Oh dear!

[BluprintZ]

Well, as i stated in a previous post, the bike needed to go to the Dyno man to have the new inlet rubbers fitted and the bike to be set up.
So, yesterday dinner, i took it over and a mate brought me back home, Dyno man phoned me this morning to let me know that number three cylinder has no compression at all, in fact he can feel it coming back through the airbox and the silencer, it's that bad.
His suggestion is either to remove the head and check for bent valve stems and if they are ok, then grind all the valves in.....or, put it back together and stick it on ebay, not a nice thing to do but somebody did it to me, so hey-ho!
So at the moment, i'm waiting for him to get back to me later on this evening, he has other bikes in that the owners obviously want sorting but if one of them isn't too much in a rush, then he can do mine sooner.
If not, then it could be a few months before he an get round to stripping the head off it.
Of course, if i had a garage, then i would strip it myself but i haven't, so i'll just have to wait and see what he says this evening.
I sometimes wonder if it's all worth the bother, unfortunately it is, after 40+ years of biking, it isn't something you can just give up on, is it?

G ; )

[Dead Eye]

The job isn't too bad. It can be a little time consuming, but its methodical - do you have any tools at all? If your mechanic gets the head off for you, you could probably take it home and grind the valves yourself

[red98]

do you have a friend wth a garage....this job is not hard to do just a bit time consuming....the fact the mechanic can feel compression back through the air box tells me the problem is with the valves and not cylinder/piston/rings problem....

[BluprintZ]

Well believe it or not, i've been stripping engines, gearboxes et al, on all sorts of vehicles since my early teens, i've owned a bike shop and a breakers over the years, so i'm no stranger to the infernal combustion engine and it's problems but to be honest, after a 12 year lay-off from bikes, so i could get my studio up and running, i only got back into bikes in 2008, when i bought a Ducati Monster 900, then a 2008 Triumph Thruxton 900, which to be honest, didn't really need much fettling in the time i had them, although i did completely strip the Monster and re-build it in 2009, that was in a mates very large workshop, which he doesn't have any more, as he's move away, which i thought was most inconsiderate.  .
Kev, who owns the Dyno business, has a reputation spanning over 25 years for getting the best out of both road and race bikes and yes, of course i am capable of doing the work needed on my bike but the problem is the workload in the studio, plus somewhere to actually work on the bike.
I could bring the head home and work on the valve grinding but it would be very intermittent.
STOP PRESS:
Kev has just phoned me to say he's removed the head, so i'll try and get over later on this afternoon and see what the damage is, mechanically, financially and more importantly...Physiologically!!
  .
I shall return!

G ; )

[red98]

sounds like you have found the man for the job.....interested to see the outcome 

[Hedgetrimmer]

Hope you can get it running again BluePrintZ...would be a shame to lose you from the forum so soon after you got here.

[ChristoT]

Hope you can get it running again BluePrintZ...would be a shame to lose you from the forum so soon after you got here.

I'm worried about losing another 600!! 

[Hedgetrimmer]

Christo, if you don't cheer up soon, I'll strap you into that trailer of yours and push you onto the ferry myself! 

[noggythenog]

Hope you can get it running again BluePrintZ...would be a shame to lose you from the forum so soon after you got here.

I'm worried about losing another 600!! 

Cristo, gimme a couple o weeks & ill have some 600 morale boosting photos up to show that they can rise again.


It' coming along nicely now, only the light electrics to be done.

[BluprintZ]

Hope you can get it running again BluePrintZ...would be a shame to lose you from the forum so soon after you got here.

Nick and Christo: I have no intention of getting rid of the Fazer, although admittedly the initial news from Kev did cause a slight wave of depression, as it would.
The guy is a genius and he said it highly unlikely to be terminal damage, at worse he feels it could be a bent valve but until i speak to him tomorrow, who knows?
When he first gave me the news yesterday, i did mention that the bike went like split shat, his reply was "imagine what it will be like when you get it back sorted"!!
So i'll keep everything crossed and hope for a favourable outcome.

G ; )

[ChristoT]

Christo, if you don't cheer up soon, I'll strap you into that trailer of yours and push you onto the ferry myself! 

Well, I do need to get the trailer down to Portsmouth... 

[Hedgetrimmer]

Why not weld your bicycle to it? If it's too heavy to ride, you could rig up an electric motor. 

[Dead Eye]

Christo, if you don't cheer up soon, I'll strap you into that trailer of yours and push you onto the ferry myself! 

