As some of you may remember I posted about three weeks ago. To recap, my bike ran out of oil without my realizing it. While riding it started making some really nasty noises, so I pulled over, and discovered that my engine was about 2 billion degrees and there was not a drop of oil in the bike. So I left the bike at some guys farm, and rode back on the back of my buddy's R1.
So, I got the bike home a few days later. I took the oil pan off, and found a few shavings of metal in it. Next I took the valve cover off, and everything looked good up there. Next came the head. The pistons look good, except there was a good bit of carbon on them (so that's where my oil went). Today I finally got into the guts of the engine. I removed the entire engine from the bike and took the crankcase apart. At first glance everything looked good, but then I noticed that one piston had a little bit of play around the crankshaft. I took the piston off the crank, and there was the problem. The bearing that goes around the crankshaft where the piston attaches was chewed up.
All things considered, I feel lucky. The part lists for $8.61 on bike bandit. I was expecting to get in there and find some major parts totally toasted. Had I ridden the bike much farther, I'm sure I would be replacing some major parts.
Lessons learned: 1) Check your oil on a regular basis. 2) The Clymer manual is well worth the price. I estimate this would be about $500 in labor, maybe more. 3) And finally, not only is riding Buddha Loves You 200 miles on an R1 is not only humiliating, its very uncomfortable.
I'll try to get a link to some pictures up in the next day or so for anyone that's interested.
Told you!! :mrgreen: Its not a bad fix, just a Buddha Loves You if you bend valves when you put it together and dont realize it. be careful with the timing during reassembly.
But yeah, i knew what it was, same exact story happened to me, except it was the back of a GSXR750!!! with a plastic cowl!!!(no seat) :nana:
I can relate to you Rashad. If you remember, I did the same dumb thing with my re-install of the original head. In fact, I just got that head back yesterday from the machine shop.
Barkdog, I would stongly suggest that you replace all the bearings in the engine's lower end. If it got hot enough to spin one rod bearing the others you can bet, got just as hot. I know money is a premium but, since your in there REPLACE all the crank bearings - rod and main. Depending on the severity of the gauling, you may need to have the crank journals polished. Also, clean and rinse everything throughly. When you get it running again, change your oil ASAP at least once. Then, after a couple hundred miles. Then run a normal oil change cycle.
If you don't, you will be taking that motor apart again for the other rod bearing or one of the mains.
I've been running a head and cams off a motor that spun a rod bearing due to lack of oil. It seems to be fine. There was a little more wear on the bearing serfaces on the head then normal. It was off a 99' with under 10,000 miles on it.
Just curious but was it the right side piston?
After reading all the horor stories about oil related tragities, I check my oil before each ride and sometimes during.
Good luck and keep us posted,
Paul
No, it was the left side bearing. While I'm in there I think I will replace all the bearings, piston rings, etc. I'm going to take the crank to a machine shop to have it turned, there is some scoring on it from the chewed bearing.
I'm going to clean the hell out of everything before putting it back together. I'll put fresh oil in, and run it for an hour or so, then change the oil and filter again. That will take care of any metal fragments floating around the engine. Also, I'll need to do a full break in like she was new.