i have an 86 lt230s and it seizes up and then later on it will unseize itself like it keeps locking up and i cant kick it and then like couple hours or so it will un lock it self. i need help can someone please help me?

 

I wonder if the piston rings are welding themselves to the wall and, as they cool, snapping loose. I've seen that happen on an old honda 125. Do you have any oil in it?

 

yea theres oil and i had it all qpart the piston and rings look fine theres no scoremarks in the cylinder i just dont know wat it is its weird

 

How's the timing chain? I once found a broken screwdriver tip would occassionally get lodged in the chain and the engine would seize. Could something be lodging itself in your timing chain? Is the chain so loose that it wads up on the sprocket?

 

the timing chain seems pretty good and its tight so im thinking it might be a bottom end problem but i dont know

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: yelwpokadotbkini
[snip]
i cant kick it and then like couple hours or so it will un lock it self </end quote></div>

This tells me its heat related. That's the only thing that changes in the span of 2 hrs unless you have a ghost or something. I'm still betting heavily that its something to do with the piston and cylinder. I don't see why it would be anything in the bottomend since its all ball-bearings and gears.

 

yea i was thinking a crank bearing but they look good and it was kickin before so its gotta be top end but its weird cause it looks all good

 

Its a bad connecting rod bearing and is common amoung the 230. At least with the ones ive seen. Wouldnt run it much or ull be changin out a lot more parts.

 

yea i talked to a dude today that owns a motorcycle repair shop he told me to spin the flywheel and if it got rough in spots that is was a crannk bearing or that if the rod has play then its a bearing or piston rod and it did feel a lil rough. he told me that a crank bearing job is like $350 because you have to split the case. i have experience with top ends on 4 strokes i did my top end on my 230 before. do you think it will be easy for me to do myself or should i take it to the shop? im asking you cause ive seen alot of your posts and it seems to me you are very experienced with the 230. so let me know wat you think. thanks.

 

A rod bearing will knock. And yes a lot of 230's have bad rod bearings. Can't see how that would seize your engine and then let go in a couple hours though. The knock gets louder as it gets hotter. When the engine is cold and the oil is thick, you almost can't hear it at all.

Crank bearings would make a growling, rumbling sound. They're just big ball-bearings and, again, its hard to imagine those seizing solid and then letting go 2 hrs later.

The only thing that makes sense to me is the piston is getting too large for the cylinder for one reason or another. When it cools and shrinks, you can ride again until it gets hot and swells.

If you want to split the cases anyway, you should be able to do it so long as you don't disturb the transmission. Just split it, yank the crank out, and put it right back together while the crank is being serviced. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have a shop manual and you'll need a flywheel puller.