Hahaha, I'll give you a hand Nick

[ChristoT]

Why not weld your bicycle to it? If it's too heavy to ride, you could rig up an electric motor. 

I have! But not cycling the bugger from Andover to Porstmouth!

Rest easy you two - Fireblake has very kindly offered to tow the trailer to the terminal for me - thanks, man I owe you! 

[J_Dub]

I hope you can get that sorted out George, you're not having a lot of luck with that bike at moment. 

[BluprintZ]

I hope you can get that sorted out George, you're not having a lot of luck with that bike at moment. 

I'm sure it will be fine once Kev has sorted it, i'll know by later on this afternoon John.
Just one of those things mate, i was spoilt with the Monster and the Thruxton, so it was probably my turn to get one that needed a bit of work doing on it.
I'll be up your way on Monday for a few days, so i'll give you a shout at some point.

G ; )

[BluprintZ]

Just had a call from Kev the Dyno man, asking if i've put any kind of coolant in the system.
It appears that someone has put something in that doesn't look like any type of coolant that he's seen before.
He said it's light brown in colour, smells more like a releasing agent.
Deffinitely not oil leaking into the coolant.

G ; )

[Dead Eye]

Someone else had some sort of weird oil in their coolant as well... maybe people are getting confused between liquid and oil cooled engines :|

[Chris]

Could it be someone has put in stuff to flush the system and just either forgotten about it or not cleaned it out properly... or even the coolant has maybe just never been changed... Hope that's not a silly suggestion...
 
Chris

[BluprintZ]

UPDATE:
I've been visiting family and friends up in Lancashire last week, including FOC member J_DUB, who i've known for a few years, was good to see you and the family John.
Anyway, whilst up yon, i got a call from Kev the Dyno man, asking me to pop in to his place when i get home, which i did last Friday afternoon.
The head was still off, because he wanted to show me what he had done to it, plus some pics he had taken from when he stripped it, (i'll get them off him and post them on here when i get the bike back, so that you can all gasp in amazement...or not!).
All of the valves were coked up badly, cylinder no3 was showing exhaust gas blowback into the inlet ports, which means the valves were sticking open, as he said, which explains the lack of compression on that cylinder.
There was also a largish pock mark on the valve seat (i forget which one) but he's ground all of the valves in and cleaned those and the piston crowns, which were also badly carboned up, the cylinder bores were ok.
The head gasket is being replaced (obviously) and new valve stem seals fitted, might as well do those while the head is off, they aren't that expensive.
By the time i ride the bike home, probably later on this week, the final bill will be around the £500 mark, i know it sounds a lot but he is one of the best and the bike will be 100%.
As i mentioned, i'll post the piccies and the Dyno sheet when i get them.

G ; )

[Dead Eye]

Sounds like its making progress

£500 is a fair chunk of money, but having said that he is doing a lot of work on it. Grinding the valves in is a time consuming job - I would know, I'm only half way through and its taken me nearly 6 months

Sounds like the valves had a load of crap stuck to them - mine was like this as well but attributed it to the furnace like situation it was exposed to (carbs were removed so everything fell into the cylinders)

[His Dudeness]

Did he give any reasons as to why it got so bad? It must have been running very rich. Maybe get him to take a look at the carbs

[BluprintZ]

Dead eye/Dude.

The bike had been stood outside for at least six months, so he recons that damp air might possibly have made it's way into no3 cylinder, which probably had the valves in the open position, from when it was last run.
Also bear in mind, we are right by the sea here in Caernarfon, so the salt/damp air wouldn't have been helping matters.
I was led to believe on the forum somewhere, that the pre-injection models are prone to running a touch on the rich side?
The previous owner wasn't what i would call a serious biker, he only used it occasionally, so i doubt it got as much high speed riding as i gave it when i first got it, that also could explain the excessive carbon build-up?
Kev also mentioned that the two offside plugs were a begger to get out, although the other two weren't much better, the offside two were also very rusty on the outside, so maybe the fact it had been parked on the sidestand could have had something to do with that, i dunno.
Yes, it's been an expensive lesson, although we can also add two new Bridgestone tyres at £160, the inlet rubbers at £96 and the chain and sprocket kit at £89, so the actual cost will be getting on for nearly a grand, so all in all, the bike will stand me at around £2,500 by the time i get it back!!
We live and we learn eh?

G ; )

[paulchucky]

mmmmmmmmmmmm bikes are like women !!




if they run rich they`ll empty your wallet quickly 


treat them well and they`ll be good in return 


either way you need to give them a good screwing now n then 

[Dead Eye]