| Author | Message | ||
     Serialk |
Okay... I'm beginning to think my bike doesn't like nice weather or fresh fuel... Everytime it is nice out something happens. This time I went to the gas station fueled up and fired my bike up no problem. Pulled in the clutch put it in gear and then kaboom clank clank clank. Looked on the right at my engine and hit the ignition again. Exhaust pushrod shook violently and started to puke oil from the top... Pushed the bike home roughly 7 blocks. I know I need to tear down the top to inspect the damage. I know something is broken.... I will keep this updated as I discover exactly what broke. Any advice as I go along is much appreciated | ||
| Daddyo |
Sorry to hear. Hope it's nothing to bad. | ||
| Preybird1 |
Lets bet on it. I'll bet money the exhaust valve broke at the lock slid down the valve guide and the valve made contact with the piston! I've played that game 2 times now. Word of advice don't put HD valves back in it. Use some ferrera valves. here is a link....Oh and don't use titanium valves they tend to shatter later on when they do break. Stay with stainless. http://www.ferrea.com/domestic-valves.php The first time this happened to my front cylinder and i fixed it my self for $117.00 My friend pressed in the valve guide and installed the valve for me....But i did all the wrenching of the head on and off and the gaskets also. Not a hard job but it can suck also. | ||
| Preybird1 |
Back in 2000 there was a bad batch of exhaust valves that made it into the X1's and yours being a 99 i bet you got some bad valves. I know i did and it is always the exhaust and it breaks right at the keeper? lock? Apparently the grove was cut incorrectly and it would snap off dropping the valve and BAM! blender full of nickles noise. I would open the intake and take a peek and i bet it doesn't look good and with a small mirror and a light i bet you will see horror! Also you can see the valve and see if it is bent. To bad if this is the case it sucks. Here is a shot with the rocker box open  The top of the piston....Man i got lucky on this one notice the right side of piston see the mark where it mad contact by the valve pocket!    And here is when the rear went  Shrapnel!!  | ||
| Gmaan03 |
That is UGLY! | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
Sounds familiar.. but don't worry, it's not that hard to do the repairs yourself.            Also presents you with a unique and perfect opportunity to throw on a 1250 kit and some other upgrades "while you're in there".     | ||
| Ltbuell |
Wow...sorry to hear about that and to everyone else's exploded views.Makes me wonder when mine may decide to go Obama on me(i've got an early '00 X-1 Lightning).I've been pretty gentle on the bike(like to have it last as long as i can)and i can say its been pretty good so far with no major issues(had to do the rocker box base gasket on the front cylinder).I know i'll eventually have the various seals issues to deal with. | ||
| Serialk |
Well I hope mine isn't that badly damaged. Going to crack into her tomorrow. Depending on the damage I may opt for a 1250 kit. For the valves and pushrods which setup is recommended? Been looking at allot of options | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
Your damage is likely more similar to Prey's pics than it is to mine. I bought that bike with 6600 miles and the oil that came out of it was like mud - I doubt it had ever been changed. Thick dirty oil + revving close to redline at less than operating temperature = seized valve. If your heads are toast in their current condition but still have enough "meat" left, consider sending them off to a BWB sponsor for a good port/polish. If that's more $$$ than you're looking to spend, you can likely find used stock heads at a discount. I spent $450 on a set of freshly rebuilt T-storm heads with new stock valves, springs, etc. Took them to a mechanic who knows more than I do, he said they looked good so I threw them on along with the new cylinders and pistons from the 1250 kit. If you're going with stock valves, springs, lifters, and cams.. I recommend going with stock pushrods as well just to keep things simple. I personally don't see the benefit in adjustable pushrods if nothing else in the valvetrain is changing. Any change in engine configuration should be followed by a good dyno tune performed by a professional. I didn't want to spend the money, so I simple richened my fuel mixture by a % across the maps until I got the AFV to stay close to 100. IIRC, I started with 10% richer which was too drastic. 5% ended up being what I was looking for and keeps the AFV just under 100. | ||
| Preybird1 |
"For the valves and pushrods which setup is recommended? Been looking at allot of options." That is another can of worms.....I had my pushrods custom made to length for my application. I also went away from HD parts and also the double beehive spring set up. I had valves installed that have a smaller diameter,7mm vs HD 10mm and stainless. I did not use the hollow valves though. And i opted for the single beehive XB valve springs. And i had to replace the heads and the jugs because they were junk. Don't go hog wild like did($3000.00) on just the top end and labor for the custom build.  then i shipped it to California to have it custom mapped and dyno tuned at JTSperformance http://www.jtsperformance.com/ they tuned me bike very well and i am still very happy with there work! Edit: the dyno screen is only in 4th gear. The clutch was starting to slip in 5th and needed to be beefed up. (Message edited by preybird1 on April 30, 2011) | ||
| Buellistic |
FYI these bad EX. valves were also in the 2000 BLAST as "i" dropped a ex. valve in mine !!! | ||
| Kalali |
Does anyone know when the date range for these bad valves? My X1 was made Nov '99. | ||
