A reminder - Go easy on the silicone

Irish Yobbo wrote: A little history on my bike - the first owner had put about 60,000km on my kz250, and then had the engine rebuilt. It wasn't long until the engine was making a huge amount of noise, and so he sold it to the 2nd owner. The 2nd owner found that the camshaft had worn out and have enormous grooves in it, and replaced it. Then I bought it.

A worn camshaft to me says that there is some oil starvation, but the oil pump was replaced only 3000km ago. Either way I wanted a look, as I needed to replace the clutch anyway. The oil pump looked great, clearance was fine and little sign of metal particles damaging the surface. But while I had the cover off, I thought I'd give the sump a clean. There was a little grime, and some bits of the red and blue silicone used by the engine builder. Then I pulled out the oil strainer.

The oil strainer had been completely blocked by the pieces of silicone inside the engine, Whoever built the engine was far too liberal with the amount they used. I think this is what caused the oil starvation, as the mesh had been sucked flat from the oil pump draw, until the mesh had actually torn apart at the base, eventually allowing oil and anything else through. So the full engine rebuild was ruined just by too much silicone.

If you are rebuilding an engine, I would recommend using a non-hardening aviation gasket cement - and only enough for a thin, even coating.

Nessism wrote: How badly damaged is the engine now? Salvageable or not worth the trouble?