My bike I purchased on tuesday (1998 cbr f3) has adopted Murphy's Law as its new mantra. i know its hard to diagnose a problem on the phone an even harder on here but Ill do my best to give the circumstances and symptoms.

Was riding down a 45mph road in second gear.
bike engine shut off .. oil light came on.
pulled over. got bike started no oil light. road 1 more mile.
bike died again. no oil light.
pulled into gas station. bike started and idled with some reluctancy at first.
minute i engaged throttle, engine dies.
check out oil for kicks. sitting at bottom of dipstick. put in 10-w40 sae synth motor oil.
bike started, idled then when throttle engaged, rpms increased.. was nearly on an out the parking lot. but heard a dull quick hammering noise which seemed to originate from or around the engine in succesion with the firing sequence. didnt want to do more harm.. had a friend who is a mx race tech and owner of a shop pick the bike and i up in a truck.

any ideas?

i want to guess dead spark plug. but not being familiar with bike mechanics and troubles figured I would ask for help. friend guesses a few other possibilities.

possible problems.
1. cluth bearing( i know theres a specific name for the peice but do not remember)
2. camshaft loose.
3 rocker box hitting the camshaft or whatever is close to either parts. (this specific possibility was not his exact words, just my best recollection of them, i truthfully dont know what a rocker box is or if its possible for it to hit the cam)

 

Dug into find the problem this evening. i pulled the airbox off and removed the coils to get at the spark plugs. first, do the spark plugs come out of the rubber/silicon sheathing? or does honda sell the plug and sheathing together to just reinstall into the coils? well the plug that came from the cylinder where the noise sounded like it was coming from happened to have a huge gash through the rubber sheathing but barely through the silicon lining that is actually around the silver. there was a botched 1 layer electrical tape job, loose an all. my guess is moisture snuck its way in over time. have a plug and new sheathing on order since no1 around here seems to have it in stock. will have to wait and see if this cures it. on the same issue but different finding through this wonderful journey of new bike ownership... the disappearance of the oil. the previous owner said he put oil in before I bought the bike. didnt bother to look, being as I made the mistake of trusting even a mechanic.(what a shame that people just don't own to stuff, I still would have purchased the bike and the quart or two it needed. any idea where the oil might have gone if the mechanic truly filled it up. we are talkin about a disappearance of 2 qts in roughly 100 miles/ 3 hrs combined riding time.

 

The oil problem could only be 1 of 3 things: #1. The person didn't actually fill it up. #2. The oil leaked out but there would be a puddle or at least drips under the bike when parked. #3. It's being burned by the engine but there should be evidence of smoking from the exhaust.

 

I would agree with Krusher F3. The #1 probablility is that he didn't put any in. Using electrical tape to try to insulate the plug wires is fine for trying to limp home on, but not for long term. The previous owner must have known it would cause a problem in the near future. Well hopefully there aren't anymore "Ghosts" in the closet waiting to come out. I'd suggest continuing to poke around some of the common areas of the bike and give it a thourough going through.

 

So I am glad to say the bike is up an running fine again. the shutdowns were a result of no gas, not a spark plug as I had thought. when I had the tank of I figured I'd try some fuel in the lines connected to a small gas can rig I threw together. bike started up and no clicking! turned my investigative powers to the fuel lines from tank to engine, and landed on the petcock. thing was clogged worse than an old person without their metamucil. cleaned it out and filled the tank.. all is good. I also must say I overestimated the amount of gas in my tank (and the quality too), it being the first tank I've used on the bike. thanks for the input tho guys.

 

Live long & prosper V /