TL engine seized

[Captain Chaos]

Actually not a TL but a v-strom but same engine. 
A customer brought her bike, she was riding along at 140kmh and then loss of power, stops at the side of the road and it does not start anymore. I put a good battery in but still nothing. 
Tried to turn over the engine by hand but it's seized solid, not even a slight bit of movement. 
Background info: bike has used 2,5l of fully synt 10w40 over 10.000 km. 

Boss suggested to remove heads, maybe rings are stuck in the bores. In that case repair is cheaper than another engine. 
Haven't drained the oil yet, will do that today. But would there not be at least some movement in the crankshaft if only the pistons are stuck?

 

Edited August 29 by Captain Chaos

[imago]

1 hour ago, Captain Chaos said:

Actually not a TL but a v-strom but same engine. 
A customer brought her bike, she was riding along at 140kmh and then loss of power, stops at the side of the road and it does not start anymore. I put a good battery in but still nothing. 
Tried to turn over the engine by hand but it's seized solid, not even a slight bit of movement. 
Background info: bike has used 2,5l of fully synt 10w40 over 10.000 km. 

Boss suggested to remove heads, maybe rings are stuck in the bores. In that case repair is cheaper than another engine. 
Haven't drained the oil yet, will do that today. But would there not be at least some movement in the crankshaft if only the pistons are stuck?

 

I'd have thought it'd rock on the crank at least being a twin. 

[TLRS]

TL’s are known from spun big ends. DL/SV should be better in that respect due to redesign big end shells. Stuck doesn’t bode well though.

Oil might tell.. fuel stinky or sparky..

[Captain Chaos]

Drained the oil. There are a few shiny bits in but not alarming. 
However this bit is alarming:

cleaned up a bit

the oil smells very burned. 

Tried to stick an endoscope in a plug hole, but i can not look around the corner so cilinder wall is not visible. Piston looks dry. 

[Matt-Man]

Sounds like big-end shells have shit the bed an spun out.

I’d be pulling all the ancillaries before a top-end strip incase the clutch has shit itself. (Not sure if the clutch in the V-Strom has the ramped back torque linter etc. 

The TLS range were notorious for this, especially the 97’s.

V-Strom / SV had revised rods with wider shells and oil pressure fed in at both ends of the crank unlike the 97’s.

Second has engine is probably the cheapest option.

TL engines won’t  fit as there are differences. 
Not sure if the SV motors are the same as the V-Strom.

[Captain Chaos]

Thanks, all good info. 
We talked to the owner yesterday, she gave green light for engine swap. We found a 2nd hand DL lump. 
 

On 8/29/2024 at 8:11 AM, Captain Chaos said:

Background info: bike has used 2,5l of fully synt 10w40 over 10.000 km. 

The bike supposedly had a full service earlier this year. 
Yeah right  

 

this in combination with the air box drain hose connected straight to the front head cover ensures that it basically runs on its own crankcase fumes. 
I removed the clutch and alternator and it all looks good. 

[TonyGee]

2 hours ago, Captain Chaos said:

Thanks, all good info. 
We talked to the owner yesterday, she gave green light for engine swap. We found a 2nd hand DL lump. 
 

The bike supposedly had a full service earlier this year. 
Yeah right  

 

this in combination with the air box drain hose connected straight to the front head cover ensures that it basically runs on its own crankcase fumes. 
I removed the clutch and alternator and it all looks good. 

A full service ??????  the guy who did it should be shot. 

[Captain Chaos]

Yeah. And the coolant was water. I wonder how the thing was running, i found one vacuum connection on the throttle bodies not connected to anything and not capped off. 
And the secundary throttle valves are flapping about, i don't feel any redistance. Ad far as i remember that's not supposed to be like that. 
I have not seen if they work when turning on ignition. Also don't know if it threw any DTC's. 

[TLRS]

Sounds like the bike is in good hands now.

[Captain Chaos]

Opened the engine and had a look inside. 
 

[Captain Chaos]

Big ends f*cked. Main bearings look ok. 

[TLRS]

Any idea what the black stuff is?

[Captain Chaos]

it comes from where the big end shells used to be. 

 

[DAZ]

Not pretty in there,makes you wonder how many times it had been "fully serviced"  before , to be fair vstroms generally are pretty tough in both 650 and thousands . Hate rip off merchants 

[TonyGee]

40 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

it comes from where the big end shells used to be. 

 

A sight you never want to see 

[TLRS]

3 hours ago, Captain Chaos said:

it comes from where the big end shells used to be. 

 

bloody hell.. look like they got pummeled long and hard..

[bunk]

The dry rods tell a story.

[Captain Chaos]

I also found some orange bits of plastic in the crankcases. I have no idea where they come from.

[bunk]

I love that the customer 'was riding along and lost power'.  No mention of horrendous noise. lol

Orange bits maybee from a seal or sealant?

[Captain Chaos]

The bike has Akrapovic exhausts. I didn't hear it run (for the obvious reasons) but they must be pretty loud.

And the customer is a woman.

[Captain Chaos]

Well the "new" engine turned out to be a bit of a lemon as well. It came without clutch and generator covers. When unloading it from the car we could hear stuff rattling in the crankcases, so the decision was made to open it up as well, found a few bolts and dowel pins inside. Good that we didn't install it and fire it up right away.

Anyway out of the two engines I used the best bits and built one good engine on Thursday. Friday lunchtime I made a short testride, all is fine, friday evening the lady picked up the bike and was very happy with the result.

On 9/4/2024 at 7:33 PM, Captain Chaos said:

I also found some orange bits of plastic in the crankcases. I have no idea where they come from.

the magnets are glued on the rotor with orange stuff, could be from the old rotor (the owner said it was replaced just after she bought the bike and it had charging issues).