The International CBX Owners Association

Probably only the wristpin. May get away with pulling the top end and keeping the rod.

Kool_Biker wrote:PROBLEM FOUND.

...

Trying to turn a problem into an opportunity, wonder what else needs to be looked at at this time ...

Aris, I admire your patience, persistence, skill and attitude, all at the same time.

N.

EMS wrote:Probably only the wristpin. May get away with pulling the top end and keeping the rod.

Mike please help me through this
The wrist pin was brand new and so was the piston, but not the rod. And I had most certainly checked the small end for clearance during assembly.
Also, and admittedly you cannot see this from the video, the piston movement is of the order of 1mm !!! no joke.
As the bottom edge was platigauged at assembly time and all tolerances checked, IN MY BOOKS at least, this MUST COME from a loose bottom end (scary).

Of course we will know soon enough, when I split the crankcase.

Aris

NilsMenten wrote:
Aris, I admire your patience, persistence, skill and attitude, all at the same time.

N.

Nils, I truly and sincerely love my hobby. That's ALL there is to

Aris, I was just guessing. If it is a loose crank journal, the amount of piston movement should change as you rotate the engine. Also, a very nasty noise should be audible under any load. The loose wristpin causes a noise that seems to be a little more like the noise you experienced. Now, why you have this condition in spite of your thorough inspection processes during assembly, I have no idea.

Aris:
Wow! If you are like me, you are at least relieved that you found it. I don't mind doing whatever work it takes as long as I know I'm doing the right thing. I'm assuming you are going to find a loose rod cap? A bearing could not be 1MM mis-sized. Perhaps rod bolts were not seated fully when torquing up? Can't wait to see what you find!

Dave

daves79x wrote:Aris:
Wow! If you are like me, you are at least relieved that you found it. I don't mind doing whatever work it takes as long as I know I'm doing the right thing. I'm assuming you are going to find a loose rod cap? A bearing could not be 1MM mis-sized. Perhaps rod bolts were not seated fully when torquing up? Can't wait to see what you find!

Dave

Dave, I am very relieved, and happy, I would not have it any other way .

I also believe it is a loose rod cap, can't wait to split the cases to prove and correct it.

I will definitely keep you posted!

Aris

Aris
I have been following your thread every day as you have been trouble shooting this issue. As a new CBXer this is all way beyond my knowledge and skill level but what an education you are giving us all in your methodical approach to finding out what is wrong. Your detailed notes and video's are awesome. I wish you luck and and know you'll have your CBX running well again soon.
Ross

Ross, thanks for your kind words.
Rest assured, I have learned and benefited personally from this FORUM, much more than I have contributed.
There is so much accumulated knowledge, but more important, so much unselfish willingness by so many good people to help, it is awesome.

I hope you enjoy your CBX. I certainly look forward to get mine back on the road although I really enjoy the every step

Aris

I'm baffled

I would have guessed you'd have had a lower end noise and not so much of a top end noise

1mm of play . . . . hope you caught it in time

At any rate . . . . tearing it down as soon as you did rather than riding it some more 'troubleshooting' things was the correct way to go, for sure - Another hundred miles down the road and you might have experienced a MAJOR calamity

Don

Always on the money Don, this has already proven serious.
I am very glad I took the decision to dismantle, too.
The bike was starting, idling and pulling like a train; but down under I felt there was something VERY wrong.

In any case, soon enough we will all know ... stay tuned!!

This is bad, and I feel it.

Cheers, Aris

OUCH, OUCH and then, OUCH! I think words cannot describe the extent of the damage. And here you can see how I managed to get 1mm slack in piston no 1!!! These grooves are deep.

Observations so far:
1. Piston no 1 big-end bearing has failed in a most spectacular way
2. Left-most crank journal and bearing in bad shape
3. All remaining pistons and journals 'seem' OK but have not yet delved deep enough. Of course I will find more horrors, I know.
4. Pistons and bores look perfect (can I be that lucky?)
5. In case you haven't noticed, today is Friday the 13th

Next steps:
1. get a fantastic pill (highly recommended, helps a lot) 2. Take the rest of the weekend off to rally my Goldwing in the Peloponnese (southern Greece) with the Classic Motorcycle Club of Greece. 3. Worry about the CBX from Sunday night.
4. On a serious note I need to find out exactly what went wrong. I have some suspicious but not there yet ... then decide how best to proceed.
Regards, Aris

Kool_Biker wrote:OUCH, OUCH and then, OUCH!
2. Take the rest of the weekend off to rally my Goldwing in the Peloponnese (southern Greece) with the Classic Motorcycle Club of Greece.
3. Worry about the CBX from Sunday night.
4. On a serious note I need to find out exactly what went wrong. I have some suspicious but not there yet ... then decide how best to proceed.
Regards, Aris

#2, #3 - That's what I'd do.
#4 - plugged oil gallery line to #1 bearing? Have you pulled the oil gallery plug on that side? How does #2 bearing look? Maybe marginal oil pump output pressure/volume? Maybe check that #1 rod to make sure it did not see some overly high forces at some time in it's history.

Doesn't look as bad as it could be, Aris. It's all fixable and remember..."it's only money".

Barry

I couldn't forsee how 1mm in play could help but have disastrous consequences for the crankshaft . . . . but I didn't want to jinx you by saying so out loud - Hopefully it's salvageable, but then it may have been the problem in the first place

Assuming the rod cap bolts were still torqued tight, I'd have to agree with Barry . . . . this must boil down to a lack of lubrication for the #1 rod bearing - Do you happen to recall what it (and that crank journal) looked like when you first tore it down right after you bought the bike? It would be interesting to 'park' the crank main bearings over the lubrication holes and then inject some oil and see if any comes out of the #1 journal

Anyway, you have the correct 'medicine' . . . . and a couple days riding the Wing around southern Greece will surely have you looking at it with renewed optomism come Monday

Don

Aris:
Well - it sure seems like an oiling problem to that end of the crank. Has to be a plugged galley somewhere. What media did you use to blast/clean the cases with? Hope you find all's well with the others, then the problem should be easy to isolate. Good news is that CBX cranks are plentiful. Bad news is that shipping to Greece is likely expensive and will almost surely require most new bearings due to non-matching codes. Big thing is to find the root of the problem and I'm sure then you'll rest easier going back together.

If you need a crank - take a vacation to the US this Summer and carry one with you on the plane back home - it's been done before! Love to show you around.

Dave