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Starting Woes

Look like you'll need new rings and possibly honing the cylinders at least. Glad that you have finally found the culprit to the crap dropping from the plug holes.
 
The cylinder bores actually look really good. I do not plan on removing the pistons at this point and I am not convinced the buildup is from oil either. Could it possibly be from excessive amounts of injector cleaner and other unknown chemicals used to fix the problem that turned out to be a bad coil?

I like the idea of the alternator, that makes a lot of sense since the problem seemed at first to be electrical then turned mechanical. Tonight when I get home I will pull the right side head and see if I can rotate the engine, if not I will go after the alternator.

Everything I have seen so far with the engine looks fine (aside from the buildup) mechanically everything is sound.
 
Both heads are off and the alternator spins free. The only way I can get the engine to budge is by a hammer and block of wood on the piston and then it only barely moves. I' ll have a look at the auxiliary drive shaft chain but it's looking like the engine will have to come out. Fun stuff.
 
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. :laugh
 
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. :laugh

Heads are different RT= 3 bolts exhaust, GS = 2 bolts
 
starter binding up causing the engine lockup? that would be easier to remove/check than yanking the engine.

that carbon build up could be from someone treating it like an old man's bike, and running it at low rpms all the time.
 
I have seen this before.

The carbon has been there. It takes a while to build up that much.

The bike sat and moisture got in the cylinder to break up the carbon.

My RT had a bunch of carbon in it.

It was not worth my time taking it apart except the ring ends were lined up on both cylinders.

I had to add 1 qt every 3,000 miles (between changes)

004-L.jpg
 
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. :dance

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.
 
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. :dance

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.

Excellent news. Congrats!!
 
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?
 
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.
 
whether riding in the 4K+ range will prevent this kind of damage or not is unclear. Doing so will help it run and shift better, and sure won't be bad for it. Most anything in the 3500-6000 rpm range is ideal, and they sure don't mind spinning above that when chasing down & catching a curve.
 
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.

The day mine locked up I had ridden it to work, it had only been sitting for about 10 hours.

I don't know what this bike had been through on the 86000 miles before I bought it, but the 16000 I had put on it were generally in the 4k+ range.
 
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.
 
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.

very good job of answering your own question.
 
First of all I shouldn't have hijacked the thread by going so deep into the RPM topic. Second we all own motorcycles to have fun and there is certainly no "best" way to ride, although some of them are more surge-y in the 3000-4000 RPM range. So, sorry for my earlier digression.

I've found the pictures and comments in the thread very interesting. I don't think though that riding style had anything to do with all the problems discovered and I hope the bike goes back together and runs well. I plan to stay tuned.

RB
 
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