oilling throttle cables

[grahamk]

Hi everybody,
I own a 2011 Downtown 300I, I would like to know if someone could help me?? I would like to put some oil down my throttle cable, but don't know how to do it. Any advise would be appreciated

[ophelia]

How come you want to lubricate your throttle cable? Is your throttle cable sticking?

[streido]

Only did this on Vespas, should be the same tho. Easiest if you pull the inner cable right out after disconnecting at carb end, then use some grease on you fingers to grease the cable as you feed the inner back into the outer plastic. Did all my Vespa cables like that when i replaced them for new.  As a quick fix you may get away with using some general purpose oil and drip some onto the cable inner at the throttle grip side. If you can just keep dropping a litle oil at a time onto it and hopefully it runs down the wire till you see it begin to drip out the other end. This worked for my speedo cable before on a scoot, see no reason why it wouldnt work on a throttle cable.

[MotoRandy123]

They make a device just for this purpose;
http://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/partno/08-0182/

Many people say modern Teflon lined cables shouldn't be lubed and
while it's true you can mess them up with oil that will get sticky, the
stainless liner can corrode and get larger and cause pressure so I always
take a new bike apart and drip silicon oil (used for R/C car shocks) down
the cables. My bikes always have ultra smooth operating cables that way!

[Punk052]

I wouldnt bother oiling the throttle cables. If they are sticking I doubt its from corosion inside the cable. Check the ends at the throttle on the bars and on the body or carb to check for binding. If it is inside the cable jacket, I would use cable lube for winches or powdered graphite. If the cable is so rusty or coroded its sticking I would replace it. They are cheap and no fun to have break or stick while riding.

[wordslinger]

..it's the ends that might need some lube over time...

..especially if you ride in wet weather...

..i loosen the connections, wipe off any dumb stuff with a rag soaked with wd40...

..pull cable out as far as i can with little force..spray a short shot of cable lube up into the end of the tubing...

..work cable back & forth a cpl-3 times, reassemble and adjust...




..preventive maintenance...


                 

[Vivo]

I wouldnt bother oiling the throttle cables. If they are sticking I doubt its from corosion inside the cable. Check the ends at the throttle on the bars and on the body or carb to check for binding. If it is inside the cable jacket, I would use cable lube for winches or powdered graphite. If the cable is so rusty or coroded its sticking I would replace it. They are cheap and no fun to have break or stick while riding.

purrrfectly right....

[MotoRandy123]

If the throttle doesn't move smoothly it could be the grease under the throttle tube has dried out.
You need to remove that tube and apply some lithium grease under there. I got some teflon grease
for a mountain bike a long time ago. I use that grease as it never dries out.

[mrbios]

Hi everybody,
I own a 2011 Downtown 300I, ....put some oil down my throttle cable, ....

First, I agree with:
 

I wouldnt bother oiling the throttle cables. If they are sticking I doubt its from corosion inside the cable....

My first question is: does the cable operate smoothly?  If not the first place to look is binding because the cable is not routed smoothly or has moved or other cables / wires are interfering with it or it was serviced and misrouted.  I have put about 75K on motorcycles over the years and 6K on my 2005 Kymco Grand Vista 250 bought used 1 yr ago. 

If you have a teflon liner like my bmw had I would only oil it if the cable had become stiff.  This can happen when the jacket rubs against the frame and rusts the coiled conduit that the cable travels in.  At that point the teflon doesn't matter anymore.  However, it took over 35K miles for that to happen on my bmw so I just replaced the cable for $35.

But finally to answer your question: My and others Universal Cable Lube Method - no special tools needed.
1. forget pressure oilers like JC Whitney sells.

2. Unhook the cable from the lever and tape it up so it points to the sky.

3. make or place a small funnel over the cable jacket / liner on the outside.  Wrap the end 6 times with electrical tape to prevent leaks.  Put 2 ounces of any light clean oil - ex 10w30 etc.  And leave it for 3 hours.  It will slowly run to the other end.  You can work the cable a little to get things started.  The only time this failed is on a badly rusted cable that had so much corrosion the oild could make it even after days!  It was an old neglected beater motorcycle that looked liike it came from the movie mad max 1.

If the other end of the cable is visible you will see oil and the outside of the cable should be free of oil.  This tells you the oil made it.

Your 300i sounds awesome - don't worry about the cable.  If by chance you wear it out it is cheap and easy to replace.  Disconnect old cable at each end and tape the new cable to the old and use the old cable to pull the new one through - only necessary with a complex cable routing like on my old 1992 bmw k75s.

Enjoy.

PaulC