than the front one as that one is more protected from the weather than the rear CCT.

I expect they are more than likely the originals as they are not an item that needs replacing at certain service intervals according to Mr Honda.

Cheers for the feed back on the write-up.

Chris.

[Geordie]

yip just in the process of doing the CCT change to manuals and i couldnt believe that the generator centre cover cap wouldnt budge and rounded the allen key socket, so I got the dremel out and carved a slot in it to try and turn it out with a blade, nope .. tried chapping it in the slacken direction and just gouged another hole in it. Eventually took the whole generator cover off, which feels as though its snagged on something but is just the strength of the magnets inside .. SO to the workbench with the bitch and grindered another slot across what was left and made up a contraption with bits of wood and an old inch square bolt head grinded to form a crude large screwdriver tip. Jammed that into the slot and put the whole lot into the vice and using a large open ended spanner managed to get the wombles thing to turn out .. Why oh why are so many of these things designed such that more often than not they seize, if it was me id have cast a big dirty hex head on the bloody thing so you can get it off ... argh !!
Anyway got sirches instructions and ill be getting on with it shortly hopefully with out anymore dramas .. !

G

[tony.mon]

Ah, yes; the Cheese Grommit, that sounds familiar.....

Re dot colours, IMHO:

if it has a paint dot, of whatever colour:

change them now and carefully consider whether manuals might be better.





If there's no dot:

change them now and carefully consider whether a change to manuals might be better.

[vtrnut]

Well................all changed now. What a relief tooooo.

Fairly easy job with the instructions provided here. To anyone considering this...........get it done. You will feel so much happier especially with the season just about to kick off.

Thanks to all for the advice and help.

[Geordie]

Yip have to concur with that now they are changed to manuals. Just need to decide exactly how tight to set them. Cant see that the cam chain will stretch much to require constant adjustment its a pretty substantial looking design and bathed in oil i shouldnt imagine it would expand so much as to jump a cog tooth. On looking at the design of the ccts i dont think the front would get much oil either, a small amount of oil escaped from the rear as i took the end bolt out. I have made my manuals with a sandwiched rubber grommet fitted inside the bore between a pair of washers and thread locked nuts to help prevent oil escaping and giving a bit more support to the coach bolt Ive used. My old CCTs have actually been replaced before with the previous owner and the garage he had it done at in Glasgow had forgotten to put the metal caps on the end of the rubber plungers, consequently in the 5000 miles / 2 and a half years since they were fitted the rubber has split and deformed ! Only a matter of time before that would have caused some sort of premature failure .. !! Must be bits of rubber down in the sump. Any more up to date opinions on how tight to adjust these and whether its something that must only be done when there is no pressure on the cam lobes, ie set up as in sirches guide with the lobes pointing towards each other ? I have read and concluded that hand tight until you feel the chain tightening, then turn tighter by 1 quarter turn ? This ok ? By sound - what kind of noise are we aiming for .. ?! Any vids ? !

Cheers

George