Question: It would appear that my air compressor is not as capable of “pumping me up” as well as it used to. Is there a rebuild kit available?
~Sparkz
Answer: I had the same problem with the compressor on my 86 LXE last year. I took the head off the compressor (4 phillips screws), after removing the coin box and tape tray. There is a spring-loaded valve in the valve plate that has a rubber seal on it. The valve was sticking and there was a small amount of corrosion around the valve. I cleaned up all the gunk, put some silicone on the rubber seal and reinstalled the pump head and valve plate. Problem solved! The compressor will pump the shocks up like it used to.
Be careful when you take the head and valve plate off the pump cylinder. If you do like I did and drop it, you will be fishing out the small parts, or taking the fairing apart to get the small spring and valve out from under the compressor.
Hope this helps, ride safe. ~David 86 LXE Perryville, Ark
Addendum
After re-reading my tip on the compressor, I thought I should clarify that I used silicone lubricant, NOT silicone sealer on the “O” ring seal on the compressor valve.
Hope there was no confusion,
David
More On The Compressor
There is a ring on a pin on the bottom of your compressor. You are suppose to pull it once in a while to drain out the water. If you do this you will probably not get corrosion around the valve.
This is hard to reach, so I tied a string on it and let it hang down to the bottom of the fairing lowers where I can reach up and grab it and tug the pin down now and then.
If you do this do not pull too hard an the string. The water accumulation will depend on how often you use the compressor and the moisture in the air at your location.
ARC
Still More On The Compressor
For those thinking that their air compressor is weak, I found that the steel banjo bolts and the aluminum banjo end fittings on the air hose from the compressor to where ever, had corroded shut from the little bit of moisture and the dissimilar metals. I had to carefully drill out the corrosion to get the air thru. The compressor has always worked fine and now works even better after I took it apart 6 times and cleaned it and lubed it before I found this problem!! (Just my 2 1/2 cents from a New Yorker!!!!!!!)