Kawasaki 800 SX-R Problems!!!

[4thirty]

I have had my SX-R for 2 weeks and its already busted... Here's the story...

First week I broke in the engine on stock as instructed and took it to a first service at the local Kawasaki dealer. After doing this I installed some engine modifications:

- JSU 26cc girdled head
- advent ignition
- factory wet pipe
- Dual bilge system
- Flame arrestors and adapters
- Skat Trak 75 prop
- Blowsion Rideplate
- JSU Sponsons

Less than a minute after I went for the first test run everything went wrong and the SX-R started to rev high and move at a low speed. When I took it out of the water and looked into the engine bay I could see that there was oil with the water already in there and had a feeling something went wrong. I directly took it back to where I installed the parts only to be informed a day later that this was all due to a company defect within the engine (The piston collar/ sleeve) which in turn destroyed one of my pistons and ejected itself through the bottom of the crankcase leaving a crack at the bottom.

Any of you ever experience this defect or heard about it? (keep in mind this is a newly broken in SX-R)

Thank you in advance for your comments/ help on this matter

 

[4thirty]

Here are the pics of what happened (crankcase lower crack not included in pics)

 

[4thirty]

Here is a picture of the engine bay before what happened

 

[SXRguyinMA]

that looks like some severe deto on those pistons. any idea what the compression was after you put those domes in? As far as a factory defect I havent heard anything about one, but there could very well be one. I think if it was a factory issue you would have seen it before the mods. The fact that it happened after would lead me to believe that had somethin to do with it

 

[tor*p*do]

what was your fuel?
with ADA head 26 cc = 105 octane
if you didnt feed it race fuel, it probably deto'ed

 

[4thirty]

what was your fuel?
with ADA head 26 cc = 105 octane
if you didnt feed it race fuel, it probably deto'ed

It was 98 octane with the proper oil/fuel ratio of 60:1 as stated (I put a tad bit more oil in just to be on the safe side too --- a bit of extra oil only causes plugs to go bad earlier... nothing like this)

my friend has installed an ADA head and similar mods as mine on his '07 SXR and is running on 95 octane for over a year with no probs (mine is a JSU Head though not ADA)

Another friend of mine also has a superstock SJ and is also running 98 octane

The fuel is certainly not the problem here as this was the first tank on the mods (A fuel problem would most likely appear after at least a few tanks from what I might presume)

 

[4thirty]

that looks like some severe deto on those pistons. any idea what the compression was after you put those domes in? As far as a factory defect I havent heard anything about one, but there could very well be one. I think if it was a factory issue you would have seen it before the mods. The fact that it happened after would lead me to believe that had somethin to do with it

Thats what I thought too... I drove it during the break-in period with no problems at all.

 

[Crab]

It was 98 octane with the proper oil/fuel ratio of 60:1 as stated (I put a tad bit more oil in just to be on the safe side too --- a bit of extra oil only causes plugs to go bad earlier... nothing like this)

my friend has installed an ADA head and similar mods as mine on his '07 SXR and is running on 95 octane for over a year with no probs (mine is a JSU Head though not ADA)

Another friend of mine also has a superstock SJ and is also running 98 octane

The fuel is certainly not the problem here as this was the first tank on the mods (A fuel problem would most likely appear after at least a few tanks from what I might presume)

You should be running minimum 40/1, the 60/1 is an emissions thing. And agree on too much compression with those domes and pump gas.

 

[tor*p*do]

It was 98 octane with the proper oil/fuel ratio of 60:1 as stated (I put a tad bit more oil in just to be on the safe side too --- a bit of extra oil only causes plugs to go bad earlier... nothing like this)
The fuel is certainly not the problem here as this was the first tank on the mods (A fuel problem would most likely appear after at least a few tanks from what I might presume)

if you ran 60 parts oil to 1 part fuel, no wonder it blew!
I assume that was a typo, but it still looks like
lean condition detonation blew it up
probably due to fuel or some other factor

 

[4thirty]

if you ran 60 parts oil to 1 part fuel, no wonder it blew!
I assume that was a typo, but it still looks like
lean condition detonation blew it up
probably due to fuel or some other factor

60 FUEL TO 1 OIL

 

[SXRguyinMA]

I've been running 50:1 on my stock motor with 6º advancer for three years now with no issues. If you were running 60:1 or so with the combination of the high comp and lean fuel that may have done it. I'd suggest 45:1 or 50:1 next time out with that compression. 60:1 is fine for a stock motor, but thats a ton of compression. Also, more oil = less fuel = lean condition = problems. Sounds funny, but too much oil can be a bad thing.

