Something rotten just happened.. Bike dead - Updated.

[Genkenx2]

Hey, so here's a crappy story.

I'm riding my bike just fine, and then all of a sudden I hear a little noise from the front end.. ok I don't know what it is but it's still driving fine, I press on.

Just when I get to where I was going, the bike completely died, it will not fire, will not do anything.

I stop and check everything out, electrics are fine, starter is turning the engine over like crazy, but nothing.

I check the spark plug caps, they're all on tight and everything.. try to start, turning over like crazy but nothing.

It sounds like maybe I lost my cam chain? I don't know, I called my uncle and he listened to it over the phone and said it sounds like no compression, he's a harley guy so I don't know.

So now what? My bike is about 5 miles from home, no idea how I'm going to get it home and I know no one with a truck...

Want to know the best part? I had just sold the bike (I need the money for school and other things) and was driving it to the person's house because she didn't want to drive it home. Now keep in mind the problems I've had with this bike since I bought it have all been minor. Now, the second I go to sell it (was going to get $1700 for it too!) it completely and seemingly falls apart. I mean.. no compression? Now it's sitting at her house, I have no money, I have no transportation now.

This is nothing short then a negative act of god.

What do I do now? It's worth nothing to sell it in this state... I have no means of getting around, I just don't know what to do...

If it's the cam chain, how hard is it to fix? Should I put a new engine in there? How hard is it to actually do an engine swap?

what do I do guys? I can't take apart an engine myself, the bike in it's state is worthless.

I'm panicking here.. help me out?

[arsenic]

well if your timing chain did break, I think it would die right away. A cam chain would cause your bike to have no compression though. If you lost you cam chain while the engine was running you probably just really bent you valves. I have a hard time believing it was a cam chain.

[Genkenx2]

Well any ideas as to what else it could possibly be would be greatly appreciated.

I've never heard the starter run quicker before, it just goes really quick, like there's no friction (or compression) on it.

When the bike did die it just suddenly died.. I was going like 30 MPH.. then all of a sudden I stop hearing any engine noise and I see the oil light turn on (so I knew the engine wasn't on). I naturally immediately pulled in the clutch because I didn't know what was going on, so I don't know much beyond that.. It's just that when I hit the starter, the engine turns over way quicker than I remember it before (like.. you know when a battery is dying, the starter doesn't turn as fast even though it still turns, when the battery is fresh it turns over quicker, well it was turning quicker than it normally does with a fresh battery).

[arsenic]

well that would point to your cam chain, but if your cam chain broke, you did catastrophic head damage, it would be time for a new engine in that case. The only way to know for sure is to take the valve cover off and look at the cam chain.

[arsenic]

do you know what your starter clutch is?

Check that, it's under the starter gear cover.

[05_katanatyson]

I had a 89 katana do somthing like that.it had about 50,000 miles on it . I bought a manual , and just started taking things apart, starting with the top of the engine ( in the bike) . Un bolted cams, timming chain , then pulled the head off, ( very tight) and found 2 broken valves . took the head to a little motorcycle shop and they rebuilt the head for about $200 . put it all back together, tunned it, and got about another 20,000 miles out of it. I did forget the timming chain guide inside , under the head, and had to take it all back apart and put that back in it. that was the first realy big work I've done on a motorcycle. I also had the money and the time to play around with it.

[nitros222]

Damn that sucks. Sorry to hear about your misfortunes.. Hope everything works our for ya.

[ITS_NOT_A_KNIFE]

wow, well at least it happend close to home and not on the ride....hope all is well

[Genkenx2]

I hope to get it towed home tonight, and then I'll figure out what I'm going to do with it.

If it seems like a doable fix, I'll fix it.. if not, I'll look into replacing the engine, but I'd deifnately need a hand for something like that. If I can't find a good deal on an engine, I guess it's part out time?

At any rate, I'll find out soon enough.

[Black_peter]

Maybe it didn't want you to sell it?

Spinning like mad at startup sounds like the starter clutch. Popping off the valve cover is the best way to see if the chain is busted.

[steves]

Wouldn't a snapped cam chain have also come with some very loud, and bad sounding noises?

[arsenic]

BTW I have lots of starter clutch parts.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=190147002277&rd=1

I have the big gear too, but I don't have it listed.

[arsenic]

yes it would, like the piston hitting the valves, that wouldn't sound good.

[ITS_NOT_A_KNIFE]

if you need help installing the motor gen, you know ill come down....just pm me if thats what your going to do

[Genkenx2]

well I just got done walking 3 miles back to my house (I can only begin to tell you how fun that was).

I haven't opened it up but it definately sounds like the timing chain. I tried to start it again when I got at her house, and instead of the really fast starter motor, I got a really really terribly grating clankey noise (sounds like a chain winding next to spinning sprockets to me)...

So hey, if I can find a good deal on an engine, I might have to take you up on your offer man... but I don't know at all what my current time frame or gameplan is. I'm going to be taking this thing one step at a time. It's just been a terrible one of those weeks.