Author Topic: Smashed Rotor Magnet  (Read 1867 times)

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Offline bh15vstrom

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Smashed Rotor Magnet
« on: July 19, 2014, 12:09:14 »
Hi all,

Firstly, hope I am in the right part of the forum to be posting this ... apologies to Admin if not !

OK, so I just had a magnet break the rotor assembly on my VStrom 1000, and it broke big style.

I've had the rotor assembly (stator and everything) replaced, at some considerable expense.

The blokes who diagnosed the problem weren't the blokes who replaced it, but both garages said that once the replacement was done, they couldn't guarantee that magnet fragments may not be left in there and could migrate around the engine and cause damage eventually.

A full flush was done when the rotor assembly was changed so a lot of it should have been become out but. naturally there are concerns.

My thoughts and the thoughts of friends and engineers etc are:

1. The fragments are magnetic so should 'stick' where they are and not move around
2. Although in an oil environment, the rotor / stator assembly is isolated from the main crank / pistons etc. so any fragments should also be isolated to that environment.
3. Whilst the oil does travel round the engine it passes through the main filter and numerous gauze filters within the oil galleries in the engine so any fragments should be 'caught' before they get to anywhere vital
4. It would need to be a substantial magnet fragment to do any serious damage - and point one above would 'cover' larger fragments surely ? Smaller fragments that hit cogs etc will surely get crunched (not a great outlook I know, but surely not 'life threatening' to the engine)
5. And finally ! General consensus is, based on the 4 foregoing points, run it a couple of weeks, do an oil swap and strain the oil through some old tights to see if there's any crud, do this a couple of times until feeling more confident.

Only other options is a complete rebuild - an expensive option for an '04 bike that cost £3500 when I bought it !

I wonder are the garages just making the 'can;t guarantee' disclaimer in case the engine lets go (for whatever reason - maybe not even related to rotor replacement / magnet frags etc) so I don't have comeback on them given our 'sue everyone' culture !

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to cover everything. I know the magnet issue happens on VStroms and I am sure there's someone on here with some experience or valuable input, which I would be grateful to receive !

Hope to hear soon !

Cheers BH15 :text-imnewhere:

Offline mjc506

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2014, 09:24:13 »
My opinion: Not so good, but not so bad either.

You're correct in saying that the magnet debris won't float around too much.Although the case is aluminium, there's plenty of steel in there to stick to. For example - you've probably got a magnetic oil drain plug. Also, the oil filter has a steel case. And even better, there's an internal oil filter which is also made from a magnetic material. I would imagine that most of the debris is already caught. Change your oil and filter very requently for a while (as often as you can afford really, until the oil and magnetic sump plug comes out clean. You can use cheapy mineral oil for these changes, it's not going to be in there long) and you'll probably be OK. But if the bike's being used frequently, take the time to change the oil every other ride or so.

Personally, I'd go a little deeper. While you're changing your oil, when it's drained, take both engine side covers off. You can usually re-use the gaskets if you're careful, but of course, if you don't have spares, you'll need them... :) You can check/inspect/clean things a bit better here. There's a kind of oil trap both sides made from the gasket material. Some shrapnel may have made it into these. Also, all the gears you can see, and quite a lot of the clutch are steel. Worth checking/cleaning. (It's not a big job to open the clutch and take a look at all the friction/pressure plates in there) Also peer behind the clutch to look at the gear selector mechanism. Bearings are another place the fragments could collect, but unfortunately there's s.f.a you can do to check these without stripping the engine.

I'd also take off the valve covers. Lots more steel here, and some fairly fragile parts, and less oil flow to keep things clean. Inspect/clean the cams, cam chain (turn the engine over several times by hand to inspect the whole length thoroughly) and anything else you can see. You can get a good idea for the general condition of the engine by looking at the cams. If you find significant deposits here, it may be worth considering stripping the engine.

What I'd be most concerned about is a fragment getting stuck in one of the many oil jets and blocking it. Really the only way you can guarantee that won't happen is stripping the engine. It is my personal opinion that this is unlikely (the way the magnets fail makes it unlikely for the right size/shape of fragment to form, let alone make it passed the filters) but the possibility is there. Take a look under the valve covers and you'll have a fair idea about how much made it through.

