[Author Index] [Date Index] [Thread Index]
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: [ST] 955 motor



On Mar 23, 2006, at 9:57 AM, triumph1 wrote:
> I believe it should be in the 170ish range.  Oil burning is about a
> quart per 1000 miles.  Power is noticeably down and if you open it up
> everyone behind gets a nice smoke show.

It sounds like your rings are stuck or worn, especially on the  
cylinder with high compression. (Another, less likely possibility is  
that a valve for that cylinder isn't sealing well.) High compression  
usually means the combustion chamber has a bunch of carbon in it. The  
carbon comes from too much oil getting into chamber, and/or gas  
without effective detergents. The carbon is easy enough to clean off  
with SeaFoam or even distilled water dribbled through an intake  
vacuum line. (A pretty good description of the process is at <http:// 
www.vectorbd.com/peugeot/archive/General/2005/Jun/0262.html>.)

This would clean up the combustion chambers, but it wouldn't solve  
the problem that's letting oil into the chamber. There's a good oil- 
based cleaner called Cycle-RX <http://www.cycle-rx.com/> that I've  
used to clean up several motors. It won't fix worn or broken metal,  
but it will clean up carboned or sludged surfaces and resurrect  
engines folks would otherwise write off.

If you were willing to spend $30 and an afternoon to clean up your  
combustion chambers you might be able to rescue your engine (or  
confirm that there's a mechanical problem).

Also, I strongly believe that 6,000 mile oil change intervals are far  
too long, even using synthetic oil. The high RPMs and transmission  
gears really tear up the oil, reducing its viscosity and its ability  
to protect. I think that this is why you see a lot of 955 Triumphs  
start to use some oil around 40K miles. Triumph set an extended oil  
change interval to make the maintenance schedule competitive with  
other brands, but IMHO to the detriment of engine longevity. It's not  
an issue for the majority of owners who only put a few thousand miles  
a year on their bikes, but high mileage folks would greatly benefit  
from reducing their oil change intervals to 2,000 or 3,000 miles.
--
Blake Sobiloff <sobiloff@xxxxxxxxx>
<http://sobiloff.typepad.com/>
San Jose, CA  (USA)


_______________________________________________
Triumph Sprint ST/RS mailing list
Send list posts to ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Change your list options at www.Triumphnet.com