I arrived to Cape Town!
 

Hello all

I arrived to Cape Town yesterday. 26800 km and 6 and a half months from my home. Later today I'll be meeting Nicki. If anyone else from the forum wants to meet up, feel free to PM or SMS me at +358505817695. I'll be staying here for about two weeks or so.

I'm having trouble with the bike; I noticed in Namibia that the engine oil level is alarmingly low - the dipstick didn't get wet! This totally surprised me because the bike hasn't consumed oil before and the last oil change was only 3500 km before. I flushed the engine with engine flush and changed the oil again and now I'm hearing abnormal noises from the engine :(. And it's consuming oil even more than before. The bike doesn't seem to smoke more than normally, it doesn't leak either and there's no excessive oil in the airbox. Gonna check the coolant today.

I just hope I didn't do any permanent damage to the engine. The noises that I'm hearing, are a rattle which could be the timing chain and this kind of low "howling" that comes and goes in every few seconds. Any ideas, anyone?

Really hating myself for not checking the oil level early enough but I thought I knew the bike and it's behaviour by now.

Jami

Hey Jami! Congratulations on getting to Cape Town - that is one hell of a ride!!!

Sorry to hear the bike is a bit poorly - if it's not leaking oil, then it must be burning it... have you kept the airbox clean? It's possible that fine dust could have been sucked through the filter and into the engine, causing wear?

If you take the side panel off the airbox, you should be able to see if there is any dust in there...

Hope you get it fixed, and as they like to say on forums: "This thread is useless without pictures!"

Jx

Hi Jenny

I've cleaned and oiled the filter (DNA Stage 2) in time and I did take the side panel off a few days ago, just to check if the oil is there in case the draining hose has clogged. I didn't notice any dust inside but I wasn't really thinking about it then. I'm gonna check it again.

Jami

Congrats on getting to Cape Town and 6.5 months is a long trip but im sure well worth it.

When did you last check the valves?

Also what type of oil did you use?

I noticed once when i used a bit of a no brand name oil it burned a good bit of it off when the engine was fully up to temperature and on longer rides.

Congratulations on reaching CT
 

Hi Jami, congrats on reaching Cape Town, epic trip man. The question is....

Are you going to turn it round and head north again?

I'm sorry but I can't help with the oil usage, but I trust that you get it sorted out and it's not too bad or expensive.

hi jami, congratulations on getting to capetown, you must have some stories to tell!

good to see the forks kept together, i hope no more dramas.
when you noticed the oil low, how much was required to bring it to an readable level? usually being out of oil will damage the rod bearings and thats a game stopper right away, are you sure it's not just a case of a loose bracket/ sumpgaurd combined with a lower quality oil making you think the worst?

all the best bernard

Maxwell: I'm checking the valves now. I did run a a couple of thousand kim extra because I wanted to do it when I reach Cape Town. That could explain the noise but how could it have anything to do with the oil consumption? The particular oil that I used when I changed it in Zambia was Castrol Edge 10W-60, which has worked fine on my friend's KLR650. In Namibia I changed it into Castrol STX mineral oil and it's now consuming that as well, or even more I think.

Traveling_Light: Nope, I'm gonna ship the bike and myself back to Europe with an airplane.

stoic bloke: I didn't top it up, I changed the oil then. But I did check the level with a zip tie and it was almost two cm below the end of the dipstick. I'm pretty sure that the noises come from inside the engine, especially the weird howling thing. Otherwise I would think it comes from a bearing but the noise comes and goes in every few seconds.

Jami

Jami, what a ride! Sounds like you had a great experience, bike problems and all.

For what it's worth: I had sudden and unexplained oil usage in my old 1996 Tenere 660 at about the 30,000km mark. It was Motul 300V 15W50, and after about 1600km into a journey the bike suddenly started using oil very rapidly. Luckily I did check the level in time, but it was well below the dipstick, like yours. I just poured in some el cheapo semi-synthetic (as there was no good stuff available) so I could keep going. After changing the oil back to another brand of 15W50 full synthetic, I had no further issues.

