Oil drain plug came out, now bike rattles
 

I'm wondering how much damage I could have caused and what I should look at first. The bike runs fine, about the same as it ever did, though I did have to turn up the idle screw to get it to do so, which I thought was weird. Not sure how long the bike was out of oil because I had the low oil pressure light covered with my gps. Bike started bucking a little then dying and restarting when the clutch was dumped then just not wanting to run at all so I let it sit and figured out the problem. I'm thinking I need to look at my clearances first and also that the cam chain may have stretched somehow from lack of oil, cause it sounds like the cct issue and it runs just fine.

Mate !! , that is not good !!!

BEFORE YOU RIDE HER ANY FURTHER !!!
Do a complete compression test .... first with dry cylinders , then with a little oil in the cylinders ..

It sounds like she tried to seize up and then let go ??..... in any case , not good !!

I woulds drop the rocker cover and check cams and cam bearings too !!!!..... they will tend to die or lock before cylinders will after even the slightest oil shortage to the top end ....

Unless you check out these two things at least !!! , you risk an engine failure of epic proportion !

Partial seizures due to lack of oil lead to major parts letting go under high loads ....

good luck ...

You may want to check your clutches as well. They are wet so I don't think running them dry like that would be good for them either

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately I cannot do a pressure check since I don't have the equipment. The advice I got from the senior tech at the honda shop I trust is to try and check and tighten up the valve train to see if that helps since the ticking shouldn't be able to be caused from the bottom end, then just keep it local for the next five hundred miles to be sure the bike is ok to trust on trips again, that is provided I can make the ticking go away, it is always there even at idle, which sounds like a very loose valve to me since performance is somewhat down. Would a ring tick though?

Update. I checked the valve clearances and they are in spec, so no undue stress on the valve train unless it is to the stems and guides. Could my cct just have failed at the worst possible time causing a misdiagnosis? The bike just turned over 24000 and there has been slight noise here and there.

Hate to say it but im thinking a spun crank bearing if you ran it without oil.

Mate !!! ... a compression tester is only a few bucks ....buy one if you have too?? or borrow one from a garage ??


OK .... fv-ck me !!! , a Honda Tech! ?? tells you to run an engine for 500 miles after running it with near no oil in it and having it seem to lock or go tight for a short time ? while you were riding it with near no oil in her ??


You do what makes you feel ok mate ..:icon_teeth:
.... your local Tech that you trust ? is bloody nuts !!!!!!!!!!!!:icon_screwy:

Did you even bother to drop at least one cam out to see if any damage was apparent to any bearing surfaces ??



IMO ...either you did not run her as low on oil as you are saying , and or she did not near lock or get tight on you while riding her with no oil .....
OTHERWISE .... you would be a touch more concerned !! about way more stuff, than a little engine tick ?????

good luck
om out ....

Listen to Classic man.

Buddy of mine was driving his mustang, and his oil pressure dropped to almost 0. He figured "I'm only 3 miles from home."

Well, long story short, hes looking for a new long block.

Running low on oil is NEVER good.

Im not too keen on bike motors, and usually they're pretty stout, but I would check EVERYTHING you can man. You don't want the motor to seize while your riding it.

Check your oil filter for metal particles or pieces too. If you did damage, your oil will look silvery (usually) and have little fine pieces of metal

Oil isn't silvery at all, though I didn't check the filter, no drain pan at the new place. It never really locked, just seemed like it lost power, so it probably had no oil on the compression rings. It would just kinda cut out, it never gave me forward G's like the engine was locked up. The guy at the shop said that it doesn't have regular bearings on the crank that they're press fit, so the only thing that could rattle is the rod bearings or the cam chain as far as I know.