Crapped The Bed

[Carl La Fong]

Today, I was getting ready for a ride with my club. I had the bike in the shop warming up while I was putting on all of my biker regalia. I turned around to find the shop full of white smoke. It looked like a mosquito fogger. Then it suddenly quit. This thing has been a royal pain since day one. I can say that, without exception, it has never run right for more than a few days at a time. I have spent stupid money, trying to remedy the issues. Now, this. I suspect a blown headgasket, or worse. As it sits, it is hydrolocked. I hope I didn't bend a rod or some other catastrophic nightmare. I have to get ready to go to Japan this following weekend. We'll be gone for about 3 weeks. Hopefully, I can find time to pull the heads before then to assess the situation. Since November, I have bought a new truck for me and a Honda Odyssey for our daughter. Nearly 65K, all cash, so the reserves are down just a tad. Yet, it will arise from the ashes of fate, misfortune, poor planning or whatever black cloud that I live under. The saga will continue as time permits

[rocketsteve]

Take some earplugs with you - just in case there's a big bang over in North Korea while your in Japan...

We don't want you penniless AND deaf!

Seriously though, I hope all works out and it's not the disaster you might expect

[Carl La Fong]

Up from the shop. I pulled the top of the engine off. Two things. Number 4 piston is quite a bit cleaner than the others. This is usually due to coolant leaking into the combustion chamber. The head gaskets seemed OK, not visibly blown. The short head bolts were all too loose. The second thing was the number 1 cylinder had quite a bit of gasoline in it. A couple of tablespoons, maybe a bit more. WTF?? Are we back to that again?? I figured with a BRAND NEW carburetor, my flooding and overfueling issues were behind me. I have checked the fuel pressure more times than I can count and it is within spec. This is driving me nuts. The good news is, there doesn't seem to be any damage to the internals. I still have to measure the deck height of the pistons to be sure I didn't bend a rod.

[CanuckHoss]

Shitty luck for sure..but you will get it done

[Carl La Fong]

Number 4 rod is bent

[GordonBH]

Sorry to hear your bad luck. You mentioned the loose bolts - maybe a contributory factor?

Is it a good idea to check the tightness of headbolts periodically? If so, can it be done with the rockers in situ?

[rocketsteve]

Very bad news, hope someone can identify the cause so the problem's gone for good...

[Imzz4]

John, What a bummer after everything thats been going on, and all the effort, and the good times when it was kickin butt . I feel for you and can't imagine what I'd feel like if I was seeing a bent rod in mine . If anyone deserves a new 383 crate engine, you do. Maybe thats a possibility soon.