Out riding with wife and son today. 1st trip for wife and her 600 Classic this year (other than fall prep and short ride). She was complaining of cold hands and my sled is a bit warmer so we swapped. We had already ridden 40+ miles at speeds of 35-60 and her sled was running fine. Stopped at an intersection and accelerated up to 55 or so and was just cruising along. Engine tone suddenly changed, got a lot louder. I was thinking maybe a spark plug had unscrewed itself or maybe an exhaust problem. Got out of the gas just as it lost all power and the engine seized just as I rolled to a stop.
Pulled the plugs and they were white and one showed signs of metal. Classic burndown. :-(
A little frustrating to say the least. It wasn't that cold out - temps around 12-14 degrees. Every spring I add seafoam to the gas and drain the carbs. Dry gas went in this morning along with a topping off of fresh gas. Wondering if I got a bunch of water in the gas or maybe just a fuel or oil delivery problem. Sled has 2500 easy miles all with the same jetting and setup. We have run it in temps down to -10 with no problems and the plugs are usually medium to dark brown.
One weird thing I noticed. While I could not rotate the engine foward with the rope or electric starter, I could rotate the engine backwards about 3/4 of a crankshaft revolution by rotating the clutch. The engine will not turn in either direction beyond 3/4 turn. I'm not sure what would keep the engine from turning over physically (once it was freed up) so I'm wondering just how expensive the repair will be.
The only good news, we were 4 miles from a trailhead, called the dealer (Peacock LTD) and they had a guy meet us there with a trailer. They even drove my wife back to our cabin. I was suddenly glad that I had that tow rope with me. It has sat in one sled or another unused for almost 10 years.
I'll post once they do the teardown and call me with the news....sometime next week.
If anyone has any ideas on why the engine won't rotate, I'd be curious to hear them.
I had a carb slide crack once on a 600 triple and about 1/4 of the slide entered the cylinder and took out a chunk of piston skirt, before shattering and making it's way out of the engine. In that case the engine pitch changed but the sled still ran fairly well, was just down on power due to the intake porting being screwed up. I ran it that way the rest of the day and then replaced the carb slide and had a new piston installed. So sometimes the unusual does happen.....
Pulled the plugs and they were white and one showed signs of metal. Classic burndown. :-(
A little frustrating to say the least. It wasn't that cold out - temps around 12-14 degrees. Every spring I add seafoam to the gas and drain the carbs. Dry gas went in this morning along with a topping off of fresh gas. Wondering if I got a bunch of water in the gas or maybe just a fuel or oil delivery problem. Sled has 2500 easy miles all with the same jetting and setup. We have run it in temps down to -10 with no problems and the plugs are usually medium to dark brown.
One weird thing I noticed. While I could not rotate the engine foward with the rope or electric starter, I could rotate the engine backwards about 3/4 of a crankshaft revolution by rotating the clutch. The engine will not turn in either direction beyond 3/4 turn. I'm not sure what would keep the engine from turning over physically (once it was freed up) so I'm wondering just how expensive the repair will be.
The only good news, we were 4 miles from a trailhead, called the dealer (Peacock LTD) and they had a guy meet us there with a trailer. They even drove my wife back to our cabin. I was suddenly glad that I had that tow rope with me. It has sat in one sled or another unused for almost 10 years.
I'll post once they do the teardown and call me with the news....sometime next week.
If anyone has any ideas on why the engine won't rotate, I'd be curious to hear them.
I had a carb slide crack once on a 600 triple and about 1/4 of the slide entered the cylinder and took out a chunk of piston skirt, before shattering and making it's way out of the engine. In that case the engine pitch changed but the sled still ran fairly well, was just down on power due to the intake porting being screwed up. I ran it that way the rest of the day and then replaced the carb slide and had a new piston installed. So sometimes the unusual does happen.....
