Hey there suzuki folks, im usualy over on the polaris forums,but i need a little help from yall on a suzuki. I picked up an 02 ozark for next to nothing it does not run, but it seems to be in overall good shape. Im going to clean the carb and all that fun stuff that goes into getting a bike running, this is not my first one to try get running haha. But the motor seems to seize up in a certain spot in the cycle. I can use the pull start and it will spin for a little bit, then sieze up. I can take the pull start cover off and take a big screwdrive and get it to turn again with a significant amount of pressure but its deffinatly not normal. Even with the spark plug out its hard to spin. Im thinking it may need a bottom end. So my question is, is there any good place to get a bottom end rebuld kit for it, i have searched the web hi and low and i cant seem to find anything. and does anyone have any other thoughts on what may be wrong? Thanks in advance.

 

It is far more likely to be small end and/or piston seizure than big end. Air cooled quad engines, when overheated or short of oil, nip up on the piston. I have rebuilt thirty or so seized engines and have had one big end locked up, one seized camshaft and one jumped timing chain (piston hit valves locking motor), the rest were the piston.

 

Ok thanks for the help! I put some pb blaster down the plug hole and im letting it sit for a day or two to see if it frees it up. If that doesnt do the trick is it best to pull the head first and see what the cylinder looks like?

 

Run a compression check if you can get to crank enough. If reading high, I would lean toward piston too or decomp system.

 

I sprayed pb in the cylinder and it seemed to help a little, but there is still a spot where it likes to hang up. Should my next step be pull the head and take a look at the cylinder walls? Or is there somthing else simple I should check before all of that?

 

Yes, take the head off, and the cylinder, the piston pin should be free to rotate in the rod and piston, and there should be no heavy scrape marks on piston or bore.

 

What part of the rotation is it hanging up? If it's around TDC on the exhaust stroke where both valves it's normal unless it completely stops. Take the cam out and spin the engine again and see if it spins better.

 

Im pretty sure its hanging up on an up stroke. Because the piston seems to move freely down but catches if its coming up. Catches so much that the starter wont even turn it, and I cant turn it with the pull rope either. To turn it I have to take the pullstart off and use a big screw driver or prybar to get it past the hang up.

 

Yeah that's not good. Time to tear it down and start looking for the cause.

 

Yeah thats what I was afraid of. But I new it had issues when buying it. But for 100 bucks I couldnt pass it up. Ill tear into it in the next week or so and keep yall updated, and probably have more questions. Thanks for the help everyone.