Prev: Ping Jim Hall (was Re: Anaheim 1 is on)
Next: shiny rocks & chocolate
From: Tiago on 18 Jan 2010 07:20
So I went part by part, tracing faults on the charging/starting system
on my hated&loved XR250 Tornado. Found that the regulator/rectifier is
ok, the wiring is ok but the starter relay wasn't working as it
should. Replaced just to find that indeed, as was suggested on a reply
on a previous post I did, my less-than-one-year-old battery wasn't
holding a charge. Two overnights on the charger and voltage never went
above 12.5 which was drained to below 11v on the first attempt of
usage... So, a new vrla battery later, and I was up and running.

Interlude: I have a friend who owns a '02 XLR125. It's a very nice
little bike that if you respect it's limits, is a bike that's a lot of
fun. Light, nimble and ultra-reliable (his has over 150k kms on the
clock). His bike needed new suspension links bearings, swing arm
bearing, steering bearings and wheel bearings. Engine oil and fork oil
also due to a change. Complete new exhaust system was going to be
installed to replace the old, oem, completely rusted through, from the
head to the silencer. Also, we had to fix a mistake he did a few
months ago, he installed the wrong clutch springs, his clutch was
really stiff. Also, we had to cure several oil leaks, mostly coming
from cylinder base and a little o-ring that's behind the cam on his
ohv rod engine. Of course new piston rings would fit their way in. We
spent a really nice saturday, from 8am to 8pm with 1hr stop for lunch
(friend bought lunch at a local restaurant, was great, my chickens and
dogs really loved it). Meanwhile, we found that he bought the wrong
piston rings and misteriously, two suspension link bearings went
missing. Lucky us, there are motorcycle parts stores open saturday
until 6pm.

We were a fine syncronized team. I took care of engine affairs, one of
the guys did rear and other did steering and forks. Lots of rusted
bolts, too bad I don't have a big electric motor, we had to count on
my trusty hammer.

Two friends called early evening and showed up, one of them brought a
bottle of Johnnie Walker whisky... :)

His bike started third kick, giving up a cloud of smoke. He was
reintalling side covers and seat while I was finishing installing the
new battery, changing oil and filter and reinstalling the bash plate.
Actually, I started mine a few minutes before his :)

The XLR was ticking like a perfectly tuned clock. Great engine, new
rings make it really wake up. I spun lots of donuts and even attempted
a wheelie!

End of interlude, now back to the original programation:

We decided to celebrate that by going to a local bar and having beer &
decent food. I was seriously considering going riding sunday, one of
the friends that showed up had a ride with his friends set up and I
was almost hooked on that, so I decided, for the good or the bad, that
filling up the gas tank wouldn't be so bad after all, gasoline doesn't
spoil quick and I have a car to dump it in...

Bike was great. And got weird, like I had stepped on the brakes or
something... Then it would "realease" again... Really really weird.
When I pulled in the gas station, bike stalled. Started right up, I
slowly rode to the ATM box to get some cash, bike stalled again...
Rode to the pump, stalled yet again... Rode to the air pump to fill up
tires and bike idled normally! I figured out, it only has to be
gasoline... Bike idled great on first street crossing... And I revved
the hell out of it on a dirt road in the back of the suburb I live.
When I did a right turn, bike made a loud, metallic "clank" and
stalled. No way in earth the wheel moved. Starter was useless, it did
not had enough power to turn engine. Lots of pushing, bike started. I
rode like a maniac for two blocks and it stalled again and this time
no way it would spin rear wheel.

So, friends towed it to XLR's house and we went to drink an absurd
ammount of meat & beer and I walked home (near, plus I was too drunk
to ride passenger, damn JW, this thing should be called Johnnie
Tripper). Yesterday I towed bike home, not before attempting to start.
The engine was turning freely and I really mean "free", as if it had
no piston rings or no valves or any of those two...

<sigh>

I am/was (<dazed&confused>) planning on a road trip for mid april...
1500km round trip... Completely jeopardized that... I got a tank full
of gas... I got matches... I... I... no... must... not... think...

-- T
From: Volker Bartheld on 18 Jan 2010 12:18
Hi Tiago!

On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:20:14 -0800 (PST), Tiago wrote:
> [...] Bike idled great on first street crossing... And I revved the hell
> out of it on a dirt road in the back of the suburb I live. When I did a
> right turn, bike made a loud, metallic "clank" and stalled. No way in
> earth the wheel moved. [...] Yesterday I towed bike home, not before
> attempting to start. The engine was turning freely and I really mean
> "free", as if it had no piston rings or no valves or any of those two...
> I am/was (<dazed&confused>) planning on a road trip for mid april...
> 1500km round trip... Completely jeopardized that... I got a tank full
> of gas... I got matches... I... I... no... must... not... think...

HOLY SH*T! My fondest condolences.

I could almost hear the coins ringing throughout your post... That really
sounds like an expensive repair. You are an engine expert yourself, so I
can't tell you anything, but: Consider your piston, rings, cylinder and
probably even connecting rod and crankshaft bearings fried. Probably the
idea with gas & matches is not so bad after all... My riding buddies and I
tend to say "Ebay, starting bid one dollar, gave up hobby" in a case like
that...

Do you have the nerve to dig into a damage like that...?

