The dangers of running a twin on 1 cylinder?

[M1ke]

i've had a few problems with my motorcycle over the past couple of weeks. Basically when its wet it drops onto 1 cylinder (it is a 500cc twin)

What I would like to know is, what damage would running the bike on 1 cylinder do? It can still do 60mph, has sod all throttle response however it still gets me to work down the M6 quicker than my car can in rush hour traffic.

The commute is 80 miles per day... Will she blow?

[MarJay]

[veeeffarr]

Which 500 twin?

Checked plugs, coils?

[M1ke]

Its a VT500, I've changed the ht's and coils and its not them.

[stinkwheel]

I presume you've tried David Silvers? They do a whole stator and rotor assemby for £95.

https://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/
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[Andyco11]

You probably have tried here https://www.dkmotorcycles.co.uk/dkonline/used_spares/ already but if you havent give them ago as thay usually have some odd stuff in there [/url]
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[Blau Zedong]

Would say running an engine without one cylinder firing would result long term in knackering that cylinder / piston due to petrol washing.
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[Odie]

The problem running a twin or any multi cylinder motorcycle that is not running on all cylinders is that the un-burnt fuel will travel down the cylinder bores and remove the film of oil covering the bores lubricating the piston thus causing a partial seizure due to friction. Or it could travel further, past the piston/s and drain into the oil thus rendering its lubrication propertys to that of piss!
Not wanting to put to much of a dampener on things " DONT DO IT, IT WILL BUGGER YOUR ENGINE!"
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[Vincent]

Not too good for the crank either I would have thought. Have you tried looking at other Hondas of a similar age to see if the parts are shared

[Ichy]

Have you looked at the other vt's? I know Honda used the same pick-up on the 600 for as long as the model ran, I'm just not sure that they used the same pick-up on the 500 or 750.

The key is that its OK until it gets warm. What makes you certain its the pick-ups? Have you checked the connector and wires to make sure there aren't any breaks?

Item no.290098020485 on ebay, ask him if he has the pick-ups, he might split them out for £10?

[yambabe]

Before you give up and ebay it John is suggesting that it could be the ECUs causing it as the VT has two.

He says swap them over and see if the problem swaps to the other cylinder. If it does, picking up a new ECU and replacing it should be a cheap and easy option to get it running properly again.
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[Pete.]

Bore wash would be an issue but not over the very short term I think because 1, there is no load on the piston walls since it's not firing so no need for such heavy lubrication and 2. much of the effort of drawing in fuel/air under load is produced by cylinder scavanging after the mixture has fired.
It is still a problem but would probably not have caused much if any damage in a "get you home" situation.
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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

[Odie]