Need help - bike leaking oil, loosing power, sluggish acceleration

[FalcoLion]

I just returned into Guzzi fold and unfortunately got the problem right away. My first bike 2004 Ballabio was very reliable and never gave me any trouble for 5-6 years that I owned it. Now I got lucky and was able to snatch up a beautiful 2004 Coppa Italia with only 5100 miles on the clock. So today I decided to take it on the first maiden voyage. The ride started nice and bike sounded great especially with Guzzi titanium pipes. But 30-40 minutes into the ride I hit a traffic jam and had to slowdown. Once I slowed down the bike shut off. It rest ratted right away on the first press of a button but I started to feel that it running somewhat sluggish. I was about 40-50 miles from home so I decided to get off the highway and take some local roads. In case the bike would die I could at least pull over. Bike shut down a few more times and every restart was harder to come by. Actually now bike would not idle at idle speed and I had to keep RPM up just a bit. Acceleration became pretty sluggish and getting to 50,60 or 70 was getting harder and harder. I figured I will pull in somewhere and let it cool down.. Stopped by the dinner and had breakfast for about 30 min. I figured bike would cool off just enough. I came out from dinner, checked the bike over and there were no leaks. It started a bit easier then before but not as good as in the morning. In any case case I proceeded going back home. The total ride was about 40 more miles or so. When I got almost home I decided to pull off and check the bike out. Once I pushed my kickstand I noticed some oil on it. Upon closer inspection I noticed oil all over around oil inlet on the left side and some more at the front of an engine by connectors that go to the oil cooler. In any case I decided to drive a bit more to a friend of mine who is an excellent mechanic. Left the bike there. He didn't look at it yet but if I can get any ideas of what it could be I will point him in that direction.

 

Just to sum it up - bike developed and oil leak, very sluggish acceleration and engine sounds to harsh and too loud. When accelerating there is no punch and I need to kind of struggle to get it up to speed. Passing was anyone required calculations and was not as instant as it was in the morning or as on any bike in good condition

 

Please help

 

Thank you in advance

Vlad

[FalcoLion]

MIT friend just called and upon initial inspection he sees a lot of oil from right side cylinder head and by oil stick/ oil inlet

[fotoguzzi]

1, leaky rocker cover gasket, or timing cover gasket or pin hole in hose to oil cooler..

 

2, valves set too tight if it runs good cold. could be other things like temp sensor etc. or maybe even tank suck.

[fotoguzzi]

funny it's on the right head and left side oil stick.. better clean it up apply some foot powder and run awhile to find the source.

[FalcoLion]

So far results are left cylinder is dead. It's not working. Quick check revealed no fuel going into left cylinder. Tomorrow will be checking compression and looking if there is any damage. I am so pissed! Hopefully my friend will have time tomorrow to put it up on the lift. I am hoping for something minor. Once he opens it up I will set valves to world specs

 

In meantime if anyone might have an idea of why no fuel is getting to the left cylinder, please chime in

 

Thanks

 

P.s. Will be checking obvious culprit of oil leaks as well

[thumper]

Check your fuel line pressure, maybe a cracked line in the tank.

I think that model has the fuel pump in the tank.

[gstallons]

So far results are left cylinder is dead. It's not working. Quick check revealed no fuel going into left cylinder. Tomorrow will be checking compression and looking if there is any damage. I am so pissed! Hopefully my friend will have time tomorrow to put it up on the lift. I am hoping for something minor. Once he opens it up I will set valves to world specs

 

In meantime if anyone might have an idea of why no fuel is getting to the left cylinder, please chime in

 

Thanks

 

P.s. Will be checking obvious culprit of oil leaks as well

You say " no fuel is getting into the cylinder" ....how did you come to that conclusion ?

 Is there spark at the spark plug wire...is the fuel injector firing ....etc. ?

If it is running on one cylinder , the fuel pressure is good .

[Lucky Phil]

 

I'm amazed when this happens and people don't realise. For whatever reason the engine has dropped a cylinder and the rider can't figure that out. It's a twin for goodness sake how can you keep riding it around on one cylinder.

Not good for the engine btw. When this happens you shouldn't ride the bike, for many reasons, safety being a major one.

Be interested to find out why it's running on one.

Ciao

[LowRyter]

it's pretty easy to tell which ain't firing by putting your hand on the head.  The cold one is the dead one.  

 

I had a problem with the EV.  The left cyl would quit intermittently.  It took nearly a year to get it figured out.  One of the ignitor module connections just wasn't quite connecting.  After lots of trial and error I reversed the two connections and dressed them with dielectric grease and the problem went away. 

 

knock wood

[moto fugazzi]

You or your friend can pull the injector and bench test it. It could be plugged up or maybe the wires going to it broke. Also, check that the connecting rod between the two injectors is still connected. That would keep a good portion of fuel from getting to the cylinder, but then you'd probably notice a gas leak somewhere else.

Ken

[Lucky Phil]

Trying to ride around with the left cylinder dead and possibly still being fed with fuel will cause the r/h cylinder to be working harder and possibly overheating.

could also be pumping extra oil into the breather and airbox which will be feeding the dead cylinder with extra oil and fuel.

My view is, find the reason the dead cylinder is dead fix that, clean the bike up make sure it has oil, clean out the airbox, get it running, make sure you have oil pressure and no unusual mechanical noise and then look for the leak.

I have a feeling when you get  it running on both cylinders as long as there is no damage then the oil leak might not be an issue. 

 

Ciao

[GuzziMoto]

As Lucky Phil said, if the cylinder was dead but was still getting fuel that fuel could have been washing down the cylinder and getting into the crankcase. That has two main outcomes, the cylinder is not properly lubricated and the oil is diluted with gas raising the oil level and possibly resulting in an over full oil situation.

Even if the dead cylinder was not getting fuel, the dead cylinder pumping up and down could have lead to crankcase pressure issues and contributed to the oil leak.

I would try to fix the dead cylinder first.

The oil leak may resolve itself when you fix the dead cylinder.

[FalcoLion]

Guzzimoto, I think you are right. My friend opened the cylinder cover and the rocker somehow came off from the exhaust valve guide. Maybe the valve adjustment was too tight but we are not sure. My friend is an awesome mechanic period. So, he checked everything put everything back as it was supposed to be re-adjusted valves and the bike runs pretty strong. I didn't have time to re-check it since I was leaving vacation but the bike runs nice and clean. When I come back I will clean up oil spill and will run the bike to chek it out.

 

Just as a precaution I ordered an exhaust valve guide. There is a slight possibility that it might gotten some minor damage even though it doesn't present itself as such.