GS400 bites the dust....

[smegballs]

Well the GS has finally died a death. A nice bit of catastrophic engine failure to make the evening interesting...

I was riding along thru saltash tunnel pretty sedatley not raggin it at all. So then I switch in to backfire and it wont fire..

Then it starts going really wierd and not pulling at all so I change down and it revs real high, so I change up again and it still wont pull.. I think maybe fuel so change to reserve; no improvement so go to pull over and as I slow dont start to hear bang-bang-clank-kerchunk *insert horrible engine noise*

I then turn it off and give it a min or two to sort its life out. Then push the starter and it just idles with a bang-bang-clack-clack. Fuck thinks i and then it dies,engine then wouldnt start at all......


After a few mins later Raf came back (he overtook me on as i pulled over) and then he took me pillion to matts (our original destination). XT600 blattage ensues...

So pretty shit and I have a blown engine....

Any advice on what to do?

Im probs gonna tear down the engine to see what went wrong.

Any takers on betting cause of death? I think holed piston, mattspratt reckons dropped valve...

[Martay]

No experiance whatsoever, but im voting valves. Backfiring cant be that great for it, and if its happening in the downpipe, it'll hit the exhaust valves too?? Just a guess
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Eat well, poo hard
Drives: Cavalier 2.0 16v
Rides: Slightly ratted Honda City Express

[smegballs]

Well I know backfiring won't do it all world of good, but I do it pretty infrequently...

I suppose the only way to find out is to get it back and strip it down.

Nasty noises did seem to be from the bottom end rather than top end to me, so I guess we will see.....

[T1z3R]

dont try starting it again.
put it on the centre stand then put it in first and turn the rear wheel to check for noises.

my GS500 engine died. the pics of the result are in the workshop somewhere. if its major then it wont be economical to fix.
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duck my sick!

[smegballs]

Yeah, the bike is worth probs 200-300 quid tops. Thats what an engine costs, then the bike needs new head and swinger bearing etc etc I already know its probs not worth looking for.

Yeah I'll hunt down those pics

[Pete.]

Will the GS450 engine fit? There's one rotting away in Medway, I was supposed to go pick it up but never found the time.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[smegballs]

Ok recovered the bike to my garden today.

What looks as tho happened was a catastrophic failure of the inlet manifolds...

The carbs were not on the manifolds and the rubber had totally pulled off the steel of the right manifold....

Looked like an easy fix so after turning crank gently with a spanner with no ill effects used starter motor with no plugs in. There is no comp on the left pot! The right pot would blow your thumb off with a sharp crack but the left pot you could hold your thumb down with little effort at all!

Took the head off to reveal no obvious signs of damage... . No holed piston or dropped valve so no obvious signs of why it would have low compression.

Rings looked a bit worn and piston could be jiggled in the bore a bit too easily so decided needs new top end. Seeing as its the silly 400cc version parts will be next to impossible to get....

Phonecall to breaker means I can get a reasonable 500 head, pistons and bores for 50 quid. Yes the 400 crankcase mouths can take the 500 barrels he assures me.....

Think its worth the new top end? It means it will go up a tax class and then have to sort it out with the DVLA's. Insurance is mainly unaffected as they see it as a 500 anyway (they couldn't find the GS 400 so the underwriters told them to consider it as a 500, think its down on the cert as a 500 even...).

Whats the deal with getting the DVLA to accept engine changes? Anyone done it before? I've read before about them wanting to see reciepts of the engine work done by the garage etc etc but as I'll be putting the new top end on myself there is no garage reciept to give them....

Advice appreciated....

Rich

[T1z3R]

nice

worth it for only £50.

your not really changing the engine though as the # remains the same so i wouldnt bother notifying DVLA personally.
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duck my sick!

[smegballs]

The only thing that bothers me really is going up a tax class, which will of course mean they want their extra 15 odd quid a year....

Otherwise it might slip my mind to inform them... Still evading tax is likely to be more hassle than its worth an although the chances of being caught are very small....

[T1z3R]

doh, i didnt think of it that way.

ive only previously notified them of engine # changes.

isnt there a section on the V5C for changes like that?
id check but mine are all the way in the next room
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duck my sick!

[Carl_steveo]

Damn my bet was on engine hamster dieing.

https://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2008/12/67%20Hamster%20Powered%20Engin.jpg
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Current: Honda Nsr 125
Live: Sunderland
Luke "cant be arsed to read your post, but suck my balls anyway."

[hmmmnz]

[smegballs]

I think I'm gonna put it back together and sell as is for spares or repair.....

I already have two bikes to get running so the GS is for the ebay chop. Seeing as it all works apart from the engine, if I can get 200 for it then I'll be happy.