RemoteMoto.com - The New Zealand Diaries

[RMOTO]

what is the typical load you put on your DRZ to cause it to run so many engines? (your weight + your panniers and junk?)

Hi ya Scubbo. To be fair, even though I only weigh 78kg, there is decent amount of weight being carried. Exact weight is unknown but the photo below shows the bike loaded up when on a typical riding/fly fishing trip and there is a ton of food, water, camping, cooking, fishing gear... plus 28 litres of fuel.



At this stage it hasn't been determined how much of a factor weight is playing. One interesting way to look at this, an S or SM model (which have pillion pegs) would likely be carrying similar or more weight than I do when carrying a pillion.

Excellent report Josh ...very well written and will be following with interest...great to see the oil guys stepping up to help...

Cheers Kenny, yes it was great to have the support, Chris from Motul has been a wealth of knowledge and extremely generous with his time.

[Night Falcon]

You've done some pretty in-depth forensic research there mate, hope it solves the riddle for ya. I'd have given up on the 2nd engine, bit the bullet and bought a 690

[Muzz67]

is the big-end actually disintegrating,seizing or just getting a bit rumbly?
Not being nasty mate,, but is the engine likely to go for years without getting any worse?
Had rattly old Honda engines that have gone for years of VMX and trail riding without failing completely.

[R650R]

The process of exploring options and seeking input from specialists to increase DRZ400 big end life is nearing completion. You can read the progress here:

DRZ400 Engine - Big End Longevity

Very interesting read. I run the BellRay thumper in my DR650, I think it is good oil and my DR sure sees some hard riding with plenty of weight on board.
I don't know about that ELF stuff, they are not really well known for bike stuff. Motul doesn't get on well with Kawasaki engines for some reason and when I put it in my GSXR it didn't get on well with my oil pressure gauge, cured by switch to Shell.
Is it possible to test/demonstrate the oil flow to the big ends in static environment with dead engine and good one??? I wonder if on those early fails if a gallery feed was choked by debri or partially constricted by poor build at factory etc.
We were talking at work other day about certain year Hilux that is known to have bad oil feed/spray onto rear big ends later in life for various reasons.
I wouldn't worry about weight/payload, if that was the issue for the oil you'd be doing gearboxes by now, not just big ends....

[Scubbo]

...
I wouldn't worry about weight/payload, if that was the issue for the oil you'd be doing gearboxes by now, not just big ends....

thats good to know/what I was wondering --- i'm pretty heavy/carry a bit of spare fuel but mine is also old, fingers crossed she keeps going, shortened service intervals sound like the best way to go

[R650R]

With the level of expertise available these days you could prob have the shells looked at and be told how they failed.
Eg excess heat but still getting some lubrication, excess heat with no lubrication. No excess external heat just crap oil etc....

[RMOTO]

You've done some pretty in-depth forensic research there mate, hope it solves the riddle for ya. I'd have given up on the 2nd engine, bit the bullet and bought a 690

Hi ya Night Falcon, some say patience is a virtue, in my case it's just bloody expensive

is the big-end actually disintegrating,seizing or just getting a bit rumbly?
Not being nasty mate,, but is the engine likely to go for years without getting any worse?
Had rattly old Honda engines that have gone for years of VMX and trail riding without failing completely.

Hi ya Muzz, when the big end begins to go it starts making an audible knocking noise that increases in volume in a very short space of time. It coincides with fragments of metal being picked up by the sump bung and oil consumption. This is unfortunately not a case of being able to ignore a harmless noise, this noise means business, self destructive business

I wonder if on those early fails if a gallery feed was choked by debri or partially constricted by poor build at factory etc.

Hi ya R650R, the debris idea could safely be ruled out as the big end issue is identical, but on two different brand new K9 engines. The poor build at factory could safely be ruled out by the reputation of the bike not indicating this is a trend. In saying that, anything is possible.

I wouldn't worry about weight/payload, if that was the issue for the oil you'd be doing gearboxes by now, not just big ends....

Prior to the DRZ400 I had a DRZ250. in 40,000km I did two gearbox rebuilds after stripping the hardening off the faces and did one full engine rebuild due to running a big end. I shifted to the DRZ400 for more engine robustness. The gearbox has shown no sign of issue, so that's one item successfully addressed, now just the big end. I am confident that your suggestion is right that weight isn't the direct cause, it will certainly add a stress factor into the mix but it is most likely not the direct cause

With the level of expertise available these days you could prob have the shells looked at and be told how they failed.
Eg excess heat but still getting some lubrication, excess heat with no lubrication. No excess external heat just crap oil etc....

The DRZ400 runs needle roller big end bearings in a pressed crank. The crank needs to be pressed apart to inspect. Two failed cranks have been inspected by a third party engineer when Suzuki NZ became involved in trying to discover the issue. The diagnosis was that the crank had been worn out of round by what they could only comment as "excessive use". Their third party engineer's input was primarily to identify the issue, not identify the cause.

What I will be doing on the next two engines is oil tests after each oil change with oil samples through Goughs Oil Laboratories. This will give great insight to the possible theory that the oil's protection properties have expired. This will be documented in the main article and should be quite interesting.

Cheers for the input all

[RMOTO]

A few delays with waiting for parts from Japan but, progress...

DRZ400 engine rebuild

[thepom]

Excellent.....following with interest....love the way you have made your own bearing presses...

[Scubbo]

very cool, if you need another project motor to refurb mine could do with a treatment

[R650R]

Great write up and mostly excellent images, +ve rep.... following updates with interest.

[RMOTO]

love the way you have made your own bearing presses...

Great write up and mostly excellent images, +ve rep.... following updates with interest.

Cheers guys

very cool, if you need another project motor to refurb mine could do with a treatment

hi ya Scubbo, no probs, my hourly rate is $250 per hour. Feel free to drop it off anytime

[RMOTO]

A little more progress...

DRZ400 engine rebuild

[RMOTO]

And done

DRZ400 engine rebuild

[JATZ]

Interesting, and well written squire

So you used genuine Suzuki parts for the rebuild ? You weren't tempted to go all out with aftermarket bits and get as much horsepower as possible out of it ?