This is probably old hat to many but not for me so.
I had a problem with my bikes exhaust which led me to remove it from the cylinder, whilst drilling the stud thread out I spotted that my piston was badly scored. ( see picture )
I was told it was a lubrication problem which is fairly plain to see but what worried me is why or how could it have a lube problem when i had 20:1 Motul 800 in the fuel?
After a bit of research i found this article and it seems to make sense
piston Seizure Vs Piston Scoring - Piston “seizure” and piston “scoring” are two different stages of the same problem. When the oil film on a cylinder is momentarily burned or brushed away, the bare metal surfaces of the piston and the cylinder wall will actually touch. When this happens, there is a sort of scraping that takes place between them. If the oil film is quickly resumed, the marks from this scraping will often remain on the piston and (or) the cylinder wall. A momentary scraping or "scoring" seldom causes any permanent or performance robbing damage. In a momentary scoring event like this, no significant damage takes place because the oil film is resumed before the piston and cylinder have a chance to start exchanging material onto one another.
Scoring is commonly seen on the piston face directly below the piston ring end gaps. The blast of combustion can get between the large end gap of a worn out ring and burn the oil off the piston and cylinder in that area...Hence the surface scoring. In most cases, score marks can simply be sanded off of the piston and cylinder. However when ever you see scoring, it's a good idea to find the source so that it doesn't develop into a full blown seizure.
Piston seizure is a case of scoring where the oil film does not immediately return. After a few moments of constant scoring, the piston and cylinder will scratch each other hard enough to remove material from each other. This floating material grinds itself into the piston and the cylinder as it continues to grow in size. As this snowballing material grows, it will drive the opposite side of the piston against the cylinder wall with a pressure so terrific that scoring on the other side of the piston begins to take place. While all this is going on, your engine is still running wonderfully at full throttle. However if there is a momentary lifting of the throttle, the force of this scoring can cause the piston to “seize” in the bore. In a “light seizure” event like this, the rings often escape any damage, and the engine will easily re-fire as soon as the engine cools down slightly.
The death blow of a “power-on” seizure comes when the mass of material between the piston and the cylinder wall finds it's way to the piston rings. This nearly molten mixture of aluminum and iron can lock the ring in it's groove. This ring locking, not the piston surface scoring, is what actually causes your engine to quit when you experience a “throttle-on” seizure. When the piston ring becomes locked back in it's groove, it's incapable of providing compression sealing against the cylinder wall. This instant loss of compression, while the engine is at speed, causes a dramatic loss of power. That power loss, along with the added drag of the badly scoring piston, makes the engine quit or lock up in a nanosecond. In fact this entire seizure process, from the first scoring scratch to the piston locked solid, takes less than a second at full rpm. In such a failure, a single cylinder engine will seldom restart.
I have decided to go with Grump and bought some Klotz R50 to see if this behaves.
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