Hi my names Sam and I’ve been having engine problems with my 97 Bandit 1200 ever since I purchase it a few months ago. I’m wondering if someone here can help me as I don’t have a lot of experience in diagnosing engine problems.
When I first purchased the bike it ran good when seller ran it for me so I bought it. As soon as I got it home it ran horribly, hard to start and would barley stay running. I did a compression check on all four cylinders and cylinder 1 came up low at 130 psi while the others were 160 psi and head gasket leaked. When I added oil it shot up to 180psi so I though it must be rings. So I then took apart the engine and installed new rings and new had gaskets etc, also I honed the cylinders with a hone from harbor freight. Reassembled and it ran great and was 160psi across the board. The next time I fired it up it sounded horrible like a cylinder wasn’t firing or something, and would also backfire heavily. I take it apart again and find oil sitting on top of the cylinders. So this time I replace my valve seals as well as cleaning and lapping my valves. Put back together and wow it runs great. Again the second time I fire it up runs terrible again same as before. I look inside the cylinder with a bore scope and yep oil in there again? Anybody have any ideas on what went wrong or what I should do now? Thx