I just finished a long trip.  Emphasis on I, because my GS500F is in a shop about 100 miles from home.  The total trip was 2300 miles.

On the home stretch about 100 miles from home, on the highway, I hear what sounds like a jackhammer, strange because I have my earplugs in. 

I think maybe its the car next to me, but then I start to loose power, and a second later the oil light comes on, to me indicating the engine is off.

I coast over to the shoulder.  I am only 44 miles into my current tank, but I flip it over to reserve and try to start it again.  The engine has a really hard time turning over and wont start.  At this point I am thinking battery maybe. I let it sit a minute or two and try starting again, this time giving it a little throttle, and it starts up.  Sounds a bit funny, cant put my finger on why it sounds weird at idle.  I give it a little throttler and hear a horrible scraping metallic sound.  I shut it off immediately.

I check the oil, and it looks bone dry, and the oil cap is extremely hot to the touch. I start walking the bike off the exit ramp (lucky I broke down right at an exit) and into a shopping center.  Two bystanders stop, one of them happens to be a mechanic, (straight out of a movie, no joke, missing teeth, oily shop overalls with the name embroidered on them, backwards ball cap, driving a beat up el camino, says he has worked on Japanese bikes 40 years).  He asks if I ran outa fuel, I tell him I think I ran outa oil and wonder if I can get a ride up to the gas station to get some 10w-40.

He says hell, any oil is better than no oil and he has a bunch of quarts of 5w-20 maybe? He starts putting them into the bike until we actually get a reading on the oil dipstick.  I start it up again, and its iddling, I give it some throttle while in neutral, but I get that same thrashing noise.  He backs away and says something like "Bottom end's gone out!".  After asking him and the other bystander they describe it as one of the bearings in the cylinder might have popped like popcorn from having run without oil and now I have metal in my oil thus causing the noise? He says if I run it the engine might get more damaged or blow.

I call from a store and get it towed and take a taxi ride the 100 miles home, because my phone had also gotten taken out in a storm, didn't know any phone numbers, and so ends my trip.  Glad I took it, but it sucks the bike is damaged.

From researching the forums and other sites, this type of problem sounds like you cant really know the extent of the damage until you open up the engine and look around.

Has anyone experienced this before? What type of $ am I looking at in a good case scenario versus a bad case scenario?  From research I think its a good think that the engine still runs as opposed to having seized up entirely? Right?

This happened on Friday afternoon, the shop 100 miles away got the bike delivered Sat morning but haven't taken a look at it, and of course Sunday and Monday they are closed, so its going to be Tuesday before I possibly hear anything, its killing me not knowing the extent of the damage.

My first engine was one that was run without oil for a short time like yours. It ended up spinning the crankshaft balancer bearing. Any bearing replacements require splitting the case open, which inevitably means more man-hours and costs in gaskets, tools, parts than it's worth.

I would source out a new/used engine ($500-700). Of course you should check it out first, but given the evidence oil light, no oil, jackhammer sound (the balancershaft hitting the case), metal in oil; I'd say you've gone and put the nail in the coffin.

An engine transplant is pretty easy once you've got everything mapped out and have a gameplan, maybe a Saturday morning and you'll be running by early evening.

TCLOCS every ride
Tires (proper PSI)
Controls (cables/levers)
Lights (all functioning, burnt bulbs)
Oil (Is there any? Right amount)
Chassis (Hand-check major nuts/bolts, wheels)
Stands (Side/center)

At the very minimum check your tire pressure and oil dipstick before you ride, every day.

http://www.msf-usa.org/downloads/t-clocsinspectionchecklist.pdf

Sorry about your luck, some lessons are hard to learn.

Sucks for sure but you know you should check your oil often. We're supposed to check all fluids, tires, lights and more any time we go to use any vehicle. It's too late now but I bet you will check more often next time. I'm a huge maintenance freak.

With all that being said, there is a nice Gs500f engine on ebay was right now for 450 shipped. Better jump on it.

Thanks guys.  Yeah I know I am an idiot, I even posted on here about what to take and someone said a quart of oil.  I took my chain cleaning kit and did that every 600 miles, checked tires on center stand every morning for any debris, bad spots. Changed brake pads prior to trip, along with new rear tire. Did an oil change before I left for the trip... ugh its making me sick.

Yeah I saw that engine at 450.00.

As far as dropping a new engine in, stupid question, how heavy are they? Light enough that one person can manhandle it into place and torque it down? Or is that something I will need a lift or some sort of contraption to lift and hold in place? I live in an apartment complex so I am working out in my head the logistics of them delivering it and then what I can do with it with the space I have. I have a small garage to work in and store equipment.

Your engine is done. I wouldn't even bother opening it up. Bad rod, bad crank, case damage. Parts and labor is going to be more than the cost of a used engine.

The GS500 consumes oil. You've got to check it weekly if used as a commuter, or daily on a long trip, or under heavy load.

Its at a shop now that I have never worked with, presumably they did not look at it Saturday and the shop is closed Sun/Mon.

Think I should just call them up on Tuesday and see if they can not even open it up, just store it for a few days until I can arrange for it to be transported to me? (100 miles)

Brings me to my next question... Getting the bike into a pickup, I have heard of using a nearby hill or ditch, I have no idea if there will be one near the shop, think two guys could manhandle it into the back? Trying to push it up the flatbed tow truck was pretty tricky, we ended up just pushing it so both wheels were on and then he rotated the flatbed up...

If your ramps are long enough to decrease the incline then two people can do it.

