Finally when everything was going good the engine seized up

Not good news, When my Berg was finally operating properly it didn't take the pressure and seized up. I went for 2 hour riding in the desert this afternoon, the Berg was working awesomely good I was able to pull wheelies in 5th gear and revving 7800 rpm up steep sand dunes in forth gear.. Just awesome.. When I was returning and getting close to our pickup doing around 3000 rpm's there was a sudden big clunk noise and engine locked up. I stopped and stepped of the bike and gave the engine a good look over to see if anything had broken or flown out of it. It was all dry no oil leek anywhere to be seen apart from underneath the crankcase. I don't think the casing has broken but it was leaking between the seal.

I now have about two months before this season gets to hot to ride. So I have no time for down time. I have been offered FE600 2000 model for around 1000usd. I'm thinking just go and buy that one. Least I'll have a ride until I'd fixed this one up.. Well I'm not giving up on Husaberg they are too much fun for that.

I know probably I overdid it in the long sand hills today, I just have never experience such off road power before I just couldn’t resist. And the sound from the engine on high rpm’s was phenomenal!!! 8O

I have not yet opened the engine but I really think it’s the connecting rod and crankshaft gone, but not sure until I' open it and check. I'll let you know what I find when I do.


Regards
Thor
_________________
HB FE600 98
HD FB1340 96
KW ZX10 89

RE: Finally when everything was going good the engine seized

2000 is a good year! and the price seems good if it is running or just needs a little TLC.

RE: Finally when everything was going good the engine seized

get it open and get on with it. no matter how early you get up - get up earlier and strip it down!

you may find everything happened in the left cover.

regards

Taffy

Hi Taffy
I stripped it down this afternoon, sadly my suspicion was on target. Both big and small end on the connecting rod are gone. You can see the busing on the photo. I went to the dealer this afternoon to check if by any chance they had it in stock. They were going to let me know by tomorrow. I also looked at the FX600 I mentioned, it's much more of a machine than the 98 model. I'll be giving him an offer for it later this week. I should get it for good price as it has been for sale at least last six months. Husaberg are not very well know here in Dubai.

Thanks and Regards
Thor
_______________
HB FE600 98
HD FB1340 96
KW ZX10 89

Thors, that is a bummer! One clue from the photo, there is a lot if sealer hanging around, it is possible that you plugged an oil passage with sealant.

Good point I'll will look into that to, though I can't see any sealant on the cylinder sleeve or on the inside edge. But definitely good point though.

Thanks and regards
Thor

Come to think of it, there was no oil screen fitted to the engine when I got it, so there is real possibility some oil passage are blocked. Or least not with full capacity.

Thanks for the pointer.

Regards
Thor

I got the engine out and I’ll be taking it to the dealer tomorrow to crack the engine casing open as I have no special tools for the job. Heck I don't even have a garage lol. I'm doing the work in the hotel car parking were I live.

I found the bolt through the swingarm didn’t want to move how much I hammered it. The solution I found was to remove the nuts on both side and the put washers behind one nut and tighten until the axel moved. After I got the axel tighten back and forth for about three times while spraying WD40 it got looser and looser finally I pulled it out with my hand. Jus though I'd posted this as I remember seeing someone here struggling too.

I'll keep you posted

Regards
Thor

The culprit is found! Metal fragment travelled into the oil pump and locked it up. I’m not sure for how long it’s been running without oil pressure. I fitted new oil screen that was missing when I bought the bike about 20 hours ago. I know now I should have stripped it and cleaned all oil passes then. Well we live and learn don’t we. :?

Now I just need to find out if it was serviced by the dealer prior me buying the bike. If it was then that would give me some ammo when talking price for spares.

Does anyone of you know what to expect to pay for Connecting Rod kit, cylinder and piston with rings? I’m told they have all these parts available here in Dubai however the guy with prices is not in for couple of days. So I’m not sure how much this is going to cost me. 8O

Regards
Thor

P.S. The 2000 model is sold.

Ma' bruk! Youv'e found the problem...as you said a full tear down of any bike is a good idea when getting it...too bad no bad winter there in Dubai...otherwise, it could be a "fun" necessity. I need to do it, too...

Complete Crankshaft 270usd Main Bearings 30usd and piston and rings 160usd. I don't think this to bad for new parts or what? Luckily enough the dealer had all items in stock here in Dubai as they have not placed any orders from Husaberg for over a year now, and they don't think they will be placing any orders again.(Well that's what they tell me)
Hopefully I'll be back and running by next weekend.

Regards
Thor

You will not believe this one!!
Just got my engine back from the Husaberg dealers work shop today, they replaced all bearings and the crankshaft for me. When I installed the cylinder and piston back on I noticed the piston was short about 15mm from the usual TDC on FE600 engine.

