Hypothetical Quick Fix - Rusty Crankcase

[MattWenrick]

Suppose a bike, a 79 XS11 standard, has been sitting outside, uncovered, for God knows how long. Now it's still a descent looking bike and has low miles, but has not ran in years. Now the big problem is, there has not been an oil cap on the bike and the crankcase has filled, at least partially, with water. The engine may or may not been seized.

Based only on what I've told you, what would you do?

I was thinking about filling the case up with WD-40 and letting it soak. Or just part-out the pig.

[trbig]

There are so many things in that case that are solid steel that would rust OVERNIGHT if it didn't have a coat of oil on it.. not just crank and rods, but even all the little washer/spacers, clips and ball bearings. You could try to seperate the cases and see, but my bet is that any amount of time sitting in water= welded together with rust. The case may be rebuildable if you can seperate it. Probably easiest way to really see is to pull the oil pan and take a look. Friction discs andd water don't get along either....



Tod

[HobbyMan]

Drain it, Fill it with WD or MMO. Let is sit for a few days rotating it every day, and then split the cases. Inspect everyhing. if the case is ok, it might be salvagable. Most everything else will be trash. Last year, me and a buddy pulled 2 440's out of the mud and rebuilt them. Both crank cases were overflowing with muddy oily water. One is in his charger and the other is in his coronet. If the cylinders are not in too bad of shape you may just need a big bore kit and some head work. As long as there is no seriouse case damage, it may be fixable with the help of ebay. Like Tod said, the rust may have damaged it. My buddy and I were ok for the most pard because everything had a light coat of oil over it still after all those years.

[prometheus578]

If you can crank it over, I'd try to fire it up.
Any rust for the most part would be flash/surface rust.
Yeah, there was water in there... but most of the stuff was still under 4 quarts o' oil.
As for the bearing surfaces... crank and such, they are a tight fit and when parked, had a film of oil on them. There's no reason for water to have forced itself in there and displaced the film of oil.
Rust on gears and such... so what.
Even though they're higher than the oil cap opening, make sure the cylinders are empty of water.
Crank the engine with the plugs out to check.
I'd check it over, and just run it.
You have nothing to lose, and you can't really damage anything.
If something is badly amiss... well then, you were gonna tear it aprt, anyway.
Most of the bikes on this site, the owners picked up after sitting for a few years, (both them and the bikes)
I picked up a special that was caught in a flood and then sat in a field for 5 years. Sure, the pistons were rust-welded to the cylinder and I had to throw them all away, but the lower innards were still good.
Still, like other's have said... fill the crankcase with Marvel Mystery oil or some such, let it set fer a spell, and then toy with it.

[egsols]

In the past I've had success with diesel fuel for fixing old parts. I had a huge adjustable wrench and some vice grips that were completely rusted. Soaked in a pail of diesel for a couple of days and came back to life. Just my $0.02

[MattWenrick]

First of all, What the hell is in Marvel Mystery Oil?

I believe the best water to approach this problem would be, again hypothetically, to use a rust removing, penetrating oil, but one that has a higher specific gravity than water. Now water has the s.g. coefficient that everything else is measured against, which is 1. WD-40 and MMO are about 0.876, causing them to float on water, a lot like oil and water or Guinness and Bass. I don't think there is any Petroleum based product that won't float on water. What about a mix of MMO and Naval Jelly?

[prometheus578]

"Marvel Mystery Oil is the poor man's cure-all."

My ex-father-in-law used to use it for everything... which should have alerted me on several levels. (Brought into doubt his mechanical reliability, as well as the reliability later of his daughter)
Be that as it may...
Can be found in most automotive stores, right next to the "Tune-Up in a Can" stuff.
"It cleans valves, it frees piston rings, it reconditions valve seals, it stops engines from smoking, it walks... it talks... it crawls on it's belly like a reptile... "
A questionable cure-all for those with questionable intellegence.
Now then... it does do some things, but no better than other products.
It's a thin lubricant/solvent of some sort. Probably most kerosine, but who knows.
Navel jelly is too corrosive and you might damage bearing surfaces, like crank and rod bearings, if the stuff works it's way in there.
I'd flush the engine out with gasoline, let it dry, fill with fresh oil and fire it up. Do a coupl'a oil changes(use cheap oil at first... this is just to remove whatever gunk might be in there)

[andreashweiss]

Prom is right , pretty tough motor in the xs1100, try his idea first. I have upper and lower case, crank,cylinder jugs with pistons,connecting rods etc if you need something / andreas

[oseaghdha]

Originally posted by andreashweiss
Prom is right , pretty tough motor in the xs1100, try his idea first. I have upper and lower case, crank,cylinder jugs with pistons,connecting rods etc if you need something / andreas

Like all of the above, and then some.
It's junk if what you said is accurate. Find a good motor for it.

[HobbyMan]

as an added bonus. MMO smells good too. It is just another product out there that looks good. I use it and sea foam because of experience. Nothing does what the label says it does.

[MattWenrick]

I got "1 qt. Oil to 3 qts. Kerosene" from the local bike shop. "Then remove the plugs and turn it over a few times. Drain and repeat until drains clear." I like this idea. But this is only a hypothetic situation.

[MAXIMAN]

I'm with Prom on this one. As a matter of fact I've done this on a couple old bikes.

Drain oil and crap (water emulsion) refill with diesel. Turn the engine over with starter but not actually start it...just crank for 20 or 30 seconds. Rest and repeat several times.

Then drain diesel and refill with motor oil. If she'll start and run let her idle for a few minutes. If she'll do that ride her a few miles. Then I'd drain the oil ...to get the reesidual diesel out and any rust or emulsion left over...and do it again.

Like they say ...if it works...DON'T FIX IT! Just ride it.

[MattWenrick]

OK, every one of you figured out this wasn't hypothetical. I and 78grandpop are now owners of a 1980 XS1100 Standard train-wreck. It'll make a fun project, maybe a drag-bike or parts if it needs a complete rebuild. The seller couldn't supply any information except for the fact that it was abandoned and I'm awaiting a bill of sale. However we found some registration cards on the bike, after I get the bill of sale I may try to track down these people to see If I can find out why it was at the bike-shop in the first place.