Where did my oil burn come from?

[Jedz123]

Hey guys, So I installed an 05 engine on my FZ1 earlier in the year and I finally got the time to get the old engine out of storage and tear into it to try to source where the oil burn was coming from. I noticed under full throttle and high RPM the bike would smoke and by the tail end of it pretty bad (friends called my bike ole' Smokey). It was eating about 1/4 quart every 200 miles. So I bit the bullet installed the newest engine for my Gen 1 and haven't had an oil consumption problem since. Any way. I was told by some it was a valve seal issue, other said a ring issue... Well a picture is worth a thousand words so please tell me what you think. I didn't seem that the valves were leaking but there is ALLOT of carbon and oil build up in the combustion chambers.




I'm debating splitting the case, replacing the rings and build the motor back up with R1 components in the top end get it to the 150 hp mark and put it in my FZ1....

Curious though on what would cause this, I've split motors berfore and they don't look nearly this bad... Ugh scarry part was my FZ1 was still fast as crap with this motor in it... Motor has about 48K miles on it (23K are mine). Also the motor always ate oil since day one when I bought it.

Are rings my likely culprit??

Thanks.

-Jedz

[GS1150Pilot]

Man. I put 58,000 miles on an '03 FZ1, and it never used a drop of oil.

[Jedz123]

Not sure why it was a burner... I've been on the FZ1OA forums and the 2001's (first year) were the only ones that had intermident oil burn issue's I met a fella with an 01 just like mine, had the same miles and it never burned a drop of oil. Mine did. Apparently the black gen 1 motors are the absolute best ones to have. Hence why I bought and installed mine.


Like I said I installed my 05 balck engine in May, have about 5K miles logged on it and it hasn't burned one drop of oil. Same ridding style, Motor now has 10K miles on it.

[chuck hahn]

Based on what you say is the consumption in just 200 miles is, I would say thats pointing at the oil rings. I had a bikes oil rings go bad and it was actually weeping oil at the header to head junctions!!! And this happened almost overnight...put new rings in and not a whisper since.

[Nessism]

Blue smoke under load means rings. Maybe the oil control rings have carbon build up which is rendering them ineffective? Not sure but I do know that it's time to pull down everything and start measuring. To measure it so know. Check valve to guide clearance. Replace valve stem seals. Check cylinder and piston wear. Piston to cylinder clearance. Ring fit to the pistons. Just follow the manual and make sure everything is within the service limit and go from there.

[bwringer]

Yep, gotta be rings.

Sometimes they just get them wrong and make a bad batch of rings -- with modern low-tension rings, there's a very fine line between sealing and not sealing. Measure and decide.

[Jedz123]

I haven't yet split the case but it's on the list of to-do's on my vacation. I'll have to pick up a new micro meter and share the results once I get the engine apart. She's not a GS... Cylinder block and case are the same bit.
No rush on it but I think when I strip the FZ1 down and she becomes the twisties runner for 2015, A fresh Engine with performance goodies would be fun.
Either way Thanks for the input guys! I figured it was the rings for it just burnt a quart of oil in less then 1000 miles.

[trippivot]

- this looks like all 4 were burning your engine oil pretty equally- not just a score down 1 cylinder wall. -- I have seen engines like this ooo-wee I have two guesses #1 who started your bike without oil in it - they may have caught it but not soon enough -equal to 60K miles of wear in 3 minutes. and you get it at 23K which really was 90K in cylinder wear. ouch or #2 that there is a nikisil failure -- maybe the coating was a little thin from the start and your rings wore straight to the unprotected aluminum. call the regional Yamaha service rep. touch base and make a case for yourself, there is a possibility you can get some parts - if the cylinders show a coating failure and you have a good attitude.

I guess you have to inspect the wrist pins and rod bearings to tell the difference of lack of oil or a cylinder coating failure - because if oil starvation is the case your #3 rod is going to be the hottest and show some blueing -- as are the wrist pins -- but if they look good the failure is possibly a mfg. defect. - wrong ring material / from a vendor - bad batch of cylinders ??

[Jedz123]

I'll tear into it further when I get a chance. I spent most of the afternoon getting the new R6 shock into my GR650. I'll investigate once I split the case. Always ran the bike with oil in it! But who knows what the PO did....