Bad Scare on My Way Home From Work (Jackhammer going off in lower engine casing)

blackbird1100xx · 04-24-2008, 1:17 PM

Hey Guys, I just had a big scare on my way home from work so i figured i would share my exp. Might save you guys some money.

70* outside all sun and i'm ready to call it a day. I start up my 97" 1100xx and let her warm up a little and off i go. I gave it about 10 min before i started playing around, and then it was on, 2 lane highway cars were split nicely and i was ready to roll. I dropped it to 2nd and cranked it up to 8k rpm's and broke out of the crowd only to get stopped by a red light 100 yards up the road. Thats where the scare came into play.

I stopped the bike and sat for around 5 sec and then boom...

sounded like a jackhammer was going off in my lower engine casing. Its nice outside and everyone has their windows down with their heads pointed right at me. Soon as the light changed i got over and killed the engine. the loud hammering noise went up with the rpm's and you could feel the pounding in the handlebars so naturally the first thing that came to mind was that i blew a berring or broke a rod.

I trailered the bike to honda and let the service manager come out and check the noise. i turned the engine over a little just to get the face that i didnt want to see.

so he explained that to pull the engine off the bike and open it up would be around 350 bucks and if it was a rod, to put another in and put the bike together i was looking at a total of around $2k.

The general manager came out and took a listen to it and i got the same reaction. and he mentioned that if i did get it fixed and it happened again 20 miles down the road they wouldnt be responsible. There is no way to tell why i blew a rod in the first place. So if i was going to do it to do it right and get a new engine.

He proceded to check over the bike and grabbed a socket wrench from the shop and started pulling this piston looking thing out and went into the shop.

He left me out there for like 15 min and came back with a piece of paper with a $37 charge for looking at the bike. I was upset that he was charging me for something that i didnt agree to in the first place but didnt say anything and then he told me to come start the bike.

And wouldnt you know it started right up and purred like a cugar.

Ended up that the $37 bucks was for the new Cam Chain Tentioner. The spring that holds the piston against the chain was gone, no resistance at all.

So, That was a bad scare, by the time i got home and realized that a bird had not been eating very healthy and decided that my motorcycle seat looked like a good place to take a little break i wasnt overly upset.

Guess it would have been worse if i were sitting there. So from $2k to $37.00 by getting a second opinion.

Hope this helps someone or better yet hope nobody else gets to hear that god awfull sound.

"sometimes your the dog" and "sometimes your the Hydrant"

lois · 04-25-2008, 6:27 AM

I alway figured that if a CCT crapped out, the engine would eat itself. Good info, thanks for the heads up.

By the way, is see that your bike is black...

X1rider · 04-25-2008, 6:33 AM

The double green dot CCT is the good one.

CanadianBird · 04-25-2008, 7:03 AM

Wouldn't you be hearing that, "can of marbles rattling sound" prior to all this. I've replaced several cct's, "02, 120,000 kms" and I was always forwarned by that sound. Yes, get your cct from JohnXX on this site. And for sure, you lucked out on this one.

blackbird1100xx · 04-25-2008, 7:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanadianBird

Wouldn't you be hearing that, "can of marbles rattling sound" prior to all this. I've replaced several cct's, "02, 120,000 kms" and I was always forwarned by that sound. Yes, get your cct from JohnXX on this site. And for sure, you lucked out on this one.

Yes CanadianBird,,, You should hear a rattling sound prior to all of this. My dad had that happen to him and that is part of the reason that i thought it was something worse. The honda guy said he had never seen one break like this one.

The spring was completely shattered.

blackbird1100xx · 04-25-2008, 8:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lois

I alway figured that if a CCT crapped out, the engine would eat itself. Good info, thanks for the heads up.

By the way, is see that your bike is black...

Your not extremely far from the truth...

From what the technition explained, you can do some serious damage if you continue to drive the bike in that condition. (note: if the tentioner fails completely, that is a serious condition) it can create metal particles and mix them with your oil witch gets sent through your entire engine.

He didnt go into great detail about it because i pulled over and killed the engine right away. (trailers are nice to have but i hate using em) so if this does happen it would be a good idea to play it safe and hit that little red switch and bring in the trailer... Followed by an oil change.

DragonXX · 04-25-2008, 8:12 AM

It's always good to hear about an honest mechanic too !

blackbird1100xx · 04-25-2008, 8:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DragonXX

It's always good to hear about an honest mechanic too !

Yeah,,, these guys are great that i go to... been going to them since i got the bike (3 years). no bs and i trust em enough to full throttle it out of the parking lot

Birdmanxx · 04-25-2008, 9:27 AM

How many miles on the clock when this all happened?

blackbird1100xx · 04-25-2008, 9:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Birdmanxx

How many miles on the clock when this all happened?

28,500

Birdmanxx · 04-25-2008, 10:13 AM

That's nearly 46,000km. I read that it should be replaced around 40,000km (just under 25000 miles). My bike is nearing this so I am going to sort this out because I don't want that type of scare. Thanks for the warning.

blackbird1100xx · 04-25-2008, 10:18 AM

No prob man... and to install a new one is a breeze... like 15 min.