I've taken two engines out by myself but getting them in (for me) as always required two people and a lot or cursing.

Weight? IDK for sure but I would guess 125 easily

thats a bummer man. good luck in your fixing. same thing happened to my SV pretty much.

theres a little seal that popped out that goes around the clutch rod. usually you can see the smoke coming from where the oil hits the exhaust, but it was raining pretty heavily and i couldn't see the smoke to save my life. pretty sure i threw the front rod, but i was able to get about 3 miles from my house before i quit for good. drained the oil and found it milky with metal shavings. bought a new engine and have been running that one ever since. only took about three hours to install with the help of a friend.

im sure replacing a GS motor would be much easier since the bike is basically just a motor, frame, and wheels

In CA when I was commuting 40 miles 1 way, I used to carry a hip flask (one that is curved to fit your butt) filled with 8 oz of oil ...
Cool.
Buddha.

Well I lost the auction on the cheap $450 engine and am finding it hard to be patient and wait for something else good to come along.

From researching the forums it looks like it is completely possible to drop in an older engine (< 2004) into a new chassis (2004).  The only caveats are no oil cooler, and something to do with the tachometer that I haven't quite made heads or tails of yet.

Quote from: stokes776 on August 26, 2012, 01:23:08 PM

Brings me to my next question... Getting the bike into a pickup, I have heard of using a nearby hill or ditch, I have no idea if there will be one near the shop, think two guys could manhandle it into the back? Trying to push it up the flatbed tow truck was pretty tricky, we ended up just pushing it so both wheels were on and then he rotated the flatbed up...

Rent or borrow a trailer with a low bed and a ramp.

Without a loading dock or equivalent it's far too easy to damage the bike further when getting it up into and down out of a pickup.

The shop may have a loading dock or a truck with a lift on the back - if so they might be willing, perhaps for a small fee, to use that to get it into your truck - but then you have to get it out of your truck at home. You can do a crapload of damage plumetting from tailgate height to the ground.

Can be worth taking 5 minutes to remove the tank, seat and rear plastics before trying to load. Not sure how fast you can get front plastics off as I don't have them. The tank is a lot of weight, especially if full, as well as being one less thing to dent if you do lose it.

Don't use a narrow ramp. You and the bike need to be on the same footing, and those wheel trough ramps for lawnmowers don't allow for that.

Quote from: stokes776 on August 28, 2012, 05:55:41 AM
From researching the forums it looks like it is completely possible to drop in an older engine (< 2004) into a new chassis (2004).  The only caveats are no oil cooler, and something to do with the tachometer that I haven't quite made heads or tails of yet.

Your tach is electric, the old ones are mechanical - IIRC, all you need is a plug for the hole in the head the cable comes out of on the old one. You'll also need to move your pickup to the old engine, as the new and old pickups work differently, and your bike wiring wants the new pickup. It will move just fine.

Quote from: The Buddha on August 26, 2012, 03:09:28 PM
In CA when I was commuting 40 miles 1 way, I used to carry a hip flask (one that is curved to fit your butt) filled with 8 oz of oil ...
Cool.
Buddha.

Just don't mix that one up with the one filled with whiskey!

Sorry to hear that your motor is likely toasted! You may be able to sell some of the good parts off of it to make up a little of the cost of the new motor.

...Gonna go check my oil level right now!

I watched that engine listing count down last night to see how high it was going to go. I damn near started to bid on it just to have a backup as that was CHEAP! $465 AND free shipping......chit!

If I wasnt buying a new Sonic springs, gear indicator and R6 shock, I would have put down a bid for a backup!

Why bother looking for a 1st gen motor ? Take a break and look for a 2001+ powerplant and save yourself the hassle of having to figure out what is or is not different.

I have put my GS in and taken it out of a pickup before. Its really easy if you have 4-6 guys to get on all sides and guide it in.

I also would wait for a newer engine to come along.

the engine sold for 465??  and the bid was 450?
WOW
You didn't want it very bad!
Lesson #2
-CS

Quote from: burnchassis on August 28, 2012, 01:10:01 PM
the engine sold for 465??  and the bid was 450?
WOW
You didn't want it very bad!
Lesson #2
-CS

That was my thought also. Like I said, that was cheap. Ebay is probably going to rip the sell in $50+ in fees from listing, selling and PayPal. Then you figure $100+ to ship.

Didn't have a ton of cash what with just getting back from the trip that killed the bike minus new phone that got destroyed in the storm on the trip and minus cab fare from the break down =(.

Oh well, I have arrangements to pickup the bike on Friday and get it cracked open on the weekend at a friends house so we can see exactly what is damaged.

Once that is done I can decide whether to buy a brand new engine (unless a cheap one shows up again) or attempt to repair what is there.

Even better, the shop that it got towed to agreed to not even charge me storage! Wohoo for small victories!

Quote from: stokes776 on August 29, 2012, 06:08:09 AM
Even better, the shop that it got towed to agreed to not even charge me storage! Wohoo for small victories!

Seems they may know the money it'll take to fix it...

I'm bad at checking my oil on the regular - I tend to do it each time I clean/lube my chain around every 3 tanks...
A story like this has scared me into checking it every ride.

I wish you the best on this one, stokes.

- Bboy

Quote from: burnchassis on August 28, 2012, 01:10:01 PM
the engine sold for 465??  and the bid was 450?
WOW
You didn't want it very bad!
Lesson #2
-CS

1997 motor 3500 miles $202.50 + $200 shipping Florida to Seattle.
Can't believe I got it! I would have thought southern people would jump at it.