OK here's my problem.
I upgraded my 06 Pred to include a full HMF pipe, Rath intake, K&N filter. with the Rath instructions it said put in a 175 mj. I had a dynojet kit and put in the 175 thinking that the mj stood for main jet, not realizing that the mikuni jets were totally different sized thatn the dynojets. I ran it hard a few times and noticed that a friend's stock pred with slip on had more power. I checked into it and realized I was too lean. I upped to the 175 mikuni jet and it ran much better, much more power.
Then I did an oil change and saw the problem. there was some dark ultra fine metal stuck to the magnet on top of the oil tank drain plug. When I took out the oil plug from the engine I saw more fine metal powder, but here I also saw small metal shavings. they were very thin and about 1/8 inch long and there were 4-5 of them. I know this is bad.
Here's where I need help.

I know I was too lean and ended up shaving some off my piston or cylinder walls. The bad news is that I just spent $2500 on shocks so now I'm tapped out.
I plan on doing a compression test to see where that's at, but don't know exactly what numbers I should see on a healty stock pred 500 motor.
If the compression numbers are good, should I just ride it til it drops ? or do I need to get in and do a full rebuild now ?

If I rebuild do I stay stock bore or have it machined out and go the next size bigger? I never intended to go bigger bore just for reliability, so if I go bigger it is only the next size (don't know what exactly that is).

Should I send it to a place like HPD and get the 558 kit ? or do I buy a sleeve and go back stock for reliability ?

I want to stay on 93 pump gas. The extra power would be ok if I can stay reliable. But as mentioned before cash is an issue.
If I go back stock with a std bore Weisco piston, what sleeve do I get ? and roughly how much to get it machined and installed as opposed to the $450 for the HPD 558 kit that comes with piston, gaskets, installed sleeve etc?

I know this is a lot, but I'd sure appreciate it if any of you guys with experience dealing with this kind of internal stuff would sound off and get me pointing in the right direction.

Thanks

 

First off --- Relax ... :-)

The shavings you see are not from the piston , rings , or cylinder . Don't even worry about a compression test , if the bike isn't smoking you are OK . (Actually a smoking bike can test good on compression do the the oil around the rings ) .

What you are seeing is from the tranny or from the timing chain I would bet .

If it doesn't smoke or have any odd rattles keep an eye on the oil and enjoy yourself .

What you are seeing is not the result of a lean condition .

Rick Ritter

 

OK trying to relax.......

I just freaked out knowing that I had run it lean, and I had never seen any slivers of metal in the oil like that.
It doesn't smoke at all, starts right up, and runs strong. I change the oil oftem, but plan on running it hard for a ride then checking for any metal in the oil. That will be a week or so since I 'm waiting on shocks to come in.

Now that you say it's not from running lean, what would make shavings appear from the tranny or timing chain ? I run Amsoil and change it often. I just want to make sure I'm not going to ruin my engine, or compound the problem.

I really appreciate the quick response Rick.

 

I would say the dark stuff on the magnet is clutch dust. If it is gooey with no feeling to it then it is clutch dust. To check for piston damage, you need to check the plug. If there is no alumunin melted on it, then you are problably ok.

 

The dark stuff had no real feeling it was like magnetic powder. But if that's clutch dust, what about the little metal shavings ?
I'll check the plug tomorrow and report back.

Thanks for the response rdeeno.

 

With your Predator, the engine and transmission share the oil, so believe me the most likely place for the shavings to come from is the transmission and contaminants from the clutch. If you had that type of metal coming from the cylinder or piston, trust me you'd know it. If the shavings are ferrous (sticks to a magnet) they could just be a result of gears meshing and wearing together. Just keep on riding it and take note if they start to increase in numbers/size. So, okay you did run lean for a bit, but the reason why was none of your fault. I have been complaining for a long time that jet numbers should correspond to their size universally so this kind of thing shouldn't happen. I had the same thing happen with my Honda 450R with a dynojet kit and finally I went out and bought a master jet kit from a kehin carb dealer and was able to fine tune the jetting to my bike's specs, not to a one size fits all jet kit. Now, my advice to anyone who tunes with a jet kit is use the dynojet needle and buy jets from a (Mikuni in your instance) dealer. By the way, I had a Predator a while back and the aftermarket had almost nothing for it...so I found Rath racing and they had awesome stuff and excellent technical abilities. Things have really turned around in the aftermarket for you, so you should have no problem getting what you need.

 

I'm feeling better now that I'm hearing that it's probably nothing major or abnormal, but more likely clutch wear related. And I love Rathracing and what they've done for the Predator! I have mostly Rath parts on my Pred and have my other parts from them as well. Thanks for the input.

 

If this was your first oil change you will have some shavings and stuff on the drian plug. It is filings from the machine work that doesn't get cleaned out at the assembly line. After a couple of changes it should be alot cleaner.

 

unfortunately it's not the first oil change though. In fact I've had my pred for a year now. And it didn't have that much in the oil when I did the first oil change which is the reason for the concern.