Sqealing sound, burnt oil, loss of power

[retiredgentleman]

Its amazing that you used 2.3 litres of oil in 5 hours. Your rings/valve seals must be in really bad condition. Have you ever done a compression test or a leakdown test?

3 words.................Top end re-build

 

[cmattina1]

Yeah, this is a shitty situation indeed.

With those cost of parts alone, I'm not sure if an engine swap would make more sense, or just sell the entire bike for 500.00 or something?

 

[Punkskalar]

Yeah, this is a shitty situation indeed.

With those cost of parts alone, I'm not sure if an engine swap would make more sense, or just sell the entire bike for 500.00 or something?

I'll give ya $500 off on that KZ

 

[gggGary]

Yeah it's bummer. My take is that bottom end work does not make sense on an XS650 at this time, it's just too easy to find an engine with with a good bottom, top it (valve seals. lap the valves, camchain, camchain guides, new gaskets) bolt it in and go. I might be tempted to slide an extra engine under the bed in the van............

 

[gggGary]

We ain't goin to Nunavik though!

 

[cmattina1]

It's no vacation!

I'm tempted to do the top end work, just for the learning process, though that depends on finding a friend willing to lend me his garage for a week or so.

At the same tme, knowing what happened, what's the possibility there there is work required beyond the top end? And or damage to rocker arms or springs? Because, from what i can see online, those are pricey enough to make a new engine more economical. Maybe it is the sort of thing you find out as you begin dissassembly?

Punk, I am also a little tempted by your offer, though i dont know too much about the importing and exporting stuff...

 

[Punkskalar]

I know Gary is convinced that every XS bottom end out there can go 50,000 miles and is still in great shape, but I find that to not be the norm on all the cranks people send me. More often than not, the rods are out of spec.

Tear down the top end, and look at the rods. You should see an EVEN copper color on the small end. Any scoring, pits, or silver coloring and you need new rods. If the small end is in good shape, check end play of the rod. You should get no more than 2mm of side to side movement at the small end when wiggling the rods back and forth.

Splitting the cases on these bikes isn't hard at all, and there are no major surprises, just go with it. At worst, you'll need a donor crank with good bearings and rods, and maybe some transmission bearings, along with all the standard top end parts...

 

[cmattina1]

So, I shouldn't expect to need anything too pricey like valve springs or a cam?

As for splitting, i guess it will be necessary to access the piston rings?

Seals, rings, valves, and bearings are all relative cheap, rods would run 100 for a pair. So, i may be looking at around 250, as a liberal estimate?

 

[Punkskalar]

So, I shouldn't expect to need anything too pricey like valve springs or a cam?

As for splitting, i guess it will be necessary to access the piston rings?

Seals, rings, valves, and bearings are all relative cheap, rods would run 100 for a pair. So, i may be looking at around 250, as a liberal estimate?

Dude, just tear into it. No one can tell you 100% what you will and won't need. If you fried a cam, you'll probably need rockers too.

Rods are about $90 Each from MikesXS, and the bearings for the crank aren't exactly cheap either. You'd be best off to tear into it, and report back.

 

[gggGary]

Hah I know there are bad bottoms out there that need a spankin'. But there are a lot of decent bottoms that just need a top also. Lot's of bikes with 10 to 20 K total miles that ended up at the back of the shed after they didn't start one spring. PS I guess your sample is a bit skewed because the owner knew he needed to go into the bottom and then decided what the hell lets do a rephase since we're this far. Just guessn'

The other side is a bike that got wet inside. It'll fire and run for a while, but it has rusty bearings that are a ticking time bomb

 

[Purplezinger]

So, I shouldn't expect to need anything too pricey like valve springs or a cam?

As for splitting, i guess it will be necessary to access the piston rings?

Seals, rings, valves, and bearings are all relative cheap, rods would run 100 for a pair. So, i may be looking at around 250, as a liberal estimate?

Charlie, if you could find a decent engine for a good price, (it happens) I suggest swapping it out. This would let you salvage the rest of the riding season. The idea being to do the rebuild over winter and have a fresh engine ready for next year and beyond.

 

[cmattina1]

I got an add in the classfieds section now, and I guess it will be craigslist and ebay surfing for the next little while.

How much does shipping ususally run?