This is for a 650 (the internals are different on a 1000), but it'll give you a fair idea of what could be involved (worst case)
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Offline Gassoon

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2014, 12:08:14 »
:clap:  Fantastic reply!  :text-goodpost:


I would only do the oil/filter changey bits, but additionally cross my fingers a lot for a few hundred miles (and possibly my toes inside my boots if I could find the space), and also maybe sacrifice a small animal as a favour to Jupiter (is there's a temple in your area?)
But that's because I'm weak and lazy :)
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Offline bh15vstrom

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2014, 22:19:48 »
mjc

Wow !  Great feedback, and really reassuring - lends some serious weight to what's been considered and adds some valuable additional cautions to build into the follow up over the next few hundred miles.

Rode the bike for the first time in two weeks today for an hour or so, covered dual carriageway / speed riding and town riding, and she sounds just like always !

I'm taking board this valuable advice and can't thank you enough !

Cheers !

 :ty:

Offline bh15vstrom

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2014, 22:23:07 »
Cheers Gasson ..... I am secretly constructing an alter to Jupiter in my work shed ...... now just have to catch next doors cat who keeps cr@pping on my roses for the sacrifice !

Seriously though,thanks for the feedback ..... all good advise taken on board

(P.S. do you need any prayers offering up when I eventually catch 'Tiddles' ?)

Offline tallpaul

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2014, 22:28:05 »
lol
Old enough to know better, but still too young to care...

Offline Gassoon

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2014, 23:08:22 »
Thanks for the offer BH15 - and we've only just met! I've run out of small animals in our area (or they scamper off at the sight of me now for some reason...) :thumb:

You could mention its about time my lottery numbers came up during the ceremony?

Only if you judge the animal is large enough for both of our requests, of course :lala:  :thumb:
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Offline UK_Vstrom650

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2014, 23:14:31 »
From what I saw on Spartacus you sacrifice male chickens to Jupiter - they're always talking about it...

Offline kissofdeath

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #8 on: July 21, 2014, 00:49:25 »
looks like I was quite lucky then, as all I needed was to replace the fly wheel  :banghead:


Offline mjc506

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2014, 10:51:20 »
Quote from: "bh15vstrom"
Rode the bike for the first time in two weeks today for an hour or so, covered dual carriageway / speed riding and town riding, and she sounds just like always !

Good news then :) Keep an ear out for a little while (I'm sure you'll be hearing imaginary problems for a while anyway haha).
Projects:
DL650 engine rebuild: Complete!
Brighter rear indicators]Complete![/url]
Heated mirrors]Complete![/url]
Cruise control/Speed limiter/V-puter]Pending...[/color]

Offline bh15vstrom

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2014, 17:49:57 »
Quote from: "mjc506"
Quote from: "bh15vstrom"
Rode the bike for the first time in two weeks today for an hour or so, covered dual carriageway / speed riding and town riding, and she sounds just like always !

Good news then :) Keep an ear out for a little while (I'm sure you'll be hearing imaginary problems for a while anyway haha).

You're right there mjc ...... hate it when a noisy diesel pulls up behind me .... I'm like "wossat ? ..... oh !"

 :)

Offline bh15vstrom

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2014, 18:02:06 »
Quote from: "kissofdeath"
looks like I was quite lucky then, as all I needed was to replace the fly wheel  :banghead:

sorry to hear that !!

Offline Jacko

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #12 on: July 25, 2014, 21:03:59 »
I haven't really anything to add, except I'd probably just keep riding it and hoping nothing catastrophic befalls the motor. I only posted to say what a top post mjc made.

Offline Abercol

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Re: Smashed Rotor Magnet
« Reply #13 on: July 29, 2014, 10:46:06 »
Quote from: "UK_Vstrom650"
From what I saw on Spartacus you sacrifice male chickens to Jupiter - they're always talking about it...

...they talked about Choking the Chicken   lol  lol