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Oh boy this has turned nasty for you. Sorry to hear what you found but at least now you know I guess. It it comes down to it there is a good runner in the Flea Market right now. https://www.bmwmoa.org/fleamarket/tabid/91/cid/2/id/2056/r1150gs-engine.aspx
Only difference in a GS engine vs RT engine is the pistons as far as I know. The GS engine pistons have different facing and the motor has 2 or 3 lbs lower compression ratio. I put GS cylinders and pistons on my 96 RT when one of the cylinders cracked at the base. Noticed zero difference other than it ran a lot better.
I got it freed up!
Last night I sprayed the cylinders with WD-40 and let them soak overnight. This morning after a little persuasion with a rubber mallet and a block of wood on the piston it started to move. After more WD-40 and some persistence I can now rotate the engine with my fingers by spinning the flywheel.
I'm still going to remove the cylinders to clean and inspect the rings but it looks like the carbon buildup was the culprit.
Bikerfish, the when the coil was bad the bike was owned by a guy who had always owned Harleys which would indicate the tendency to keep the rpms low. That's not the way I ride it!
Another point to consider; I bought some Sea-Foam this year and I think it was in the tank when the bike stopped running. From what I understand Sea-Foam is very good at removing carbon buildup.
Yikes! Scarey stuff but I'm glad you have it figured out. I ride my 02 1150RT anywhere between 4300-5000 RPM. Is that a good rate to prevent this kind of thing from happening?
You can't compare. His engine was stuck due to lack of use over a period of time. As long as you keep riding and putting miles on with no long down intervals you should be fine. His problem although it does occur is still a bit out of the ordinary despite the fact it sat.
There have been many comments in this thread about riding at high RPMs as being good for the health of the engine. In other threads I've read about riding the bike hard at high RPMs so here an example of what what I don't get.
If I'm riding along at 80 mph, and the engine is pumping out 25 horsepower. If I'm in 4th gear the engine is turning 6000 rpm and putting 22 lb-ft of torque on the crankshaft. On the other hand if I'm in 6th gear the engine's at 4000 rpm and the crankshaft is delivering 33 lb-ft of torque. Aren't I working the engine harder in 6th gear?
In either gear if I go WOT at 80 mph I go to 65-75 lb-ft of torque so the load on the engine is the same. I don't get the focus on high RPMs as good for the engine unless running it lightly loaded is good.