Ok I got a video uploaded... now to see if I can remember how to tag it here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRq-vGLHGJs

Compression test yielded a result of 87psi...
*insert sad face here*

You have to deactivate the starting compression release before testing.

So more head scratching...

I looked at the oil again on a whim and sure enough it was not even visible in the sight glass until I leaned the bike over to the right.

Filled it back up and ran it for a few minutes "just to see" lol and it made no change. Watching the sight glass while it was idling I noticed that it had very very little oil trickling across the sight glass.

So here are the next barrage of questions...

Where the heck did all the oil go? There is no sign of any significant leak.. no sign that it was blown out the tailpipe... no extra soot from it being burnt...

There is a noticeable oil weep at the right side of the head but no liquid oil leaks anywhere... Do these engines normally consume darn near a full quart of oil over about 200 miles?

So...
Could whatever caused the oil loss to pull the oil level down so low the pump couldn't pick up... loss of prime.. then *poof* all of a sudden running as if it had no oil in the crankcase? That would dang sure cause some heat soak in the upper end that could easily bind rings to the piston...

When I changed the oil the day I brought it home... the stuff that came out was as black as the oil that comes out of my 7.3 powerstroke at oil change time... No metal shavings, flecks, specks or dust that i could see in it. Seemed pretty dark even if it had been in the engine from the factory. But surely I was not the first to perform an oil change on it eh?

I'll give the rings a wiggle with diesel in the jug and see if it helps. I have not been able to get together with my buddy with the inspection camera as of yet... hopefully today though.

I don't immediately get oil in my sight glass when I check in the mornings.  I have lean the bike to the right until I get some oil and then back to level to check it.

You won't see much oil in the glass when it's running because the oil is being distributed through the motor and transmission.  

Sounds like you may have a plug leak and you would be surprised how much oil you can lose with those.  Still you'll see it sprayed all over the battery and side covers if it's bad.  (Unless you ride really slow all the time.)

Ultimately, I think you are in for a rebuild of some sort here and you won't know what it is exactly until you tear it down.  If you are lucky, it will be in the top end.

ohiomoto wrote on 08/19/17 at 08:21:08:


Even though I saw a teensy bit of progress with the ring wiggle experiment, I'm leaning toward the same conclusion.

I tend to keep the revs up most of the time, no indications of oil sprayed on battery or side cover areas... (both side covers are actually missing...)

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 08/19/17 at 11:26:05:


I went through about 10 rounds of pouring in diesel... rocking the crank back and forth... evacuating the jug... comp test..

It actually started to come up and hit 94psi at one point but very soon dropped back down to 87psi the next go around. I'm going to leak down test it to see if I can identify intake, exhaust, or crankcase venting...  might narrow it down a bit.

verslagen1 wrote on 08/19/17 at 12:00:42:



Naw... Just the diesel so far.
Got plenty of fresh atf sitting there so I suppose I could give it a shot.