TE450 Bike Rebuild (orignally "Lots of metal last oil change!")

Here is a photo of my last oil change, and how much metal was on the drain plug magnet. I am following George's (Up-Tite) advice and going to pull apart the oil filter. I pulled apart the oil filter on my last change, and there was a lot of metal in it. I kept it and am going to shoot some photos of the filter.

I went on a ride this last weekend from Tecate to San Felipe and back. 435 miles. I am going to pull the plug and filter on my bike and shoot some photos and post those later tonight.

Has anyone seen metal like this before? What was it? What do you all think it is? I really hate to have to break the case (something I haven't done before)! I will likely just have George fix it, but I don't really have that kind of spare $$ right now.

-Blake

ive seen alot worse.keep riding ,change your oil in a couple hundred miles and have another look.dan

yeah i get that often, esp if i havent changed the oil for a while. My bike has done over 3000km and is most likely due for a piston (bit of crank case pressure), so hopefully it will last the winter

I don't think it's that bad. What did the filter look like, that may be a bigger clue. Do you pull the drain plug to do oil changes normally or just occasionally.

That's from shifting.

it could be the clutch debrie that builds up if you don't change your oil often enough when your hard on the clutch!

Allright...Im getting conflicting results. Over on TT (http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=871760), and what George told me it may be my lower rod bearing was on its way out. To clarify, the photo I posted was of my oil change BEFORE the ride I just went on. I had not pulled the magnet for about 3 oil changes. I DID pull the filter apart, and here are the photos of it:











ABOVE is the photos of the oil change I made before I rode 435 miles in Baja. This is the paper filter. I put a magnet to it, and it picked up pretty much everything.

I rode about 210 miles the first day (Saturday), checked the magnet (oil drain plug) in San Felipe, and cleaned it, and put it back. I DID NOT replace the filter. The photos below are of the filer after 435 mile, and the drain plug/magnet after 225 miles. Let me know what you all think about this.

This is the oil magnet after 225 miles:







This is the filter after 435 miles:





The biggest piece I could find is this:



Here is what the paper towel looked like after cleaning the magnet:



-Blake

You got nothing.

I'm wondering what Brand and type of oil you have been running and weather the metal deposits have gotten this bad all of a sudden? Cant wait to know where all the wear has come from. Interesting

I agree. If this is a new motor I'd expect to see this sort of thing.

The magnet picks up stuff from the trans. What I see is a metalic slurry on the paper towel.

the clutch wear is usually aluminum and will not end up on the magnet.

To me, that seems like a lot of metal after just 435 miles. The longest I've ever gone on a change is about 500 miles on my 250 and I've never had anything close to what your showing. My bike isn't exactly new either - with 7300+km on it.

I see you have an 07, how many miles on your bike? What kind of oil?

There is a lot of possibilities as to where it could be coming from without having an analysis of the metal particles.

If it was my bike, It would be tear down time before something catastrophic happens.

thats normal for the husky

I respectfully disagree. Having some tiny metal particles on the drain plug magnet is normal. The amount of metal in the filter appears to be quite significant and it's picked up by the magnet in the pic, so it's coming from steel parts, not the clutch basket or piston.

However, it would be worth the 15 minutes to pull the clutch plates out and take a good look at the steel ones. If they're scored, that could account for a bunch of the metal. If so, I'd think the clutch would be pretty grabby......

I say normal and change your filter and clean the magnetic plug more often. Each can only contain so much debris before the rest just circulates through the engine.

NC

I've seen similar amounts on the magnets over the years (KTM's and Honda's included), but the stuff in the filter doesn't look normal to me. How often do you change?

I have about 4K miles on the bike, and I run Mobil 1 full synthetic or Rotella full synthetic. I am thinking it may be the lower rod bearing, as told to me by George, and linkandcuff over on TT: http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=864740

I change the oil every 300-500 miles.