Chizuck Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Howdy all, I just bought a '94 Kawa ninja 500 for the little lady to start riding on. She recently took the MSF course and is hell-bent on learning to ride, so what can I do. I bought this bike for $1K from a guy who said a female friend gave it to him after she bought it new, rode it for several years (15K miles), then let it sit outdoors for a year or two. It didn't run great, but I looked it over and the frame and everything looked straight, there's no evidence of it ever being laid down, and it looks very stock, like the woman who owned it never really did much messing around with it. So now I'm starting to check some things over, rebuilt the carbs, forks, brake calipers, etc. Then tonight I checked all the valve clearances and did a compression check, and discovered that it may have compression issues. One cylinder seems good - it runs up to about 160psi after the engine turns over 10 times. The other side is not so good - more like 125psi. I dribbled a little oil in the cylinders and then they were both up over 200psi. Based on this my first guess is that the cylinder walls are pitted from sitting so long, and this leaves me with a dilemna. One option is to put it all back together and just let my woman ride it as is (slightly under-powered and idle is a little rough) and hope it might wear itself in a little over time. The other option is to go ahead and tear into it further, although I'm guessing this will mean several hundred more dollars after boring and buying oversized rings and pistons, new head and cylinder gaskets, etc. Anybody have any cheap tricks to get better compression? Is it possible that just replacing rings or a gasket could fix this? Or should I just put it back together and let her ride it as is? Any thoughts are welcome... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rockmeupto125 Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Anybody have any cheap tricks to get better compression? Or should I just put it back together and let her ride it as is? Any thoughts are welcome... The answer to the first question is the second question. If its been sitting for a while, you may well just have some gudged up rings. Change the oil, ram on it for a bit, and change the oil again. Giving it a heavy throttle hand may well help get the crap off those rings, and fix your problem. Or your theory may be correct. I recommend you try mine first....you can always tear it down later if it needs it, but tearing it down to find that it DOESN'T need it is certainly annoying at best.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lois Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Ride first.....fix later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekasXX Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I'm not a mechanic, but I'd ride it and put some miles on it. Maybe run some Seafoam through the fuel tank, and after a few hundred miles check it out. If it isn't a big problem, why go through the effort. Its not like the bike is a real performer anyway, so how badly underpowered from stock could it be in its current condition. Again, I'm not a mechanic, but that's what I'd do. In aviation we'd use mineral oil to help the engine break in and seat the rings, maybe someone has some thoughts on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airborneXX Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Never had to do it myself, but I've been told you can pour seafoam in through the spark plug holes and let soak through a couple of days. Change the oil and spin the motor a few times with the plugs out to clear the cylinders. Put it back together and run it for a while and do another oil/filter change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porterb123 Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Add some Marvel Mystery oil to the crankcase and ride it like Joe said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.