One too many trips past 10K....F@*%

Title says it all....

After a spirited ride yesterday the bike went from oil just a hair below the top level oil mark to just a hair below the bottom level oil mark. I was working on tuning the carbs because my midrange is ridiculously rich after the pipe change and notice a TON of black all over the chrome spring right next to the left side exhaust pipe. Thinking it's just residue from running too rich down the highway for about 100 total miles I wipe my finger over it and guess what...yep...greasy as hell and stinking like oil.

After that I look over at the sight glass and see that she'd used a LOT of oil, after a history of never having to add oil between changes because she's been sealed up like a dolphins but...water tight...

I'm guessing rings on either the 1 or 2 piston because the top end was completely rebuilt with new valve guide seals about 800 miles ago while the pistons have never been out of the sleeves on this motor. So now here I am, about two months away from my first significant paycheck in about a year and half with the dilemma of trying to find stock piston rings or ponying up the cash for a big bore kit and machine work...Or better yet start hunting for a 750 motor, which will probably be cheaper in the long run than either of the other two options...Oh yeah, to top my day off I noticed this morning that all three of the front brake lines on my GL1000 are cracked to shit and the outer shell is flaking off around the banjo bolts...so I'm sans scoot until I get one or the other of these fixed, which requires money, which won't roll in until after my first month of teaching, which is next month....did I mention....F$@&?

"I'm guessing rings"...
I would think with this much oil lost due to rings, this motor would smoke like a sonsabitch....

You sure it's not a stuck valve or something up in the head such as a guide or seal... Compression and leak down test results?

With all the KZ650 owners here, someone should be able to locate some stock rings for you.... Z1 doesn't have them or can obtain them for you?

All in all, sucks brother...

OMR

Haven't run compression yet, have to borrow a compression tester...

Haven't had the time to tear into her yet either. I know that early failure of a good valve job is possible but we just did those valves about 800 miles ago with new seals and the whole nine, so I wasn't suspect of the valves but it's worth a check.

I'll be tearing into it soon to find out exactly what I'm looking at, might drag the boy out with me today to grab the compression tester and see what that tells me.

I was looking for rings a couple years ago and couldn't find standard rings. That's why I put the "new" bottom end (everything except the head, I used mine that we rebuilt). When the motor was fresh she put out solid 140 compression numbers (give or take a couple per cylinder and can't remember what those numbers were exactly now) across all cylinders and never used/burned/leaked a drop of oil. The no leaky lasted until Friday...

I'm suspecting to find really low compression numbers on either the #1 or #2 cylinders when I do get the chance to run them, then it's time to determine why...

Or I might just track down a 750 motor...actually have a line on a 1000 motor and a 750 motor, just don't know if either are in reasonable distance to pick up. The 1000 motor would be some work stuffing into the frame, but I've seen it done so know it's possible!

More to come...

Just did a compression test and got the following figures cold:

Cyl 1: 115 Cyl 2: 150 Cyl 3: 175 Cyl 4: 145

My readings are all over the place, with the #1 being the obvious problem cylinder. I'm a little concerned about the #3 being so much higher than the others too. I expected to get 145-150 on all the "good" cylinders and expected to find lower compression on the bad one, wasn't expecting the spike on the #3 cylinder. Next step is to tear the valve cover off and check clearances, although that's been done less than 1000 miles ago with the top end rebuild so I'm not expecting to find problems there... I might get some time to tear into the motor this afternoon and see what I find.

Am I way off base to expect rings on the #1 cylinder? I don't have a ton of experience with this type of motor problem, but know enough to get myself by... Any ideas?

Also found out I can pick up the 1000 motor for a song and a 6 hour (each way) drive...It's an A model motor and sounds to be in great condition. My vm26 carbs would bolt right up, I'd have to replace exhaust studs and find/fab an exhaust for it, plus cram it into my 650 frame. I know others have fit a 1000 in a 650 frame, and I know several welders with tons of experience, so I'm really tempted to go this route!!! Not sure I'd fix the 650's problems for $100...Hmmmm, the plot thickens!!

Just tested #1 again, after adding a teaspoon of oil into the cylinder, and with the oil added compression spiked to 175 on that cylinder, up from 115. So it looks like it is in fact rings, which is what I expected...

If you want to stay with stock bore than you can get Hastings kit #4807 or 2C-4807 (Chrome Moly). You will have to reuse the oil wiper rings because they do not have them in 2.5mm, only in 2.8 and 4.0. But that is OK because oil rings do not ware out anyway. You can call hastings at 800-776-1088. The set should be about $100 for the 4 pistons.

otakar wrote:

If you want to stay with stock bore than you can get Hastings kit #4807 or 2C-4807 (Chrome Moly). You will have to reuse the oil wiper rings because they do not have them in 2.5mm, only in 2.8 and 4.0. But that is OK because oil rings do not ware out anyway. You can call hastings at 800-776-1088. The set should be about $100 for the 4 pistons.

Does that piston kit come with all the other rings or would I have to source rings on top of the piston price?

Thanks!

That is a first and second ring kit for your pistons. You would reuse your pistons and oil wiper rings.

Copy that, thanks for the info!!

Got to add if your using OIL and compression is down, then I would never reuse any of the rings. Also once you inspect most likely there will be scoring on the piston down past the ring lands. The 1000 motor is sounding cheaper by the minute, piston and ring + gaskets and machine work verses another running motor. Just hope the Used one is OK for a while.
Cause of the damage would also have to be investigated or you could do it all over again soon. Lean condition or spark curve/ advance causing detonation. Hard to get real fuel these days.

Be very careful with the Hastings rings. I ordered a set of 2C-4807 and found the rings do not fit in the ring gaps in the pistons. The Hastings are 1.5mm, the Kawasaki ones are 1.2mm ( I think that's what my engine reconditioner said). Maybe my bike is different being a UK model or something. I doubt it very much. My pistons are std size, ART pistons as supplied new. Get your pistons measured first for ring recess. Will pm Anarki650 to let him know that otakar maybe wrong. I asked if it is possible to machine out the piston to accept the Hastings rings, but the guy said probably not a good idea and you would be going down the road of no return, ie if it messes up you have 4 junk pistons or worse. Jim

I have a full set of KZ650 pistons with rings if you're interested. They have around 20k miles on them, but you can have them for the price of shipping if you want.