Oil level ??
My brother was here the other day, both bikes setting together on their sidestands,.....my oil level was midway between the lines,........his not a drop showing in the window. I panicked,.... tried to convince him,.....but he's not only a knowitall, he thinks Suzuski is too ! I just told him he will loose !

Looks like the conrod survived. A little clean up got her in good shape.

I believe the oil was a bit low.

Thanks for the tip on the oil pump. I'll have to check that out.

Bobbing Tom wrote on 07/23/12 at 03:34:55:


If you look at one photograph you can see where the aluminum has melted and left a shiny silver gouge at the top of the piston.  The aluminum has melted and flowed/streaked and locked the piston rings into the groove, and they can no longer expand and seal against the cylinder wall.  A good piston would be shiny below the rings - and smooth.

Something like this:

Those Close INspection of OIl Passageway ideas are smart,

Is there any way to test the oil pump or replace it if its tired? I mean w/o splitting it,,

THe oil pump doesnt get clean oil in,,

I think I could set up a test, dam up the sump with Something,,spin the pump with a drill, but, if I had my way, once a motor has seen that kind of failure, Id sure want to see a new pump in it.

 
Once you finish a 1,000 mile break in period, might I suggest using synthetic oil?

Synthetic has one property that can help your engine continue to live in adverse conditions -- it can withstand temperatures that will cook dino oil into black sludge and varnish.

Take another close look at your piston -- this was partially a lubrication failure due to high temps (possibly due to your vac petcock leaning out your mix due to gas starvation at full speed).
 get rid of your vacsucker

I too recommend the list oil checking method as the Suzuki method leaves you always near to "too little oil" with an engine type that is known to use oil.

Also, for synthetic oils that are known to work well with the Savage engine, Rotella T-6 is the least costly of the approved synthetic oils and is really a very good oil for our bikes.

Tom, what sort of petcock do you have on the bike?  

If that was a Rotella T piston you got you something else going on too .....

O.F. - the Rotella T was a new addition. I had been using whatever oil we had bought for our cars. --I have learned--


New problem.
I know rings have to seat, and I've rebuilt auto engines before. I rode it to work today and when I fired it up after work it smoked like crazy. No smoke this morning that I noticed. I went ahead and rode it home and it runs great!! Less smoke when I got home, but still some.