shortstop20
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Well I was heading back home after unloading some old wood crates from my dad's shop. Got about 4 miles from town and all of the sudden the bike is spitting out coolant all over my legs and the bike. I stop, shut off the motor, and can tell right away the water pump and stator cover are . Called my mom, trailered it home. Here's some pics to show the damage.
1st pic - waterpump
2nd pic - Stator cover
3rd pic - Exhaust side of engine
4th pic - Intake side
5th pic - Mystery part (It fell out of the bike as I was loading it onto the trailer. Look closely at the 4th pic and you can see the rod and crank. So needless to say I'm pissed. I have no idea what happened I was just cruising along at 80-85 MPH in 6th gear. This bike is a '98 ZX-6E in case you're wondering. Now I really need to get a pickup as I don't have a vehicle of my own. I've been driving my mom's suburban when I'm not riding my bike. I'd really like to get another bike yet this summer, but I think that might have to wait cause I really need a pickup first.
End of rant!
1st pic - waterpump
2nd pic - Stator cover
3rd pic - Exhaust side of engine
4th pic - Intake side
5th pic - Mystery part (It fell out of the bike as I was loading it onto the trailer. Look closely at the 4th pic and you can see the rod and crank. So needless to say I'm pissed. I have no idea what happened I was just cruising along at 80-85 MPH in 6th gear. This bike is a '98 ZX-6E in case you're wondering. Now I really need to get a pickup as I don't have a vehicle of my own. I've been driving my mom's suburban when I'm not riding my bike. I'd really like to get another bike yet this summer, but I think that might have to wait cause I really need a pickup first.
End of rant!
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richierich
New member
ouch.you'll be cheaper off getting a used motor then repairing.never seen one explode like that.
aSRX600guy
New member
mystry part is a wrist pin. my guess is piston failure
Junior
New member
yea, odds are piston failure.
shitty deal man.
you musta jostled it pretty good getting it onto the trailer to get the wristpin out.
shitty deal man.
you musta jostled it pretty good getting it onto the trailer to get the wristpin out.
shortstop20
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I'm not gonna fix it. Part it out and be done with it. The damage looks even worse in person. I'm not sure how the wristpin fell out. I loaded it on the trailer nice and easy. When I got the bike home the wristpin was laying on the trailer. Bike wasn't running warm when I was riding it. It was running at normal temperature, so I don't think detonation was the issue. I checked the coolant and oil level last thursday and it was good. Maybe the piston was wore out and desintegrated as a result???
Junior
New member
they don't disintigrate from wear.
could be it had folded skirts and went sideways in the bore. the super short skirt sportbike pistons are prone to that, but it wont usually cause a catastrophic failure.
if there was something that was worn that caused this, it was a circlip. most modern sportbike engines have ports between cylinders in the crankcase to reduce high RPM pumping losses, it's possible for a wristpin to go sideways and get lodged in one if a circlip failed.
could be it had folded skirts and went sideways in the bore. the super short skirt sportbike pistons are prone to that, but it wont usually cause a catastrophic failure.
if there was something that was worn that caused this, it was a circlip. most modern sportbike engines have ports between cylinders in the crankcase to reduce high RPM pumping losses, it's possible for a wristpin to go sideways and get lodged in one if a circlip failed.
cacsrx1
New member
Bet U cracked the piston when U had the cam timing all fuxxed up. Tell them your whole carb cleaning story Shortstop....lol.
Junior
New member
how on earth did you get your cam timing screwed up cleaning the carbs?
cacsrx1
New member
Its a long story.....lmfao
Sounds to me...maybe should have not used the cracked piston.
Junior
New member
familyman said:Sounds to me...maybe should have not used the cracked piston.
they didn't know it was cracked at the time. still might not have been, but it'd sure explain alot, if the valve timing was backwards, those are an interference engine, palm the starter and you're in for a world of hurt.
shortstop20
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cacsrx1 said:Its a long story.....lmfao
Well I was taking off my carbs to clean them and I accidently dropped a washer down the intake. Tried all I could to snake it out of the sparkplug hole, but ended up tearing the head off the bike. Put it all back together, set the timing, thought it was right. It wasn't and I bent the valves. Bought a good used head w/valves for it, had the shop put it all back together, they said they checked out the pistons before they put it together, and everything looked good. I put 5-600 miles on it this year I suppose before it blew.
Maybe the pistons were up from when I had the timing messed up, I don't know for sure. All I know is that I learned my lesson.......Leave the engine work to the dealerships and not idiots with a manual. I have the tendency to think I can do anything if I really want to.......well i found out engine work isn't one of them.
Junior
New member
shortstop20 said:All I know is that I learned my lesson.......Leave the engine work to the dealerships and not idiots with a manual. I have the tendency to think I can do anything if I really want to.......well i found out engine work isn't one of them.
Hey man, 4-stroke bike motors aren't a simple thing to work on at all. Don't feel bad over it.
whenever I did stuff like this as a kid, my mentor would always tell me "well noone ever said education was cheap."
shortstop20
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Junior said:Hey man, 4-stroke bike motors aren't a simple thing to work on at all. Don't feel bad over it.
whenever I did stuff like this as a kid, my mentor would always tell me "well noone ever said education was cheap."
That's pretty much my feelings on it also. At least now I know that I can't work on 4-stroke motors.
I'm over it now. I've only really thought about my bike 3-4 times since it happened. happens. I know summer will come again and I WILL have a bike next summer. I'd be more pissed if it was the middle of winter and my sled blew up. Maybe I shouldn't have said that, here come the Polaris jokes!
cacsrx1
New member
I would order a crank just to be safe.
shortstop20
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cacsrx1 said:I would order a crank just to be safe.
I'll just cut my ZX-6 crank in half and use that. Won't that work?? Plus I'll have a spare.
skidooboy
New member
check ebay, those motors show up all the time. could get the bike mobile again, unless you plan to part it all out and use the proceeds for sledding budget or new bike. my.02, ski
shortstop20
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skidooboy said:check ebay, those motors show up all the time. could get the bike mobile again, unless you plan to part it all out and use the proceeds for sledding budget or new bike. my.02, ski
I'm pretty sure I'm just going to part it out.