FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

Bad times...
So I've been burning some oil recently about a 1/3qt per 500 miles. The other day I put my hand in front of the exhaust while i started the bike and it sprayed a little poot of oil out....
SO I'm assuming warn piston rings???? I'm no mechanic so I need a little help with this. DO I just check compression in each cylinder to find the problem?
Questions: How bad is it to drive it like this for now?
Are there any special tools i need to tear the engine down to the pistons?
If I'm going to take the engine apart to that extent what else do I need, gaskets etc?
On bikebandit.com there are three piston ring sets a STD, 0.50mm and 1.00mm, how do I know which one I need?
http://www.bikebandit.com/houseofmotorc ... 96/o/m7220

Oh by the way I have a 96 fzr600 49 states version with 18500 miles or so. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

A compression check won't necessarily tell you about your oil burning issue. The top two (compression rings) will make good compression(actuallu better than they should with a film of oil) but that doesn't mean the oil control rings are doing their job.
This won't show on a compression test. A 'Leak-down' test will do a better job of pinpointing the losses.

If it is a single cylinder thing, you can find that out by unbolting the header and looking into the exhaust ports-one will be oily. If it's rings, it doesn't matter if it is one cylinder or four-it would be hella dumb to get it that far apart and not refresh them all.

If it sprays oil on startup... and right as you close the throttle from revs, it is more likely valve guide seals. This can be done (with the right tools) from the top-without teardown of the engine.

No way of knowing without teardown/inspection which ring set you need. You could well get away with a cylinder hone and re-ring with stock bore size... that saves the expense of new pistons....but only a good measurement of the cylinder wallls will reveal whether or not you can get away with that.

1/3 quart per 500miles is not much at all. It'll run for a long time(years) like that.

FzrAtx wrote:Bad times...
So I've been burning some oil recently about a 1/3qt per 500 miles. The other day I put my hand in front of the exhaust while i started the bike and it sprayed a little poot of oil out....
SO I'm assuming warn piston rings???? I'm no mechanic so I need a little help with this. DO I just check compression in each cylinder to find the problem?
Questions: How bad is it to drive it like this for now?
Are there any special tools i need to tear the engine down to the pistons?
If I'm going to take the engine apart to that extent what else do I need, gaskets etc?
On bikebandit.com there are three piston ring sets a STD, 0.50mm and 1.00mm, how do I know which one I need?
http://www.bikebandit.com/houseofmotorc ... 96/o/m7220

Oh by the way I have a 96 fzr600 49 states version with 185000 miles or so. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

In my opinion 1/3 of a litre it's a lot for 500 miles. Your engine might need piston rings replacement (or more). A compression check will show you how bad it is. Mostly for wear valve stems and guides.
What you 'll need is a torque tool when you 'll get the engine assemple. This tool tights all bolts/nuts with the same torque. You 'll certainly need a new gasket kit. And it 'll be a good advice to check the valves clearances.
Once you have your engine opened, and piston rings out, check their edges. They must write the letters "STD" or the number "0,50" or "1,00" or similar. That's standard for STD and oversized in half mm for 0.50 or oversized 1mm for 1,00
But except weared piston rings it might the cylinders be weareder as well. That's something rare though, but not impossible.
Also, the problem can be weared valve stems and guides. I don't know if that cost worths it. maybe another engine????
Good luck buddy!!!

Thanks for the responses. I guess I'll check the headers first. Reelrazor by valve guide seals do you mean number 7 on the valve page
7: SEAL, VALVE STEM,(5NG1)
http://www.bikebandit.com/houseofmotorc ... 96/o/m7220
And what "special" tools would I need? One of those neat spring compressors that modking makes?

Had a similar problem last season, burning lots of oil. Redid the valve stem seals, still the same problem. I was getting good compression, and the engine ran well, even with the burning oil, but I wasn't happy with that. Turned out it was in fact the oil control rings (part of the set of piston rings: 2 compression, 1 oil on the fzr). This is typically caused by neglect, not doing oil changes regularly, in my case by the PO. Sludge builds up on the oil control rings, and they don't work like they should wiping oil off the walls.

I had my cylinders honed, they didn't need a bore. In most cases, they likely won't, and you can get away with honing and stock-sized rings, obviously this is dependent on a number of things: mileage, maintenance history etc. The only way you'll know for sure is when you have it off and at the shop to be measured before the honing/boring is done. That will tell you what you need as far as rings. I would do that before ordering new rings/pistons etc.

The results after the rebuild were like a new engine. Sounds "fresh", and no oil burning whatsoever. I was going through probably close to 1/2L every 500km before.

BTW, are you sure about 185,000 miles or is that a typo?

Woops that most certainly is a typo. What I meant is 18500

FzrAtx wrote:Woops that most certainly is a typo. What I meant is 18500

I had ~42K km (25k miles) on mine, and only needed a hone, so more than likely you should be ok with a hone/stock size rings.

How much did that end up costing you, if you don't mind me asking?

FzrAtx wrote:How much did that end up costing you, if you don't mind me asking?

Honing cost about $80-100, that's with me dropping off the cylinder bores at the shop, and about $4-500 for rings/gaskets etc. I also did my timing chain while I was in there. But figure in the ballpark of around $500 give or take.

Ouch... I hope its my valve guide seals. So to replace the piston rings do you need to get the cylinders honed? I suppose if i'm going that far the extra 80 would be worth it.

FzrAtx wrote:Ouch... I hope its my valve guide seals. So to replace the piston rings do you need to get the cylinders honed? I suppose if i'm going that far the extra 80 would be worth it.

Definitely! You have to hone the cylinders if you get new rings, in order for them to properly work in.

So what could have caused this problem? I have had the bike for over a year with no loss of oil. The burning of oil seemed to start happening after the last oil change. I did happen to change from semi-synthetic to full synthetic. Could that have done anything? I'm pretty religious about changing the oil every 1500-2000 miles.

FzrAtx wrote:So what could have caused this problem? I have had the bike for over a year with no loss of oil. The burning of oil seemed to start happening after the last oil change. I did happen to change from semi-synthetic to full synthetic. Could that have done anything? I'm pretty religious about changing the oil every 1500-2000 miles.

Definitely.

You don't need synthetic on these older bikes... the only difference between synthetic is it's ability to withstand shear better, and last longer between changes, which makes no difference if you change your oil on a regular basis. Synthetic will also get past old seals that weren't designed for synthetic oil in the first place. thus leading to possible leaks and excessive oil burning. IMO, it is marketing: you don't own a formula one race car, running synthetic in the bike is a waste of money, and will lead to more problems than it's worth. Switch back to dyno, get a good quality 10w40 (like Castrol GTX), and more than likely your oil burning will mostly go away, especially with that low miles on the bike.

mszilves wrote:
Definitely.

You don't need synthetic on these older bikes... the only difference between synthetic is it's ability to withstand shear better, and last longer between changes, which makes no difference if you change your oil on a regular basis. Synthetic will also get past old seals that weren't designed for synthetic oil in the first place. thus leading to possible leaks and excessive oil burning. IMO, it is marketing: you don't own a formula one race car, running synthetic in the bike is a waste of money, and will lead to more problems than it's worth. Switch back to dyno, get a good quality 10w40 (like Castrol GTX), and more than likely your oil burning will mostly go away, especially with that low miles on the bike.

I will switch back immediately. Damn that guy at the shop that said "hey why don't you just get the full syn its on sale"
Hopefully that will solve all my problems.