| Tom_b |
When my 99 x-1 shelled in march of 10 everyone said it was the valve that broke. What caused mine was the lifter retainer pin broke, Which resulted in the lifter turning and jamming the valve open. Needless to say the same end result. Kalali, your valves SHOULD be o.k.with proper care like ay other engine. The friend who i sold my x-1 to is almost got it finished. COMPLETE rebild was needed. Bent the front connecting rod, holed the piston engine debris ruined both heads. | ||
| Gmaan03 |
Jt&S did my bike too. Good guys..... | ||
| Kalali |
I haven't done any scientific comparison and could be wrong but I just think HD used many of the Sportster 1200 engine parts in the Buell 1203 and some of these components can't handle the higher output combined with the riding style of Buell riders. Interesting to see the parts list side by side and see if there is any correlation or validity in this theory. | ||
| Buellistic |
"i" called HARLEY-DAVIDSON BUELL SERVICE and was told that it would be covered on WARRANTY on my BLAST, "BUT" "i" do no trust H-D technicians !!! SO "i" opted to fix it myself ... Think every one pulled their heads and sent them to aftermarket jobbers putting in b}etter valves is why there was not a lot of valves dropping in 2000 | ||
| Serialk |
exhaust and intake pushrod bent... both valves are looking together but need to be replaced... Small chunks of shrapnel have come out of my exhaust and something went through intake and exhaust valves. It looks like something made it through the intake but i cant imagine what. I don't think my head is still salvageable but I will let you decide... I will be needing new push rods and valves. And a new head. And definitely a 1250 kit.    | ||
| Davefl |
If it were mine I would be looking for a missing part to find out and prevent same failure from happening again.. I would be looking hard at the breather. | ||
| Preybird1 |
Hhhhmmm. That is awful. +1 on finding the part. Littlebugles lost a butterfly intake screw. And it did the same thing to his bike. That is also lucky that it didn't do more damage. While you are in there do the Xb pcv and rocker covers mod. I would take the exhaust cad off and wrap on it with a rubber mallet. There has to be more pieces lodged in there. All the small metal bits in my pictures came out of the exhaust canister. You could just put on a used head or buy a built head(Has the valves locks retainer and springs already installed) from HD. If you can get a part number for the complete head you can use this link to get 20% off msrp. http://www.lshd1.com/servlet/StoreFront | ||
| Schmidt452 |
Also if you feel that it came in through the intake might want to check the other head as well for damage. | ||
| Preybird1 |
What intake are you running? Any pics of how it was mounted? It would be interesting to know what went through the intake. | ||
| Serialk |
Im running the prospect hill breather with a fat filter... http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/476 23/626451.html?1302741681 I have discovered what went wrong. And this could of been completely avoidable. There are 2 long screws that hold my airfilter on. They thread into a aluminum spacer. I Threaded a fat aluminum spacer to attach to the inside of the backing plate. and locktite to a screw on the outside of the backing plate... This aluminum spacer allowed the front screws to thread into but keeps the spacer affixed to the backplate This spacer vibrated out the backing screw. screw is gone,spacer is now free to float about in this massive volume of space inside my filter. and then sucked into the rear Cylinder. Blamo end result see above. Got to look at the positive. A - Getting a 1250 kit B- At least I can fix it C- could of been flying on the highway at 160 and this could of happened. So 1250 Kit. Order direct from NRHS or AL? and if anyone has a spare rear head let me know. Im in the market for one. Might as well attempt to find a good used one first. Then bite the bullet on a new one later. | ||
| Preybird1 |
Schmidt Good point. When my rear blew, pieces of the valve and other shrapnel did hop into the front cylinder and it chewed up the intake tube pretty bad. On mine one of the valve stem part was lodged in the intake and the front piston was smashing it all around. One more thing you are going to have to check is the connecting rod crank bearing. If it is damaged then your going to have to pull the motor and split the cases. | ||
| Tom_b |
When mine blew i also had piece from the front cylinder in the rear. Metal shavings in the intake and it broke the end off my spark plug. The valves were intact. The intake lifter bore on the front cylinder was seriously scored due to the lifter failure and the bottom of the engine was FULL of metal. Case had to be split, front rod, rod bearings and crank bearing replaced. Do it right this time, don't half sss it or you will be into again | ||
| Desertfox |
My brother's '92 TDM 850 just seized up yesterday. I'm having a devil of a time finding a parts source. That, and this thread, make me appreciate the "old school" tech in my X1 all the more. | ||
| Serialk |
I'm replacing the front head with a new one while I'm doing this. My front head motor mount was cracked and repaired with some sort of epoxy. So nows a good time to do it while I'm doing the rear aswell... This happened on startup at a gas station. This damage was done from turning the bike over with it running for only like 1 second. A cheap aluminum spacer found it's way into the rear cylinder. How do I check my connecting rod crank bearing without splitting the cases? I don't think it would be damaged. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Oh man! I wanted a TDM850 so bad back in the day! I was a 17 year old punk-ass riding a 250 at the time. |
