So just got this bike about 4 weeks ago. already put 1600 miles on it.
When i pulled into work it was making clanking sounds around 4 grand. checked the oil it was low.... very low. put 3 quarts in to fill her up. still makeing sounds at 4 grand and as i accelerate past that. got a date with the doctor this thursday. anybody have any idea whats wrong with it so im prepaired for when i take it in. should i drive it or give it a ride to the shop? man im missing presious days of riding here in northern idaho lol.

 

If you actually put in 3 quarts of oil, you were running the bike without any oil at all. thats about all they hold. My first thought would be to check for the leak that let out all of your oil.

I would double check your oil level. If you put in 3 quarts, you may not be way overfull. If you are in fact at the right level after adding 3 quarts, I'd be looking for a used engine. The amount of money its going to cost you to tear into your engine and rebuild is not worth the hassle and time. You can save money and time buy buying a used engine.

All of this is of course if you were actually 3 quarts low. The real issue is the cams. Although all of the bearings will suffer, the cams do not have any bearings on them. The bearing surface is actaully the aluminum head itself, so there isnt a bearing to replace.

I truly hope you mis read your level and are now just overfull.

How did you check the oil level? You do know the procedure of starting the bike for a few minutes then shutting it off and checking the level after it sits for a minute right? If you check it after it has sat for awhile, the oil level may not be correct.

 

Im pretty sure you just just scrap your bike and get a different hobby that doesnt involve motors....another thing you can do is actually LOOK at the oil....run it a while and get it all mixed up like and use a cotton q tip to take a "sample"....that if it looks like there is little bits of metal shavings in it, it was pretty low on oil and will need a lot of work.

Somthing else you can do, it get it up on a center stand/use two people to drain the oil completly and replace the filter and see how much oil you have afterwards...that will tell you if your too high/low/just right....then you can put in new filter and oil....but if your doc date is set, it would just be a waste of money.

If you overfilled it, you could need to be looking at getting some gaskets and piston rings....with your "expertise" on the issue, I would just let it be and give her a ride down to the shop.

Engine labor is usually around 500 dollars just for a diagnosis...just time involved taking it all apart. Then if you do need gaskets or rings or bearings....they will need to special order them and you will have to wait another week before they can EVEN fix her. A piston ring set will run you about a lot....cant find exact price...but anywhere from 40 a piston to 250+ for high compression piston rings for high compression pistons...


Did you notice any black smoke on your exhaust at all? If your bikes idling...valves need to be reground....its not too hard and anyone with access to a valve grinder can do it....its like a really accurate angle grinder. Best one I have ever used was from WWII and real smooth and ran perfect.....then you just need to give about 3 good spins to the seat on the head. Once you accomplish that...just put some abraisive on the seat and face and spin it while its in place and that mates them together and makes a better seal. Then you will need to grind a little on the end of it to get the valve clearence right....dadada

But if you noticed black smoke at higher RPM...your valves are good(but can always use a good refacing when tearing into the engine) but your piston rings are not. At this point you need to disconnect them from the crankshaft and pull them out and view the 3 rings(engagement ring, wedding ring, and the suffering haha). The first is your oil ring. It should have openings on the outside and look like corrugated cardboard. The next ring if your scraper ring...this should have a step like edge on it...to you know...scrap the oil off. Your final ring is the compression ring. This is usually a slant or flat.

(when I say like a step or slant...its the part that sticks out...looking at it from the side)

Its pretty obvious if they are broken or worn. They are not too fun to put on because they can break REAL easy...but it can be done.... but before you use your ring compressor.....take a cordless drill and put in a cylinder honer and get a helping of lard and coat the inside section of the cylinder where the rings travel up and down(should be an off color) and get them all lubed up and take the honer and hone it about 2 or 3 times for 30 seconds each. That breaks up the glazing and makes better compression and longer ring life. Use hot water only to remove the lard afterwards which should be a nice grey color...you use the lard because it doesnt let the aluminum shavings fill the pores on the honer.


Well with all that info you can probably just go out and rebuild your engine....and when you take it apart, you should always put back with new gaskets....so expect that if they tear apart your engine.

 

So let me get this straight. You rode it for 1600 miles without checking the oil. Just give it a ride to the shop.

 

so there was no oil leak visable at all. No black smoke. idle or at high RPM. the oil level is good now sitting the bike vertical after ran for about 5 minutes. did this all. I cant really think of why it would just run out of oil. Just bout the bike 3 weeks prior to this. Checked the oil. Asked when the last oil change was even done. Then just rode it for 3 weeks. and bam, there was no oil left in it. bikes going in tonight so we will see. ill keep a update on what i hear. just keeping fingers crossed

 

got word today from the shop. They checked the cam, all good. pistons all have good compresson across the board. so there gonna take a look at the valves tomorrow.

 

crazy- I wanna see how this story ends……..

 

well just got back from camping. found out before i left they wanted all the money up front before they started tearing into the engine. I paid the 500 for the work already done thinking they would start on the rest. but nope. gonna pay the next 500 today so they can start. just thought that was weird..

 

Paying up front = ****ing con!


Tell them to lick your *** you are going somewhere else.

 

well just got a call, bikes f**cked pistons messed up the top end really bad, havnt got into the bottom end yet. Soooooo im in the market for a new engine:_(