I think I killed my Vision!

[Baznmel]

I rode my bike to Deadwood this past week from southwestern wisconsin.  I mastered the 75 mph highway speeds, buffeting crosswinds, and passing semi's.  I watched my temp gauge, topped off oil and coolant when needed, and rode my little vision 1000 miles, including an afternoon cruise through the spearfish canyon.  The bike took it all and asked for more. 

Then it happened- on the way home thursday morning, 200 miles east of Deadwood, and almost 600 miles from hearth and home I started losing power.  I downshifted to maintain rpms and made it to the next exit.  The bike quit as I made it to a gas station, and my sinking feeling got worse as I saw oil had started to leak from the forward valve cover.  I checked the carb (yup, dissected my vision like a frog right there in the lot) and found the air box had a lot of oil pooled in the corners.  My mechanical skills are limited to general maintenance and minor tweaking, along with whatever little quirks my cycle decides to foist on me.- this looks bad.

There was nothing I could do there and I wasn't ready to rent a u-haul truck, so I reassembled, got the bike started and, was able to maintain 60 on a road roughly paralleling (sic) I-90, still in fourth gear.  Soon I realized my mileage had dropped from the low 30's at interstate speeds to about 20.  I managed to get to Kimbal, South Dakota, thanks to the County Sheriff, who brought me a couple of gallons of gas (when you run dry out west, there's just miles and miles of grassland and an occasional cow making up your whole world- than God for cell reception and the big guy with the cowboy hat, badge and suburban.

After topping off in Kimbal, I got a room at the Super-8, stowed my luggage and settled down for bike surgery.  The rear plug looked good, but the front one looked like I'd held it in front of a blow torch- the electrode and pretty much half of the sparking end were burned away.  Fortunately I had extra plugs, a habit acquired during my two-cycle days, and made the correction.  The next morning, thanks to a combination of luck, drafting behind semis (stupid, I know), and that new spark plug, I snap crackled and popped another 400 miles east, stopping for gas every 60 miles and wondering if the bike would start again each time I shut it off.  My wife, the Saint, met me at the Mississippi with the truck and trailer and I finally threw in the towel.

I'm sure I've qualified for a lot of wouldda-couldda's with this sad tale, but what I really need to know is if I'm now the proud owner of an '82 yamaha lawn ornament in need of an engine rebuild?  I havn't pulled the new spark plug yet, but I'm betting it now looks a lot like the one it replaced, and the oil leak has gotten much worse.

Be gentle- Baznmel

[QBS]

How does the bike idle?  Has your tank been PORed?  Do you run an inline fuel filter?  Fried plugs are caused by lean running.  Sounds like you suffered a stopped up high speed jet on the cylinder that fries plugs.  The high fuel consumption was caused by one cylinder having to do the work of two and thus requiring virtually full throttle to get the job done.

If my scenerio is accurate, you may have also burnt some valves in the lean cylinder.  A compression check is in order.

[Baznmel]

You might have nailed it.  No on the POR'd tank, and no to the in line filter :'( .  The clogged jet would also explain the sudden onset of trouble as opposed to a gradual worsening.  The heat turned one pipe blue, so there's the added temp of the lean mixture. The tank, filter, and carb are all fixable, and right now I'm crossing my fingers that the valves are intact- although the oil in the air box might indicate otherwise.  Looks like I'll be spending my riding time on repair and hope I have some nice weather left when it's ready to ride again.   Thanks for the help.

[Lucky]

IF you did burn a valve or two, Vision engines are easy enough to find at very decent prices, in part or whole. (you could easily spend more on a brake job on your truck)
--Lucky

[Lucky]

BTW, you can easily check the high speed jet on your carbs, they are behind the brass hex head bolt on the left side of the carbs. drain the bowl first.

--Lucky

[Tiger]

IF you did burn a valve or two, Vision engines are easy enough to find at very decent prices, in part or whole. (you could easily spend more on a brake job on your truck)
--Lucky

Very true.....I've got three spare motor's... ::) Let me know if you need one or part(s) of...... 8)

               ;)       

TIGER       

8)