Re: UPDATE - Engine seized and went bonkers while on long ride

My apologies to everyone who's been waiting on an update on this.

I've got my bike on Monday evening. Let me try to explain here what exactly happened(as per the service guys' RCA) :

The evening before this incident, I filled my bike with HP-Power fuel- 10 liters. Usually I go with Shell Advanced or Normal BP but this time I decided to change things up. I was not sure if the fuel had something to do with this or not but I didn't discard that as a suspect.

As per the svc engineer, out of the 4 valves, one of the valve seals was shot by a margin and the engine oil was seeping from that to the combustion chamber(?) and was getting mixed with fuel, which caused excessive friction. See below -



As per them, more than 50% of engine oil was burnt due to this. They showed me the cylinder's inner walls, which were badly scratched due to the friction caused by piston movement in this situation. Couldn't take a pic of that.

I asked why would a seal burst this soon or probably ever?
He said, in all honestly, this is their second valve seal burst for an R15 and both the times they partly blame adulterated fuel(?), which is pretty common in Pune. (A few years ago, my FZ's carburetor was shot due to the same). They have suggested me to use fuel additive once in a month from now own, which given the situation, I find plausible.
*^Need to conduct my own study on this matter further though, I also would like some insight on the above situation from experienced members.*

Now, 3 parts are replaced under 2 years engine warranty -
1. Piston Ring Set
2. Piston
3. Cylinder

And 2 more parts, which didn't come free but for a small amount -
4. Gasket Cylinder (57 Rs.)
5. Seal Valve Stem (24 Rs.)






I took this opportunity to have the first paid service. Had the air filter, spark plug and engine coolant replaced as per the 12K KMs schedule recommended for that.

Crappy thing is, I will have to run-in the bike again for next 1000 KMs, which I hate. Will need to visit them after 1000 KMs for a close re-inspection to make sure everything is alright. The bike's super smooth as of now, getting warm easily like it's initial days, but I'm taking it easy.

Takeaway -
No idea. In my 16 years of riding, after owning 5 geared bikes, having owned 3 generations of Yamaha, this is the first time I've faced something like this.
Did this shake my belief in Yamaha's quality, not at all.
Did this make me more cautions and aware about a machine's behavior in general, definitely yes.

It's a wonder that how much longer it would've taken before a complete breakdown, if I had continued to HYD in this situation. Also, it's a good thing that the machine was able to handle an abuse like this for 300+ KMs.

Question -
Because this is a second run-in due to new parts inside the engine, I was thinking I'll need to replace the engine oil after 1000 KMs, but the svc guy suggested I won't need to as these parts won't create as much as metal debris which will call for an engine flush. However I'm kind of concerned on that matter.
If someone has any insights or views on this, please feel free to suggest, that'd help making a choice in that regard.
Thank you all for showing your concern. Ride safe.

Regards.

Re: Engine seized and went bonkers while on long ride

Any update

Re: Yamaha YZF- R15 S Owners Reviews and Experiences

May be too tight tappet adjustment. Once the engine is hot enough it might kept one of the valves open. Fingers crossed everything is fine. I havent adjusted my bike tappet yet. Its close to 33k kms and I getting loose tappets sound now.

Re: Engine seized and went bonkers while on long ride

Not yet but probably by EOD.

Thanks.

Sent from my SM-E500H using xBhp.com mobile app

Re: Engine seized and went bonkers while on long ride

Any updates ?

Re: Yamaha YZF- R15 S Owners Reviews and Experiences

Note taken.

I'm new to 6 speed bike. My previous bike is a 5 speed one.

Thanks dude.

Re: Yamaha YZF- R15 S Owners Reviews and Experiences

I'm still due on the update because of SVC holiday today.

Update is still due.

A well broke-in R15 reaches 100+ in 5th gear with little to no stress on the engine, that's how my weekend rides are since last one year.
Can't compare it with commuting oriented P150, no disregards.

I did not shift up to overtake, 6th gear is not for that. In high rev range/higher gear either you have to stay in the same gear to utilize remaining power band or gear down, not up. If I'd be shifting up from 5th to 6th in 80 KMPH, I'd be shifting down the next moment to even accelerate if I need to overtake someone.
It's not about the speed, it's about RPM, take note. You can shift up at as low as 50 KMPH/5K RPM for 5th and 6th gear, but you'll be lugging the engine which is equally critical.

It's probably something minor I hope.

Regards.

Re: Engine seized and went bonkers while on long ride

Sad to hear bro. I hope it's just a minor issue.
U said that you are in 5th gear (in 100+kmph) & then shifted to 6th to overtake. I think that's the reason behind this issues. Riding at 3 digit speed in 5th should have created more tension in engine. Once you reached 80+ kmph you should have changed to 6th. (correct me if I'm wrong guys ).
Because once we faced this problem in my friends pulser 150 for riding at max speed in low gears. Result change of clutch unit.

Update us once problem is sorted out.

Re: Engine seized and went bonkers while on long ride

Any updates bro ..?? very sad news.. same problem suffered from my pulsar 220 1year back ..was riding 100-110 speed.. but the problem was one way clutch assembly..repair cost was only 250rs..

