Hey guys, I recently bought a 2003 CBR600 F4i with only 2k miles on it, and am having a problem with it already. Today as I was pulling onto a street, accelerating in 1st gear, all of the sudden I hear an odd noise and lose power to the engine. It sounded like a deep, popping noise, almost how it would sound without an exhaust. After pushing it home, I was able to start the engine in my garage, and during that period when I revved the engine, this deep, crackling noise was very apparent. I made a youtube video of the bike and it's sound, so you can hear it for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUeRvY-JCtM

Anyway, from what I've gathered so far it seems to me like a blown exhaust gasket. What do you guys think? I've taken off the fairings and looked for any loose bolts or cracks, and didn't find any. One thing to note, is that when I bought the bike, the previous owner put the stock exhaust pipe back on (but I think it was only a slip-on). Could this have any effect on the exhaust gaskets?

So before I order some new gaskets online, I just wanted to get your guys opinion about this. Does it sound like this should solve the problem, or could I be looking a more serious (expensive) problems. Thanks for your time!

 

2003 with only 2000 miles on it?

 

Doubt it's an exhaust leak.... the headers have individual round gaskets that stick into a cutout in the cyl head at each exhaust port. Virtually impossible for them to come out or blow out anywhere they way they're stuffed in there. Exhaust leak wouldn't cause a huge power loss either. Some yes, but not a huge amount especially if it's only on one cylinder

To me it sounds like you blew a spark plug out of the head. Pull the coils off and see what you find

 

that sound is pretty crazy. i put a new engine in my bike and didnt even know there were exhaust gaskets. ive never had any leaks. you might be able to check the plugs from the front of the bike, you wont be able to fix it from the front if it is that but you could at least look and feel if it blew a plug out -keep us posted on what happens

 

You're right, it does kind of sound like a spark plug blew out. Is there anyway for me to check if all of the spark plugs are there without going through the trouble of taking off the gas tank and other stuff? Is there a way I feel around for them, or use a flashlight? Thanks

 

yeah, just like i said, looking through the front of the bike

 

look through the hole in the fairing (refer to 22 sec into your video) you should be able to see the four plug wires. pull on them to see if there tight, or even there lol.
what is the idle rpm?

 

You guys are good! After taking off the bottom fairing, I can clearly see that spark plug #3 completely unseated. It is protruding like 3 inches longer than the rest of the plugs, and I can wiggle it freely with my finger.

So, from here can I just try to use my spark plug tool and screw it back in, or do I need a new plug altogether? Also, when I was trying to take off the radiator, the last step of my owners manual tells me to take off the rubber grommet attaching a hook to the radiator. But I can't seem to get this grommet off for the life of me. It seems like I am going to rip it? Has anyone taken this off before? Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it!

 

zellster man my bike kinda sounded like that when i was rideing the other day but my bike temp went up too tho did your bike start putting around before it shut off or did you just turn it off wen it started makeing that noise

 

it should just pop out. be careful bc it will break. try just wiggling on it and the plug should come out