"California gas" ruined engine.

[NorthwestCajun]

My valves were so dirty at 66,000 miles that they were sticking open. Nels dyno’d the bike at only 20hp. Like Jaxon (Tabasco) stated I babied my motor in touring mode lugging along at low RPM’s
With the help of a mechanic friend, we pulled the head and cleaned the valves. Put everything back together and it started without hesitation. The valves didn’t even need adjusting. The bike now has 86,000miles on it and I run it harder plus use the engine Med. No issues since then!

 

[Sierra1]

The way I ride. . . . my valves should be spotless.

 

[Jlq1969]

So ... we have to imitate the creator of the 100,000 miles club (today 200,000 miles) ... driving style, tr/m, lubricant, fuel, etc., etc. if we want to belong to that club.

 

[Highwayman]

LOL...... So my guess...... You had the usual intermittent hard start these get..... Usually the cylinders wash down. Especially with low batteries.... The cure is crank it wfo.....

I could MAYBE see valves out of specs and tight as a possibility (doubtful) but possible.... This garbage about deposits? Ummmm no. Owned alot of bikes over alot of years. Hell I curenetly have 4 bikes from HD, Suzuki & Yamaha. All ridden alot of miles and zero issues ever with deposits from Cali gas.

Id grab the head and have a second opinion done on that head and valves. Pretty sure the second opinion wont find anything wrong.

 

[Sierra1]

. . . . Pretty sure the second opinion wont find anything wrong.

Unless it's a similar quality tech. . . .

 

[RonH]

I called BS to the carbon deposit holding the valves open a couple years back when someone supposedly had the issue. No way it could happen in my opinion, but that's only my opinion I suppose. I ride around mostly at 3000rpm max, only going over that on the highway and never have a problem.

 

[Heathbar]

What brand of gasoline do you run in the S10?
All of the top tier fuels, particularly the premium grade, have techroline in them that keeps the valves clean.

Sent from my LG-H700 using Tapatalk

I don't know what brand it is. It is 91 octane that I usually get from the Gas station in the Ralphs shopping center near my house. I have stopped the gasoline delivery truck driver though and asked him the ethanol content in the fuel because I bought a couple of small generators with Yamaha engines that require you run them with gasoline that has 10% ethanol or less. The driver said the ethanol content is 10%. He also said all the fuel comes from the same place. He said it's all ARCO gas and that different stations put different additives to call it their own brand.

 

[Heathbar]

I sure hope you have good news on the bike and it gets resolved what ever caused the problem. Good luck to you.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[NorthwestCajun]

I didn’t get pics of the dirty valves out of the head before cleaning, but here are some taken the day the head came off. (Before and after) This was after 66k of lugging the motor in touring mode and using Super unleaded only about 20% of the time. Luckily all this motor work only cost me 2 cases of Yuengling (in Washington State that’s a tall order)
That was all 20k+ miles ago. Using only super unleaded now, Engine Med and getting higher revs like Jaxon suggests
www.tenereacrosstheusa.com

 

[Heathbar]

I didn’t get pics of the dirty valves out of the head before cleaning, but here are some taken the day the head came off. (Before and after) This was after 66k of lugging the motor in touring mode and using Super unleaded only about 20% of the time. Luckily all this motor work only cost me 2 cases of Yuengling (in Washington State that’s a tall order)
That was all 20k+ miles ago. Using only super unleaded now, Engine Med and getting higher revs like Jaxon suggests
www.tenereacrosstheusa.com
View attachment 65876View attachment 65877View attachment 65878View attachment 65879View attachment 65880View attachment 65884

Thank you! The pictures are much appreciated!

 

[Heathbar]

I didn’t get pics of the dirty valves out of the head before cleaning, but here are some taken the day the head came off. (Before and after) This was after 66k of lugging the motor in touring mode and using Super unleaded only about 20% of the time. Luckily all this motor work only cost me 2 cases of Yuengling (in Washington State that’s a tall order)
That was all 20k+ miles ago. Using only super unleaded now, Engine Med and getting higher revs like Jaxon suggests
www.tenereacrosstheusa.com
View attachment 65876View attachment 65877View attachment 65878View attachment 65879View attachment 65880View attachment 65884

Just curious... Did the bike stop running and or starting for you? Or were you just tearing it down to get a good cleaning?

 

[Heathbar]

The way I ride. . . . my valves should be spotless.

Nice!

 

[Heathbar]

My valves were so dirty at 66,000 miles that they were sticking open. Nels dyno’d the bike at only 20hp. Like Jaxon (Tabasco) stated I babied my motor in touring mode lugging along at low RPM’s
With the help of a mechanic friend, we pulled the head and cleaned the valves. Put everything back together and it started without hesitation. The valves didn’t even need adjusting. The bike now has 86,000miles on it and I run it harder plus use the engine Med. No issues since then!

Thank you. That brings up a good point. When I get it back on the road I may leave it is sport mode. I kusually ride it in touring mode. I don't know if it will do anything or not. I bought the motorcycle from the actual owner of a dealership brand new, and he also has a 2011 S10 that he just leaves in touring mode and hasn't had any issues.

 

[Sierra1]

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't ride in high rpms just to do it. Each bike has it's own power band, and you can feel it. I've always rode the power band(s) in all of my bike(s), some higher, some lower. The Tenere has a great low end grunt, but she also comes alive in the higher rpms (relatively speaking). My kid's R6. . . . has almost nothing below 8k rpms.

 

[NorthwestCajun]

It started when I’d roll on the throttle and it would have 5-7 seconds of lag time. It was shooting gas out the tail pipe too. The dyno only registered 20 hp also.

 

[Jlq1969]

I didn’t get pics of the dirty valves out of the head before cleaning, but here are some taken the day the head came off. (Before and after) This was after 66k of lugging the motor in touring mode and using Super unleaded only about 20% of the time. Luckily all this motor work only cost me 2 cases of Yuengling (in Washington State that’s a tall order) That was all 20k+ miles ago. Using only super unleaded now, Engine Med and getting higher revs like Jaxon suggests www.tenereacrosstheusa.com View attachment 65876View attachment 65877View attachment 65878View attachment 65879View attachment 65880View attachment 65884

Just out of curiosity, what oil do you normally use in the S10?

 

[VRODE]

After reading of heavy carbon deposits on several S10s I started using some additive (Star Tron mostly) at every other fillup. Hopefully, this keeps things cleaner. Haven’t had any starting/running issues at 21k (knocking on wood)

 

[NorthwestCajun]

Just out of curiosity, what oil do you normally use in the S10?

AMSOIL or Gold bottle Yamalube

 

[Heathbar]

Just out of curiosity, what oil do you normally use in the S10?

I use a generic semi-synthetic.

 

[Jlq1969]

The oil thing seems normal. Now I am in a dilemma, if most of the miles I do, I do them at an average speed of 80mph, (about 4000tr / m in 6th gear that seemed ideal so far. So I have to do it in 5 gear so as not to char and having to dismantle the engine with few miles ???
For me, there must be another problem that affects only some s10