Engine seized and went bonkers while on long ride

Faced a little uncalled situation with my bike's engine last Saturday.

Premise:
Friend's wedding in Hyderabad on 13th August so planned a Pune to HYD on 12th morning. I also requested clarification on current NH9 update in Maharashtra routes thread but there weren't any replies, so decided to take the plunge and go from NH9 itself, rather than other state highway route.

Now, I started early morning at 5:30 on my year old R15S, 11,200 KM ran at the time of starting, in pristine condition. Covered 100 KMs in 1 hour 10 mins, which means I was doing good time. Because the NH65 wasn't crowded much in early morning, I was cruising at 100-115 kmph in 5th/6th gear.

On my spirited weekend rides, I usually tend to redline the engine on long highway stretches but this was an approx 600 KM ride thus I didn't want to stress the engine, so no redline in any gear whatsoever.

Things which went Kaput and how:
Now, the moment I covered 150 KMs from Pune and was smoothly going at 102-105 kmph in 5th gear, I planned to overtake a bus which was a little faster than me but was there for long and I wanted to reach Solapur before 9 AM. The engine was at 9K RPM, I blipped the throttle to increase the speed gradually, the RPM went up to 10K, I overtook the bus, the speed went upto 123 kmph, which is very normal for this bike and just when I was planning to shift up to 6th gear ...

I felt a sudden jerk from underside the right foot and on the throttle hand, probably from the engine. The RPM went down to 5K, the throttle power was lost for close to 1 second and then it all came back up to normal fine. Perplexed by this sudden behavior, I slowed down but kept riding for good 2 minutes, engaged in 6th gear but something was not normal. As I was wearing the newly bought MT Mugello, the external noises were suppressed to a very degree.

It's only when I stopped after 3-4 minutes for an inspection and realized that the engine is sounding like something has broken inside of it and the vibrations of it can be felt on the seat as well.
The sound is of - take 10 metal balls in a metal jar and then shake the jar. That bad. It didn't sound like very loose tappets but worse than that. The engine sounded like a broken auto, right from idle RPM to any RPM in any gear.

I checked for any smoke - No smoke.
Clutch operation didn't have any effect on this sound and vibrations, so I discarded the burnt clutch plates.

Now, it was 8AM and I'm basically standing on a highway's side, had to take a quick decision to either ride more 100 KMs upto Solapur and get it checked there or go back 150 KMs to Pune to my SVC and see what has happened. But in any case there was a risk of damaging the engine(more).
I decided to screw the wedding and move back to Pune before it was too late to do anything. I rode back at no more than 5K RPM, reached in 2.5 hours. All the way the engine sound kept sending shivers down my spine, but the bike kept running without overheating or anything else, good thing. No engine warning light, no high temperature light.

The bike currently is in SVC, they took the area service head to open the engine under the 2 years warranty to see what's wrong. The regular mechanic over there is a little baffled on this situation and said this is the first time he saw happening on an R15, that too this early, if it happens. He suggested it might be piston block.
I studied this exact issue of web and the root cause ranged from piston ring to cam chain tension-er to what not.

Well, they had a couple of bikes to service and I had to leave for work so I couldn't stay for another 2 hours to see that myself but I'm expecting a call soon from the regular and my trusted SVC guy there, who's taking this matter very seriously. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as well.

I'll keep updating here the progress with the RCA.

Anyone has any ideas, speculations or any suggestions?

Regards.

Re: Yamaha YZF- R15 S Owners Reviews and Experiences

Thanks for your concern mate... Once its got started i went to a local store and charged.

Planning to fit the headlight Switch asap.

Re: Yamaha YZF- R15 S Owners Reviews and Experiences

Yep, The implementation of AHO could have been executed much better by Yamaha, and stuck with the 2x5W pilot lamps for AHO feature when engine is off.

But they had to botch things up so instead they choose to draw 2x5Watts + 1x35 Watts so a combined load of 45 Watts (Add power-draw from Speedo Console + Fuel Pump) permanently on a tiny 4 Amp/Hour battery while the engine is off What in heavens were they thinking?

Anyways leaving the battery completely discharged for any length of time will have a negative effect on its longevity . So hope you had got it charged at a SVC ASAP.

Here's to hoping you got the problem rectified; As no one should have to shell out close to 2K for a battery within the first year of ownership. But don't be hard on yourself mate, sometimes stuff happens. Do let us know how it went?

Cheers & Ride Safe!

Re: Yamaha YZF- R15 S Owners Reviews and Experiences

Just jump started. !

Re: Yamaha YZF- R15 S Owners Reviews and Experiences

F**k AHO... Forgot to take the key and left it ON, I got my battery drained out in 1 hour.


Hi
How can i start it now ? Anyone here to help ?

Re: Yamaha YZF- R15 S Owners Reviews and Experiences

Exactly.

Sales person from a showroom said that, doing that will void warranty.

But, a sales person from an another showroom says that, it will not void warranty (as there is no warranty for bulbs under electrical warranty). He says it might be risk while claiming insurance in case of any unfortunate (like accidents).

I'll have a word with them again and will let you know the exact details bro.