So I stopped at the shop last night where my bike is
(see "Help I broke my F4i!" https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=647046 and "Help I broke my F4i! Part Deux" https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=650264) and he said Saturday, he put the trans in gear, started rocking the bike back and forth, and in the process of doing that, he heard a loud pop!, stopped rocking it, and put the trans back in neutral. So he decided he'd try and start the engine, and by golly it started right up with no hesitation. He even took it for a spin around the block, and he says it runs great. He drained the oil out of the engine and found some metal shavings (not big chunks, small one's, and not a whole bunch, just a little bit). Any idea's where the metal could've came from? What about what may have locked the engine up? Could the timing chain have gotten caught up in a guide somehow and jammed up? I was thinking about for now doing a timing chain and tensioner, and a valve adjustment.

 

um, i would look into another mechanic. Taking it for a test ride w/o finding the problem isn't the smartest thing I've heard of. btw, I woudn't be suprised if your timing chain has a lot of freeplay and is the root of the shavings. Test the shavings w/ a magnet to see if they're Al or other.

 

If he never opened your transmission up then he did a half-assed job. Something could still be messed up and you would never know til your motor is blown and you are taking it back to him. They'll claim its your fault, etc etc. Ask him where the shavings are from, I would not have taken the bike back from him until you knew. Also, have you driven your bike, how does it ride compared to before?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VolpeOwnsU &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Something could still be messed up and you would never know til your motor is blown and you are taking it back to him.</TD></TR></TABLE>

worse yet it locks up the rear wheel at speed and throws you on the ground.

 

The bike is still at his shop. He knows the service manager over at a honda bike dealership and he's gonna call them and see what they'd charge me to do a timing chain and tensioner and a valve adjustment . . . He has no idea where the shavings are from, and he suggested tearing it down to figure it out, but he wants to send it over to Honda . . . When he rode it, he said it rode the same as it did just after he did the clutch, and he said the engine sounded just fine when he started it . . . But as we all are, he was worried about the shavings, so I left it there . . .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tonydatyga &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Test the shavings w/ a magnet to see if they're Al or other.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Thats a good idear, I'm gonna do that and see what we get . . .

 

I got a call from the Honda dealership and he was already updated as to what happend with my bike . . . They say they wanna tear it down . . . what you guys think? They charge $65 an hour, they said about 1.5hrs for the initial check/compression test (they say the #3 cylinder typically has problems on Honda's), and then another possible 3hrs to tear it completely down . . . Is there anyway around it? How strongly you guys feel about it possibly being the timing chain?

 

The timing can be checked with a timing gun I would think, if its within specs, the chain is fine, you may just need to change the tensioner as with most other f4i's. I assume there's got to be a way to figure out whether the chain is on track or skipped a tooth/damaged them.

 

I believe the timing is fine because like I said it starts and runs fine . . . The metal shavings is like the only worry right now cuz we took it for a spin around the block and it felt fine . . .

 

would it be a bad idea to change the oil and filter and try running it again? I mean about the shavings?

 

I PM'd you back too. I dont' think they need more than an hour to check compression, which I would do myself if I were you. I am unsure as to the post above what they did with your clutch? Was it taken out, was a new one installed, did they just take a hammer to it? Again, that could be the sole original problem, but like I said, better safe than sorry...

 

The clutch apparently was fine as he took it around the block . . . I feel really strongly that its the timing chain that may have got caught up on a guide . . . the automatic tensioners on honda's apparently tend to back out under extreme load, so I'm gonna take it apart and check the guides and prolly get a manual tensioner . . . what you guys think?