Did I blow the engine?

B

bukmastr

New member
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
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24
Age
50
Location
Michigan
I have '99 SRX 700 w/ 6000 miles. Bought it used and don't know past history of the unit. Anyway, racing a buddy down a lake y'day, comfortably going about 100mph then all of a sudden I lose rpm, have no power, and it starts missing. I shut it down, started it back up, and still misses horribly with no power and seems as though it's running on 2 cylinders. Thinking I had a bad plug I changed all three but same result. I noticed it backfires on the one cylinder closest to drive case side. Could I have blown a ring / cylinder? Any suggestions for diagnosis other then a compression test and start tearing into it? It's worth noting, my powervalves were not working correctly as the cables got criss-crossed / tangled so don't know if this could 've added to my problem.

Definatley bummed as I already blew a drive axle this year now this. Thinking my year may be done if I need a rebuild. Thanks for the feedback.
 
Pull the plugs out and shine a flash down the hole. Then roll the primary clutch so you can see each piston. I bet one has a bit spot missing from the top of it. Also plug should likely be gray in color covered in aluminum
 
again..did you clean your carbs good prior to riding since you don't know what the other guy did. And ran only premium gas in the tank.Seems to be the issue for a lot of guys this season.
 
Shoulda, coulda wisha I woulda cleaned the carbs but never did (rookie mistake). When I did remove the spark plug from the cylinder that was backfiring, there was no gap between the plug and electrode and it looked as if something forced it closed. And yes it did look like there was aluminun on this plug. All the other plugs looked clean but brownish in color.
 
you have a re-build to do for sure now..get some pics up asap..Take the carbs out now and check carefully for restrictions,especially for that side piston.Sorry to here this..... :o|
 
Grreeaatt. Any recos on what else to replace when I'm in there?

Probably won't start tearing into and posting pics for a week or so as I'll be out of town for the next week. At least I can start scouring the net for how-to-tips and parts while I'm gone.

Thanks again.
 
without tearing into it you will not know what you need. if i had the money and would guess, cylinder,head,piston,rings,piston pin,bearing? and find out why! seal?dirty carb?
 
yeah, you need to find the root of what caused the engine failure, or else it will just happen again.

i do have some of the parts that you will need tho.....cylinders, heads, crank, cases, etc.
 
Maim said:
sounds like a crank side connecting rod bearing to me.
Click to expand...

...most likely, I'm going throught the same thing with a '98SRX, cost me cylinder, head, piston, crankshaft and cases...not to mention rings and gaskets. I'm thinking this might have something to do with improper storage and rusting crank bearings. I was running 104mph (GPS on open field) when this happened.
 
It baffles me that people do not go through the carbs before running these things wide open and then ask why they are not running right.
Invest a little time to save allot of time !!!!
 
very true.... :o|

Since it's didn't seize i'm hoping I won't have to tear into the crank and case? At least I'm hoping...

Any cost / parts estimates for a DIY'er?
 
bukmastr said:
very true.... :o|

Since it's didn't seize i'm hoping I won't have to tear into the crank and case? At least I'm hoping...

Any cost / parts estimates for a DIY'er?
Click to expand...

please don't get lazy/intimidated from a complete engine teardown. it will only be a bandaid fix to do only the top end. all crap needs to be cleaned out from the bottom end. also, at that time, you can inspect crank and rod bearings better, and see if you need some crank work down. if you don't tear it down to find a bad bearing (if there is one), you will have more damage done again, a few miles down the trail, when it lets go. now you'll really be pissed. if you need help throughout the tear down process, you can post questions on here and members can help you out. some might even have a pdf file of the service manual if needed.
 
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