Engine seized
 

Hi forum,

So I was riding my bike to a cafe for lunch today when the engine conked out and locked up the back wheel. I was able to control it and pull over but when I tried to start it again I got a horrible scraping noise from the engine and puffs of white smoke from the air filter. I had the bike recovered and the mechanic confirmed the engine needs stripping as something has gone seriously wrong. I am actually 130 miles from home on a 9 day course in Guildford and staying at a hotel so it's a bit of a problem. I checked the oil level before I left on Friday night and it was almost full. I checked it after breaking down and it is just touching the bottom of the dipstick and smells of fuel. It was almost due an oil change so I'm not sure if that is normal or not. What I do know however is that the valve clearances should have been checked 2k miles ago. They were checked when I brought it at 14k miles and it has now done 22k and according to the manual it should be done every 6k miles. Would this have caused such a drastic loss in oil and the engine seizing in less than a week?

Thanks,
Phil

Sorry my mistake but actually the valve clearances only need checking every 12k miles so unless the dealer got them wrong they should have been be ok for another 4k miles. Unlikely though as the dealer has a good reputation. Really puzzled as to what caused this.

Also nothing seemed wrong prior to the breakdown. Bike sounded and ran as normal until suddenly conking out. No unusual smoke or leaks from anywhere. I rode it for about 10 minutes before it broke down.

Again any input much appreciated. At the moment I am thinking the only affordable option is to replace the engine which is quite frustrating as I know these engines are very reliable and shouldn't have to be replaced after 22k miles of being well maintained.

Phil

Only thing to do is open up the engine and have a look, drain the oil and check it for anything that shouldn't be in there :(

Does anyone have any advice on buying a replacement engine or any good sources? My mechanic said it will cost me over a grand for him to strip the engine and repair it so it will be a lot cheaper to replace it myself. At the moment the only ones I can find are on ebay.

Phil

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Drained the oil and other than it smelling of fuel there is no contamination. I tried looking into the spark plug hole and under the rocker cover but cannot see anything from there. When I have time will take the engine out and remove the head. It sounds like the piston rings have gone and they are scraping the barrel.

Are there any guides around for stripping the XT engine? I heard Kev had done one but cannot find it.

Hi,

I have a good top end from a xt660z which blow the gearbox. let me know if you are interested?

Cheers

Yes I probably would be interested Bonzo thanks. Most likely be needing a cylinder and maybe piston but I need to strip it down first and have a look at what is going on in there before I know, will keep you posted.

So I stripped the top end down today and it is all fine. Bummer. Not sure where to go from here. I did find some metal shards in the oil filter so something has broken in the bottom. Any advice on diagnosing the problem anyone? It seems like the teeth on the camchain sprocket are slightly damaged on one side and as it was blowing out of the airbox when I cranked it wondering if it is possible the camchain slipped?

Found more large shards of metal stuck to the magneto today when opening the crankcase. My mate reckons the big end bearings have gone, I still have no idea lol. On a brighter note I got the replacement engine fitted and running today. Just need to finish putting the bike back together tomorrow and replace the plastic air pressure sensor for the vacuum pipe as I broke it putting the engine back in the frame. >. < Lucky I found one for �15 on fleabay as Fowlers want �113 + vat for it new! Will strip the bottom end on the old engine when I have the time and a flywheel puller.

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Sorry i cant be of help but fair play on stripping the old engine and fitting the new engine

Thanks Maxwell it was a lot easier thanks to Kev as he posted step by step instructions with pictures here on the forum for how to remove the engine which were very helpful. I just had to reverse the process to get it back in. It was very tricky getting the mounting bolts in though i must say, especially trying to line up the bottom of the engine with the swingarm bolt. Looking forward to trying to repair the knackered one still.

Did you get to the bottom of the cause (excuse the pun)?

Yes I did the 3rd pinion gear blew to bits and smashed up the bottom end. I blame myself as I should have changed the oil after riding to Paris and back flat out. The oil looked pretty ****ed when I drained it.

Thanks, yes Kev kindly told me to change out 3rd and 4th gears if I am going to strip the engine (suspected big end gone, just waiting for bore camera off eBay ).
Will post the photos of how I�ve got the Offtheroad oil cooler fitted to my Tenere.
Runs a lot cooler. As you know oil deteriorated exponentially for ever 10 deg C above 80 deg C. But on downside, oil that is run too cold will absorb moisture and cause rust corrosion, so worth running with thermostat.

An aftermarket oil cooler? Never knew they did them but can't be a bad thing I guess.

Tenere finally up and running again.
Big end fine, all the play was in the worn key.
So saved myself a small fortune, and took Minky’s advice and torqued up crankshaft nut to 120Nm (after replacing worn crankshaft washer for third time).
Used loctite 660 with loctite 7240 primer on keyway and key.
See my post on larger transition fit key (so important on big singles)
See:
https://www.xt660.com/showthread.php...ferrerid=20974

Will post oil cooler on seperate thread��

See oil cooler thread:

https://www.xt660.com/showthread.php...ferrerid=20974