Survey about '01 GSXR 600 motor failures

I have not lost my motor yet but for the record mine has 5389 miles on it.

I did notice a little tapping sound on the left top side of the engine this past weekend while prepping it for the upcoming race weekend. The sound went away about as quick as it appeared. The engine was stone cold & had not been cranked for 4 weeks. Maybe nothing to worry about. I guess I'm not running it hard enough

I have been so worried about the potential failure that I started looking for a spare engine weeks ago. I have been cruising the local dealership & following the local squid boys in the event one of them wads his bike I'll be there wanting the engine. I know its cruel but ya gotta do what ya gotta do

 

01model. 900 miles. #2cylinder. It SUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKS!

 

That's because you were over-reving it trying to catch Gio in the straight at Roebling!!!Just kidding...I'll be glad when you get it back and can ride with us. See you this weekend.

 

Well, my question to both of you and not being a smart-alek, is what about break in? 1,000 and 900 miles is right at and under the recommended 1000 mile break in period. I don't want to start another break-in debate, just looking at all possible angles.

I'm very interested to hear others experiences since I run an '01 GSXR with 2700 miles on it, but only 700 of those "hard", including about 100 racing so far.

A friend, who I'm sure will chime in, had his top end grenade at about 13,000 miles of hard back roads, long wheelies, and racing.

Surely, if this was a major problem, we'd be seeing lots reports in here and gixxer.com???

FWIW, I planned on having a top end rebuild after this season, hoping it doesn't come sooner!

 

it was telling you that I was coming by
it was telling you to get out of the way

whats up kris
by the way
760 miles break in, under 7 grand
and over 7000 race miles
I tried to get it refeshened this past winter ;but every thing is was on back order
so I have over
100n races and the only thing that has happened is cam ghain tensioner and the shift drum bolt backed out twice.

sorry to hear about that melissa.
you guys looked great out there.
Ricky

 

Melissa:

I have had two intake valves bend (in separate cylinders) in the past two race weekends on my 2001 SV. THis engine only has 400 street miles and 3 race weekends. The valves bent when the valve spring retainers broke in half and allowed the valve to drop incrementally until the valve touched the piston.

With my ear accustomed to this now, I heard the dreaded hissing noise as my valve started to drop in last weekends NFMP HWT sprint race. It went about 1/2 a lap and started hitting the piston so I cut it off and pulled in.

I am using Yoshimura stage 1 cams for the SV and their engineers swear there is no adverse problems with using these cams with the stock valve train components.

This problem seems to be pretty prevalent.

 

Speaking of break in, my bike was originally bought new by me as a street bike. I soon found out it sucked as a streetbike & began using it on trackdays. Then I decided to go racing so I guess mine has not let go because 1) most my miles were not race pace 2) I'm slow & not riding the crap out of it or 3) its about to blow & will happen this upcoming weekend

I have never looked at anything on it not even the air filter. The only thing I do regularly is change the oil/filter check the chain, check the air in the tires & gas it up. I never hit the rev limiter well maybe once or twice. All this talk concerns me though. If it holds out till the end of season I may take it down & look at it at least look at those valve keepers. Sucks really these things should not be doing this crap!

How come the 750 & 1000 does not do it or do they?

 

I could've stopped and taken a piss on the front straight and you still wouldn't have passed me. Just cause you could see Gio and me in one when you were coming out of nine doesn't mean you woulda caught us.

 

Hey Melissa,

This is really meant to be constructive...

I have seen several heads on GSXR's. The fact is that the stems are THIN. Lack of maintenance/lubrication/mechanical function/combination could easily cause a problem on any of these.

Cam Chain Tension - Are you running the stock unit? Have you pulled it to make sure it functions correctly?

Valve tolerance/measurement - Are you running the valves tight/spec/loose?

Head/Seat maintenance - Are the valves being lapped regularly? Are you checking for cupping?

Are you using a pure synthetic oil? Sometimes pure synthetics oils are poor about completely draining back into the crankcase rather than clinging to parts. (This is suggesting impact to the stems on cold starts)

Have you done any maintenance on the head (i.e. "cleaned" the deck...I didn't say mill)

I know these questions may be insulting as your connections with AOD probably eliminate these as a question and they don't seem to have a problem (AOD).

Good Luck,
Marcus McBain

 

Marcus Mcbain, any relation to Clint Mcbain from Canada.. I bought my GSXR 600 from him and found this topic interesting, considering I really don't want my engine to blow up, and don't know the history, or what clint has put this bike through.

 

Yes, we are completely related. You can see the acutal complete family story on Simpsons #43....

No relation, but wish I was as fast

 

I also dropped an intake valve this weekend. Just under the white flag, no less. 00' SV650. Maybe Suzuki is using the old 600 retainers in SV's now, what do you think, Kendall?

 

Knock wood, but...

I bought my bike brand new out of the crate for the sole purpose of racing. I put 509 miles on it in the North Georgia mountains and never took it above 7000RPM. It has run perfectly since. It's also bone stock with no top or bottom end work. I use only Red Line synthetic and change the oil after every endurance weekend.

Assuming the motor makes it through this season I won't touch it (with the exception of plugs and clutch) until the off season.

 

I can understand checking the valve tolerances, but lapping the valves? I thought that was only done after a valve job... wouldn't that mean you'd have a short break in period to make sure they seat after you lap them on a regular basis?
Just curious to what you think is needed for regular 'maintenance'

 

Robby:

There is definitely a problem here. There is a good AOD article on this very topic (GSXR 600) on their website. I believe we may have these new type valve spring retainers in our bikes. I'm trying to find a better valve spring retainer as we speak. Our metallurgist is cutting and reviewing my latest broken retainer and we should have some info soon.

Are you using stock cams? Did the valve damage the piston and or cylinder wall?

 

Yosh cams. I haven't pulled the head yet, but the way the valve is jammed sideways in the head I'd say the piston is toast.