I started my bike the other day with no problem. It sat for a few minutes then it sounded like one or two cylinders stopped firing. It sounded like a dirt bike. So I shut it off. When I try to restart the bike it won't turnover, like it doesn't have enough compression to start up. I pulled the spark plugs and they seemed fine. Any ideas?


2008 CBR 1000RR Just under 20k miles, PCV, Auto Tuner, Full Akro exhaust

 

maybe that piston ring problem they had caught up with you

 

That doesn't sound good. I hear those bikes burn oil. Did you maybe run it out of oil?

 

I haven't heard of a piston ring problem.

Mine burnt oil early on so I always keep an eye on it. After I got around 12k miles it stopped doing that. So no it is good on oil.

A guy on the 1000rr.net said, "Not to scare you, but that sounds very similar to what happened to my 12,000 mile old '08. Turns out that the intake valves in two cylinders were so dirty with carbon and oil that the engine basically lost half of its compression. Turned over fine, just would not start.

Cylinder head is being rebuilt as we speak."

So hopefully it's not that either...

 

run some seafoam through it, if you can eventually get it to fire

 

There are a number of things that could have caused the issue. The most likely is you fouled out some plugs. Once they foul, you should replace them. You can't tell if they are good just by looking at them. You could lay them on the engine or something that is grounded and see if they spark when you crank the engine over. But even then, a weak spark will fire outside of the combustion chamber, but not fire when compression and fuel are added to the mix.

You could have had something go wrong with your fuel system, such as the fuel pressure regulator fail. But its not likely.

The issue the person had on 1000RR.net seems like a rare occasion. I seriously doubt thats all that happened to his bike. If his bike was having those issues, he more than likely would have had other indications something was wrong. It wouldn't just stop working some day, there would be loss of power and bad drivability before that.

Since you know it sounded like a plug or two fouled out, thats more than likley what happened. I would suggest buying a new set of plugs. Also, check the FPR to make sure its working properly.

Start with the most common easiest things to check. If those don't pan out, move onto the more difficult things to check. But I'd bet its just a set of plugs, especially since you state you had an issue with oil consumption early on, which will dramatically shorten a spark plugs life.

 

thats weird you usually get carbon build on the exhaust valves not the intake, maybe if it was direct injection... usually the fuel cools/washs the intake valve off, odd.

 

Spark plugs are all new and good. I think it's an electrical problem. Any chance that it's a regulator/rectifier? My buddy was having the same issue with his gsxr and that was the culprit.

 

The bike is in the shop and has been for a few days. They did a compression test and said that they should be 180psi. One was 60 and another was 120. They think that the valves are stuck... $500 dollars just to pull it apart to find out if it is for sure. Plus whatever parts they may need. They are making sure that there are no other problems as well. And in doing so they found a random red wire that is running around the air box to in front of the spark plugs. It goes into an unmarked black box. They have no idea what it is, much less if it is effecting anything. Hopefully I can get out of it without too much more money out of my pocket.

 

good luck