That reminds me to have a look at my YZ426F piston's status. Actually, it's
not mine anymore, I donated it to a riding buddy to rid him of his
offroad-phobia. But anyhow - after that amount of usage, I sure have to
check things out. A stuck piston is nothing I'm really after. Could sure
ruin the day (or the entire season).

What a pity for your XR250 Tornado...

Good luck and try not to get pissed that much...

Volker

--
@: I N F O at B A R T H E L D dot N E T
3W: www.bartheld.net
From: HardWorkingDog on 18 Jan 2010 12:39
In article
<683b82a4-46f6-47f2-9b0c-a7e570f3a8d9(a)m16g2000yqc.googlegroups.com>,
Tiago <diariodastrilhas(a)gmail.com> wrote:

> <sigh>
>
> I am/was (<dazed&confused>) planning on a road trip for mid april...
> 1500km round trip... Completely jeopardized that... I got a tank full
> of gas... I got matches... I... I... no... must... not... think...

Tiago, I'm really, really sorry to hear about this. It sounds like
you've about wrung all the life you can from that bike.

Maybe you can sell the thing to an unsuspecting Yankee tourist during
the Olympics, and escape back to Recife incognito...throw in a bottle
of Juanito Caminante & don't look back.

--
Charles
'99 YZ250
From: Tiago on 18 Jan 2010 12:57
On Jan 18, 2:18 pm, Volker Bartheld <dr_vers...(a)freenet.de> wrote:
> Hi Tiago!

Hi Volker!

>
> HOLY SH*T! My fondest condolences.
>
> I could almost hear the coins ringing throughout your post... That really
> sounds like an expensive repair. You are an engine expert yourself, so I
> can't tell you anything, but: Consider your piston, rings, cylinder and
> probably even connecting rod and crankshaft bearings fried.

It's the classical simptoms of a ruined conn rod. My old NX200
(detuned CRF230F engine) did something similar. I rode it 80 thousand
kilometers. Then, I decided I needed an engine overhaul, it was
smoking quite a bit after a 2-up 700km road trip: new piston (.50
oversize), new rings, rebored cylinder and I was good to go. Less than
2k km later, it started vibrating so bad I parked the bike, teared
into the engine just to find the rod was gone. I've heard lots of tale
like this: You have an aging engine and refresh top end just for the
bottom end give up the refreshed top end power and let go, ruining the
top end again... Since new, I replaced rings once and replaced piston
& rings & overbore once more. So, if the same that applied to my old
NX200 applies now, I'm up to more about 1k on my currency to make the
thing run again, plus several hours on the bike shed listening to "oi
fm". Why is it that this bike every year requires a major overhaul on
some system or other? I'm sure, due to the abuse I do to the poor
thing, that I'll have lots of expensive fun on the gearbox, as a
minimum, I need a new shifter shaft and shift pedal - mine is welded
on since about 2003, I'll have to hacksaw the shaft to split the cases
open...

You bet that if I had the cash I'd be throwing a Wiseco 286cc kit on
it, but the piston itself costs about what 4 or 5 the price of a metal
leve piston with cofap rings (oem for most brazilian cars, so it
shouldn't suck so much) and still much more than oem piston & rings.

When I changed the oil I noticed lots of shiny spots on the filter.
Not nice in any level!


>
> Do you have the nerve to dig into a damage like that...?

One side of me is itching to find out the trouble. I might start
digging it up just for fun. The other side is so pissed of that I
think I will remove all the gas from the tank before even getting any
closer to the engine. I started dreaming about riding almost every
night since I can't remember anymore.

You know, bad things happens in waves. Just a few minutes ago, the
engineering vice president for the holding I work for, who is in
Brasil leading a major engineering project, just got notice that there
is a "serious" offroader in the company and came to ask if I'd fancy
riding with him... <moaning sounds>. Perhaps I might get a loaner from
a friend or rent a bike just for that. Or not. He's English. I think
I'd become so pissed that it could probably be dangerous and I don't
want to scare him :)

>
> That reminds me to have a look at my YZ426F piston's status. Actually, it's
> not mine anymore, I donated it to a riding buddy to rid him of his
> offroad-phobia. But anyhow - after that amount of usage, I sure have to
> check things out. A stuck piston is nothing I'm really after. Could sure
> ruin the day (or the entire season).

Why do you have to disassemble a perfectly working engine if not to
replace leaky gaskets or worn out rings? "If it's not broken, don't
fix it", I say...

>
> What a pity for your XR250 Tornado...
>
> Good luck and try not to get pissed that much...

Thanks.. Not pissed, just deluded... A big part of me want to tear
into the engine tonight, but the other part might be stronger...

I'll be sure to update you guys... Wait for the next chapter of this
soap opera...

-- T
From: HardWorkingDog on 18 Jan 2010 14:40
In article
<83f63d2c-c45b-496e-98e5-fdc70e171be9(a)v25g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>,
Tiago <diariodastrilhas(a)gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks.. Not pissed, just deluded... A big part of me want to tear
> into the engine tonight, but the other part might be stronger...

Any chance you can find a donor engine? How popular is your XR? It may
be less expensive to find another XR250 that belongs to someone who
has given up and use it as a parts donor. Just a thought...

--
Charles
'99 YZ250
 |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2 3 4
Prev: Ping Jim Hall (was Re: Anaheim 1 is on)
Next: shiny rocks & chocolate