SuzukiSavage.com - Possible Broken Piston?

Nathan

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Possible Broken Piston?
05/14/13 at 18:55:51

So I plated my 86 Savage today and was changing the oil when I took off my cap to change my oil filter I wiped it clean only to find some shiny metal flakes on my rag. After changing the oil I fired it up and heard the a lot of slapping on the inside around the piston area. Anyone have any ideas what might be wrong? I'm guessing it's the piston (My bike has always backfired ALOT and I've heard it can wear your piston pretty bad) but I wanted to ask the pros and see if anyone had any other suggestions. Thanks for the help and I'll appreciate any ideas given.

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86' ls650 Suzuki Savage.

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WD

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Re: Possible Broken Piston?
Reply #1 - 05/14/13 at 20:52:10

1986 model? First thing to check would be the timing chain. That's a lot of hours/miles for a poorly designed factory timing chain tensioner to last. Loose valves don't sound remotely like something slapping in the cylinder.

Piston slap could be an issue if your bike has extremely high miles on it. If you broke the piston, you'd know it, you'd have little to no compression.

Steel or aluminum flakes?

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28905 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Possible Broken Piston? Reply #2 - 05/14/13 at 21:32:16 not too many issues with the piston alone. I did get one with a burnt piston that knocked If it continued to run... probably not the cam chain. I had a balancer bearing go out, let the balancer hit the bottom of the cylinder. with metal flakes showing, I wouldn't run it, you need a full tear down.
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Boofer

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Re: Possible Broken Piston?
Reply #3 - 05/14/13 at 21:41:01

[quote author=0E3B20333325302D2C27490 link=1368582951/0#0 date=1368582951]So I plated my 86 Savage today and was changing the oil when I took off my cap to change my oil filter I wiped it clean only to find some shiny metal flakes on my rag.

Nathan, with any luck the metal on your rag came from your washing machine transmission going out. It's cheaper. Someone on here had some x rated photos of a galled piston. Don't remember who it was. Hope for the best.

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Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18139 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: Possible Broken Piston? Reply #4 - 05/15/13 at 04:41:42 We need a bit more information on the bike. How many miles/kilometers on it. How often is the oil changed? What oil have you been using? Does it burn any oil? Has it ever been run low on oil?
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Routy

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Re: Possible Broken Piston?
Reply #5 - 05/15/13 at 07:29:06

WD wrote on 05/14/13 at 20:52:10:

1986 model? First thing to check would be the timing chain. That's a lot of hours/miles for a poorly designed factory timing chain tensioner to last. Loose valves don't sound remotely like something slapping in the cylinder.

Piston slap could be an issue if your bike has extremely high miles on it. If you broke the piston, you'd know it, you'd have little to no compression.

Steel or aluminum flakes?

Seldom is any compression lost from a cracked piston,.....most times being cracked in the skirt area.

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Nathan

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Re: Possible Broken Piston?
Reply #6 - 05/15/13 at 08:18:01

Hey Guys. It has 23,000 KM's on it. I've owned it for 3 years and it burns a little bit of oil and I usually change the oil once a riding season (In Saskatchewan that's about 5 months). I've only ever used Suzuki SAE 10w 40 oil. This past change I was running pretty low on oil so I'm thinking that might of been what caused the metal flakes. I'm not sure if they were aluminum or steel is there anyway of finding that out? I haven't run it since we seen that in the oil but when I first started it up (prior to changing the oil) it wasn't making the slapping sound. I then took it around the block to warm it up before changing the oil and that's when I noticed the flakes. After the change I fired it up and heard the sound of slapping quite loudly so I shut it off and grabbed my dad to come take a peak.

Compression wise I didn't take it for a rip after that sound but prior too it has always been VERY tight and pulls super well. Lots of low end torque and tops out at about 155. I'm not the most handy dude but I do have the Savage manual and am hoping I can fix it on my own as I don't really have the funds to take it to a shop.

Thanks everyone for the posts thus far.

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86' ls650 Suzuki Savage.

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Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18139 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: Possible Broken Piston? Reply #7 - 05/15/13 at 09:01:56 I think you need to pull the right side cover off, and inspect the chain tensioner...... http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1191167029
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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28848 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: Possible Broken Piston? Reply #8 - 05/15/13 at 09:09:16 Nathan,... Run a magnet over the shrapnel,... to find out if they are steel or aluminum... Steel is magnetic,... aluminum ain't... ... ...(this is a, smack forehead, shoulda' had a V8, moment)... ...
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Possible Broken Piston? Reply #9 - 05/15/13 at 10:09:21 Thats over 14,000miles. Look inside at the cam chain/tensioner stuff. Its time,
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Nathan

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Re: Possible Broken Piston?
Reply #10 - 05/16/13 at 18:08:55

Looks like the shaving are aluminum which is good I'm thinking? I'll be pulling it apart in about 2 weeks when I've got some time to pit into it. With the low oil I'm hoping it was possibly just some friction inside that caused the metal pieces. Maybe a spinning bearing on the camshaft, or the chain, or possibly the rings on the piston? Either way it'll require a tear down so I'll let you guys know with some photos when I get into that.

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions and help. I really appreciate it!

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86' ls650 Suzuki Savage.

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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Possible Broken Piston? Reply #11 - 05/16/13 at 21:59:00 Well,, if you got low enough to have low pressure, the cam spins in the aluminum head. YOu mighta smoked yer head,,,lets all hope not,
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