I realise it's an opinion offered too late, but I've discovered that taking oil levels for granted in dry-sump single-cylinder engines can be dangerous. Why do they use it? I don't know. I check mine every time I stop at the end of a day's travel. And 10W60 should be absolutely fine in a 660 motor imo. The manual allows 20W50, and there's not a great deal of difference. But in Australia Castrol Edge is a performance car/light diesel oil, and may be friction modified (don't know for sure), and thus may not be so good for bikes.

I hope any damage is minimal, and that you have safe travels in the future.

Well done Jami for making it all the way to Cape Town, you did yourself proud first and foremost, but we are also very proud that you have achieved this on your XT660R.

We've followed your struggles both here and on facebook and we tried to help you in sourcing the spare parts when you were in Sudan but unfortunately we couldn't find any spares here for your fork legs and front rim. Nevertheless you've managed to achieve what you've set out to do where others would have given up, and despite the breakdowns your bike has been more or less on top of the situation every time. Proof is that you made it there on two wheels and not in the back of a pickup truck.

:clap: :clap:

Take a few days off to rest and enjoy the beauty of Cape Town.

Well done Jami from myself and everyone here at :660: you have certainly exceeded yourself and we are rewarding you with the deserved "Hero Traveller" status under your username.


:respeck::YouRock:

Well done Jami - Congratulations!!

I suspect the oil useage may just be a lower grade (ie, thinner at temperature) oil. As said before, put some good stuff in there (semi synth' I use with regular oil changes) and hopefully all will be well..

Well done again - good effort..

What a dream to achieve, i would love to do something like you have, but know i will never do it.

Well done mate.

Thanks Fran and everyone else! I never saw that status coming, I really am touched! What a great forum this is.

With all the stuff that's happened along the way, it's so bizarre finally being here, especially seeing the Table Mountain for the first time. I still need to visit Cape Point and Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point in Africa which is about 200 km away and wanna get the bike running properly before that. And I'm not going there with a pick up truck either!

But you're right, I should relax and stop worrying now. I made it here so it's time for me to take it easy and enjoy the place.

Just checked the exhaust valve clearances and they were fine (question: if the exhaust valve clearances are fine, shouldn't the intake ones be correct too? They don't wear out us quickly as the other ones? Just thinking whether to take the tank off and check the intakes or just put everything back together for now.). There's no slack in the timing chain either. I don't have a proper garage here at my friend's place and I got a tip about a good and yet reasonably priced mechanic so I might take the bike there, if I don't figure out myself what the problem is.

I tried to feel the the rocker to see if there's any cap between it and the rocker arm but I couldn't tell. So no idea yet what the rattling is about. And the other noise. Could it be something blocking the oil flow and therefore building pressure and forcing the oil to the cylinder?

Oops, I started worrying again. It's time for me to relax now :).

Jami

Well done on completing a great adventure. I would love to do it one day.

Don't worry about the bike i am sure it will all come good, get that mechanic to look at it and enjoy the rest of your vacation

HI, what a great ride, I'm sure you had a great time.

Re the bike, my mate Ian did the same trip a couple of years back and had a smiler problem. It turned out the crank bearings were on their way out. His good friends at West London Yamaha fixed it for him under warranty.

Must be something to do with the African quality of oil :) ..

So suggeest you get it checked out by Yamaha it's no trival job to fix.

BTW Ian is now in South America you can catch up with him here http://iansrtwtrip.blogspot.com/

So the crank bearings should go first in a situation like this. That's good to know, thanks dude! There must be something else as well since it's still consuming oil. Perhaps the piston/oil rings have seized.

Jami

Nice one Jami, well done.. I'm sure the bike will be fine after a little fettling by a good mechanic, enjoy the rest you deserve it:notworthy:
TDMalcolm