I can't believe it they actually fitted 501 crank instead of 600 crankshaft. !! :cursin:

I brought it back to them and the guys face was just pail and stupid. I just hope he'll make it right this time around!!

I wish I had a the necessary Husaberg tools so I could just do the crank by myself..

Regards
Thor
--------------------------
HB FE600 98
HD FB1340 96
KW ZX10 89

Right-o Thor, better to have the shop fix the crank -- that would have been a ***** to change your signature and paperwork to 501! Amazing you caught it.

wow!

they simply didn't roll it around to check...

could have put a 501 or 400 crank in with the correspondingly shorter con rod don't forget. check up lengths in the doc under tuning.

regards

Taffy

Wrong crank fitted

Well, I brought the engine in without the cylinder fitted and got it back the same way. I luckily realized something was wrong when I fitted the cylinder. Imagine if hadn’t got it in time and assembled the whole engine. I would have been scratching my head far into next week trying to figure it out, with compression ratio close to 5:1

The dealer only had two cranks available, one FE501 crank that they fitted and looked very similar to my old one, and FC600 crank that has different main bearing seat than the FE. So to solve this dilemma they were going to brake up FC600 crank today, and use the Rod and Pin in my old FE crank. Believe me they are working double time now to save face and the engine is scheduled to be ready for collection tomorrow afternoon.

I’m also removing counter balancer and e-start gear, as it’s very easy on the kick start when well adjusted.
It will have less stuff in there to brake apart that way. Any tip on how to plug up the starter seat?

Regards
Thor

RE: Wrong crank fitted

certainly on the later models there is a factory bung you can buy. check the parts book for the FC and see if it's coded.

good luck.

definately one of the best stories i've read here for a long while!

i can believe you could fit it but not that you'd let it pass you bye....

just to let you all know, i bought and still have a very rare ducati. it's a DUcati 400ss japanese model. as you may know, the japs have torrid taxes for anything over 400 so ducati sent out their smaller than 600ss special.

anyway, it bombed and was bought back and spread around europe in about 1992. i was just about packing up the road racing then but at the motorcycle show i had read the specs in the broschure on this bike and noted 6 SPEED gearbox. well this was the only duke to get it and i guessed it was a misprint.

so when one came up used i bought it, took the gearbox out and put an old 5 speed in. i had to push out the gearbox sprocket cleverly about 6-8mm andf bring the rear sprocket in about the same for it all to work.

at the same time i ported it, stage 2 dynajet kit, end can, 900ss forks, WP RR rear race shock, big valve head and 86mm pistons for an unbelievably oversquare 600ss. not the 80 x 58 of the factory, no sir! this was 86 x 51.

so i thrashed it and saw 175mph on the clock, the thing was awesome and had only cost me £300 to tune as i had 80% of the bits.

alas, on my way to my home country i snapped the crank on it!

so i had a lift around wales for 4 days and came home. stripped it and fitted a spare 51mm crabk i had from the 350 ducati that came out in the 80's.

THE PISTONS MISSED THE HEAD BY ABOUT 15MM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

upshot?

when ducati sent the engine to japan and told the nips it was 70 x 51 equalling 400cc BUT it was really 70 x 58. the bike was still useless against NC30's etc etc even though it was a 450cc bike!!!!

so, who says it can't happen....

regards

Taffy

Thanks Taffy luck definitely needed here.

I finally have the bike up and running, however there seems to be hissing noise when I drive the bike. I think its coming from the secondary drive shaft when it turns. I have heard this kind of noise from other bikes, but this first time I have this noise on the Husaberg. They replaced all bearings including the gearbox. So I'm not sure if I should worry about it or not?

Any suggestions welcome, thanks.

Regards
Thor

well at a guess the bearings could be tight and under a lot of pressure. normally though they will settle down.

maybe someone else can make a guess at it.

regards

Taffy

what taffy said. also, what about camchain guides/tensioner, or maybe the waterpump impeller? do the old mechanic trick of putting a long screwdriver handle to your ear and probe the metal end around the engine to locate the noise. (not liking to contort very much, i use a small bore length of tubing as a stethoscope)

That would be kinda hard to do, put a screwdriver on to the engine and listen while driving... 8O

This hissing noise only comes when I drive the bike, standstill the engine sounds great.
I suspect the secondary gear-shaft bearing maybe not seated properly or maybe some dirt in it? For some peace of mind, I will remove the clutch cover off least then I can check the inner bearing on the secondary gear-shaft.

Its probably like Taffy said, the bearings just needs little time to settle properly in.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Thor