Rippinvmax
New member
Thursday night I picked me up a 97 vmax 700 for 200 bucks in great shape. Didn't start. Sled sat for two years. Good compression 125 all cylinders. Cleaned carbs set air screw at 1.5 turns out. Got it running but wouldn't move. Checked tors. Good. Changed wire caps and she ran great. Friday rode her all day but had a strange popping after I let off the gas each time. Fouled mag side plug. Got new plugs ran great for the rest of the day. At night it started missing bad and backfiring. Limped it home and pulled the plugs all looked good but mag side looked sand blasted. Blown cylinder. Head is pitted and cylinder wall is scored. Piston didn't have any holes just pitted around the outside. Could not smell any evidence of oil really. I was thinking the oil line might be blocked or pinched. But there's no way it ran 60 miles on no oil on that cylinder. The carb boot has a bad clamp but I made sure it was tight. I don't understand why that cylinder went. But the question is. Should I just re sleeve the jug and buy one piston? Or should I split the case clean it and put new seals in? I am putting all new fuel and oil lines in. And also draining and cleaning the oil jug. The sled has 6400 miles on it and ran absolutely beautiful until that cylinder went. What should I do? I love this sled and I'm not letting it go
Buy a new one... or have it replated. I am sure you will get a used one from the classifieds cheap. Did you clean those carbs and get the old fuel out of the tank? Also be sure that the crank seal didnt go from sitting all the time and sucked air.
A couple of bucks
VIP Member
For as little as you have in it, I'd R&R the crank seals just for piece of mind. $200 for a sled with one of Yamahas most detuned engines is and absolute steal.
Rippinvmax
New member
Yeah I'm going to get a piston today pto and center cylinders still have hatch marks so I will leave those alone. I'm buying all new crank seals too. Should be good. Il look some more for a jug. Thanks. Any other things I should look for? Water pump looks great! Will probly replace those seals too