Thats what I thought too... I drove it during the break-in period with no problems at all.

Like you said, it ran fine BEFORE the head and pipe, etc. I say it was the head that did it, those are pretty small domes. Sure your friends have heads too but what sizes are their domes? If they're bigger then thats why they havent had any issues

 

[Crab]

Oils..
The harder you work the motor, the better oil you need.. It's all about film strength & migration time.. Just because your motor is oily when you take it apart doesn't mean your oil is working for you.. Look at the piston pin grooves, the wear in the pin area of the piston itself, the lower end bearings, etc.. If your Grandma is riding your ski, then you can get away with a less quality oil.. But if you enter Grandmas ski in a freestyle event then you need better oil that will adhere to the bearings surfaces, etc as you flog it..

My personal choice for a good running ski (not stock) is Klotz R-50, as it possesses all the qualities necessary. Maxima 927 is also very good, but as a "Castor based" oil it leaves more deposits and has a tendancy to seperate from the fuel when sitting. There are hundreds of "Good oils" available, and especially for lower compression motors (stock).. I see good results with Yamalue R, OEM Yamaha oil, Polaris "Blue" oil, Motul, etc. Since I'm on a roll, I will also add my preferred mixing ratios.. Stock = 40-1 Anything with a higher compression ratio = 32-1. If your mechanic tells you that extra oil fouls plugs, get a new mechanic.. You can run oil ratios as low as 12-1 and still maintain combustion if you are jetted / tuned correctly..

Sorry for the long post,
Randy

Per Watcon.

 

[4thirty]

I've been running 50:1 on my stock motor with 6º advancer for three years now with no issues. If you were running 60:1 or so with the combination of the high comp and lean fuel that may have done it. I'd suggest 45:1 or 50:1 next time out with that compression. 60:1 is fine for a stock motor, but thats a ton of compression. Also, more oil = less fuel = lean condition = problems. Sounds funny, but too much oil can be a bad thing.



Like you said, it ran fine BEFORE the head and pipe, etc. I say it was the head that did it, those are pretty small domes. Sure your friends have heads too but what sizes are their domes? If they're bigger then thats why they havent had any issues

I'm pretty sure my friends SXR has similar 26cc domes from what the installer said (However, I don't know what my friends SJ has... he never seems to comment on his PWC)

What's weird about all this is that the installer said more oil is better and recommended 60fuel:1oil but said put more in for my first few runs... He said that more oil would not cause me any problems and this was tested by him on other clients PWC's (other than needing to change the spark plugs earlier and more often)... Are you guys sure of this aspect? because no-one I know with a modded SXR or SJ here uses more than 98 Octane (A guy on my street has a superstock SJ with a racing setup and not freeride setup and he too uses 98octane with no probs even with the extreme thrashing I see him do to his SXR)... and the people with modded PWC's here are a lot and I can truly say with 100% certainty that they all use 98octane or 95octane

 

[Crab]

Minimum oil, 16 oz per 5 gallon=40/1 (and use good oil)

 

[4thirty]

Per Watcon.

This all seems reasonable, but would all this happen during the first minute of testing the modifications? (Keep in mind I did not go on full throttle)

 

[SXRguyinMA]

Per Watcon.

another good point, I've always run AmsOil Dominator (or interceptor if they're out of dominator) at 50:1 in my ski, and when I had to pull it down (from a bent rod) the pistons were clean, head was clean, plugs were clean, and that was after 100+ hours on a stock motor with 2yr old spark plugs! (not easy riding either, lots of WOT) and it still had 180 compression in each cylinder (before the rod bent obviously). The spotless domes and piston crowns was enough to sell me on amsoil for life

This all seems reasonable, but would all this happen during the first minute of testing the modifications? (Keep in mind I did not go on full throttle)

If you had too much compression and not enough octane it most certainly would

 

[tor*p*do]

lean deto does not have to be fuel
leak in intake, crank seals, plugged jets, plugged fuel filter, leak in fuel line, etc. can cause a lean condition

 

[Crab]

We may have to switch from Dumonde Z1 to Amsoil interceptor, the Dumonde has gone up to $46.95/gallon. Dominator is really a race only oil. (as I understand it)

 

[4thirty]

Lets assume that the octane and fuel/oil ratio is not the problem here... What else could cause the problem?

 

[Crab]

Lets assume that the octane and fuel/oil ratio is not the problem here... What else could cause the problem?

Did you rejet correctly?