my te is in the shop getting the crankcase split to fix an oil leak. It has 30 hours on it, never been overheated and only ever had premium fuel through it..was running very well apart from the oil leak. well the dealer rings me today to tell me they have the engine apart and that i will need a new piston at $640. I told him i would come look at it first. I get there and he shows me some carbon on top of the piston and trys to tell me the piston is burnt. I tell him not a chance im spending that sort of coin when that is normal then he tells me they should be changed at about 30 hours..piston and bore is perfect in my eyes and i told him to put new rings and put it back together..What sort of lifespan do these have on pistons?? Ive had some big four strokes for 5 or 6 years and heaps of hours on them without ever looking at the piston..
I don't think he expected you to come down & look at it. Without measuring the works it would be hard to actually tell but I really doubt it, especially a 510cc, they are very dependable. Can you go somewhere else, after this? What did the sides of the piston look like? Carbon on top is normal. If he told you 30 hrs. to change a piston & ring it, you NEED to go somewhere else. I wonder how many times they have done this to others?
Mate if the bike has been putzing around on ST and stuff think 200 hours. Most manufactures talk in terms of 20 hours for MX riding and 80 to 100 for trail riding. Think in terms of 200 if you maintain the airfilters and change the oil regularly
The piston hardly wears at all, carbon build up is normal and can be cleaned up, heck at 20 hours you probably didn't even need rings. All the wear is on the bottom crankpin, and at 20 hours, I'm sure it's fine. Let's hope the did a decent job splitting the case and reassembling.
