Piston rings.

[Serlant]

My bike has been burning oil, since buying it on 46k i've always known it burnt oil if only a little bit on the overrun (it smoked like a chimney on the dyno) but after about 15k in the last year and a half the issue has become more serious and i'm now having to put a couple hundred mil in every month, using maybe a tank a week maybe a little more, so have a feeling it needs valve stem seals aswell and was wondering where the best place to get some piston rings a stem seals from? and some opinions aswell, I believe these are the 2 most likely causes.

[Wicky]

Find the parts here and the parts no.>
http://www.ronayers.com/Fiche/TypeID/26 ... l/VTR1000F

Copy paste the part no here to price & availability >
http://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/part ... rt-number/

[Serlant]

part numbers come up as 13011-MBB-315 and which are both front and rear i take it? and comes to £80 from david silver this seem reasonable?

[Wicky]

Seems okay - Have you done a compression test?

[Serlant]

Not at present, I had meant to but then just forget to get the tester, then months passed haha i take it i just put it in place of the spark plug, hold the throttle WOT and turn it over until it stops getting any higher?

Edit, will this one do the job? for 14mm/18mm spark plug holes.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_255216

[VTRDark]

will this one do the job?

Yep that will work. The storm plugs are 18mm

The compression for the Storm according to the workshop manual should be around 164psi at 3500 rpm.

You can download the workshop manual from here http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 31&t=18025

You wont know for sure what the wear and tear/damage is exactly until the engine is stripped down and all the tolerances are checked. There's a chance that there maybe some wear and tear on the cylinder walls, so if your having to change the piston rings, you may want/need to consider getting some oversize pistons and re boring it out at the same time. Weigh up the costings of it all and decide whether it's worth rebuilding this engine or buy a 2nd hand lump to replace it. You could then break this engine down for parts to recover some of your costs.

Is the bike smoking much and if so what colour is the smoke?

(:-})

[thumperslaw]

My old motor burned loads of oil

Checked the rings and they where fubar

Looked in to rebuild

piston rings,valve seals,gaskets,oil,filter
Worked out cheaper getting second hand motor

[Serlant]

the bike doesn't really produce and noticable smoke while riding, the only indication its burning it is the smell of oil, i may have been practising clutch ups a lil bit recently and even then a mate following hasn't noticed any white smoke. I'm more leaning towards stem seals letting oil through on the over run, as i do use the engine breaking 95% of the time to slow me down, instead of the brakes.

[Serlant]

after buying it turns out the spark plug thread for the vtr isn't 18mm, the spark plug spanner is, i've just tried it with the front pot and the 14mm is too big, so needed a 12mm

[Wicky]

DRAPER 10MM/12MM ADAPTOR FOR 37442 COMPRESSION TESTER

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DRAPER-10MM-1 ... 449wt_1174

Though this long reach adaptor would reach deep down into the plug hole

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draper-Long-R ... _500wt_956

[AMCQ46]

Where are you based? You can borrow my tester and adaptor?

One tip is to make sure you loctite the adaptor to the gauge....otherwise you might end up like me where the adaptor decided to stay inthe cyl head when you remove the gauge!

[VTRDark]

after buying it turns out the spark plug thread for the vtr isn't 18mm, the spark plug spanner is

sorry about that, I would have thought it would be the same as the plug spanners. How stupid is that!

(:-})

[sirch345]

after buying it turns out the spark plug thread for the vtr isn't 18mm, the spark plug spanner is

sorry about that, I would have thought it would be the same as the plug spanners. How stupid is that!

(:-})

Carl, I agree that is a bit stupid, and it's not the first time it's caught peope out either At least it's an easy work around with (Wicky's link) an adaptor

One tip is to make sure you loctite the adaptor to the gauge....otherwise you might end up like me where the adaptor decided to stay inthe cyl head when you remove the gauge!

Now that is a very useful tip Alastair

Chris.

[benny hedges]

its not a small leak from the clutch pushrod oil seal, gearbox sprocket seal and or gear selector seal is it?
you wont really notice these as the oil goes behind the gearbox sprocket cover and on the chain.

think you should be checking these first before a strip down.

also, if you think the rings are worn, maybe its time to fit a set of 11.5-1 high compression je pistons ???

also, the valve stem seals - use oem, not pattern ones

[benny hedges]

you may want/need to consider getting some oversize pistons and re boring it out at the same time. Weigh up the costings of it all and decide whether it's worth rebuilding this engine
(:-})

+0.5mm je pistons - mine were £320 delivered from usa (and £22 import tax lol)
rebore will set you back £60-£80
then a full gasket set at £120 from silvers / honda
you may as well do the other bits like clutch bearing, seals etc at about £40
and a new set of main bearing shells. £28 a pair.

then oil & filters, coolant etc.
all in youre looking £500+ to rebuild the engine to top spec.