Cold Start / Chain Tensioner / Busted Motor JUNK TENERE ??

[Zepfan]

With out going into a bunch of "story," or whining.

'12 - 80k/mi - true adv bike ridden hard and cosmetically "broken-in"

Dealer performed leak test and motor "leaks," intake and exhaust or "all over."

Dealer wants $900. just to pull & diagnose. $100 of that is for the leak test.

Looking like a 3k +++ ?? for rebuilt motor. Bike w/ current mileage/condition may be worth 5-6k.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?? Spend 3 + K ......... Try do do the work yourself ............ Scrap . Dealer wants to be paid for all time even talking with Yam rep.
How many of these motors have gone down due to CCT ?? Any idea?

 

[greg the pole]

can you elaborate?
I just rebuilt my 2012, used as intded. Did the work with the help of a friend. It was roughly a 3 day job. 1 day to drop the motor (I take my time), half a day to tear down, clean, another half day to re-assemble, plus anoter day to wedge the heavy prick back in the frame, and put back together. I ran it all season this year, and it was like a brand new bike! Well worth the effort.
Parts were $500 USD at most!! PM me and I can fire over the list of parts that I bought/cost.

write up here:
https://thetenerist.wordpress.com/2017/03/04/yamaha-super-tenere-xt-1200-top-end-rebuild/

At 80k miles (120 k km) the valve seals are shot!! mine were at 70 k km. Additionally, your piston rings will be done too. I upgraded to 2014 pistons and rings.

 

[markjenn]

Assuming the motor is truly busted and requires a major rebuild, the best course depends on whether you are a decent mechanic and want a major project. Otherwise, you can't pay $120/hr for dealer mechanics to do things like engine rebuilds and hope to come out whole, even if you can find enough competence to to the job (which is far from a given at most dealerships). So unless you want the project, I'd sell the bike "as is" for what the chassis is worth and let someone else tackle swapping in a used engine or rebuilding the existing one. Walk away and get another bike, new or used as finances permit.

- Mark

 

[Sierra1]

Yup.

 

[greg the pole]

The only reason I rebuilt mine is I had access to an extremely comment mechanic that charged me nothing for his time (good friend of mine) I bought him all the parts to rebuild his single.
$250 very well spent.

It's not a project anyone can undertake, unless you have:
-a winter to kill
-have a licensed mechanic to supervise, help, and provide the proper tools

 

[Checkswrecks]

Depends on how bad it's "trashed." If pulling the cylinder found the problem is largely top-end (pistons, cylinders, and up), then I would address it as such.
If it likely has metal through the transmission and/or I didn't have the time to overhaul it myself I'd look for a thousand dollar salvage or Ebay motor, swap it in, and go on with life.

 

[greg the pole]

Depends on how bad it's "trashed." If pulling the cylinder found the problem is largely top-end (pistons, cylinders, and up), then I would address it as such.
If it likely has metal through the transmission and/or I didn't have the time to overhaul it myself I'd look for a thousand dollar salvage or Ebay motor, swap it in, and go on with life.

It's unlikely anything on the bottom end is damaged. Unless something chipped off and fell in (probably would know pretty quick), the top end is still not a peach to work on in frame.
I figured it was easier to take it out of the frame.
Even then it took two sets of hands to get the head over the pistons without crossing the piston rings

 

[magic]

I would consider parting the bike out. Take off your farkles and sell the rest. Those wheels are worth some good cash. Then shop around for a low mileage used S10 and put your farkles back on. There are plenty of low mileage S10s out there in the $6500 range.

 

[~TABASCO~]

Im going to speculate and say its just carbon on the valves..... You can poke around and make sure, but the fix is easy. Pull the head and clean the valves. This motor is very resilient and extremely reliable. I would start there.....

 

[Zepfan]

The motor broke on start. Ran for maybe 2 seconds, louder than usual chain noise then kaput.

I'm sure it's a top end as reported on another thread. http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=12729.0

I have a retired mechanic in my neighbor hood and he does work on the side @ $15. Very competent. So if the valve seats are in good shape, ect. then maybe tops $2k.

BUT, I will salvage. I might find another Tenere and transfer my Excel Rims and other goodies.

Service writer was surprised a Yamaha motor went down but kept telling me to scrap the bike. Good mechanics are a rare breed these days. Good 'ol USA "Throw it Away"!

She took me around the northern hemisphere AK to Panama.

 

[~TABASCO~]

Ive helped another customer before with a similar issue.. he changed out his CCT, and then tried to start the motor.. It would not start so he brought it to me. I pulled the head, checked the valves and found no damage. Reinstalled the head and the bike, and the bike fired right up and he road it home. So, with your bike, if it made noise and stopped working right at start up, more than likely no damage to the valve train. You might find that the chain is just out of sync. Pull the valve cover off and check if the timing is correct. Maybe install a MCCT or a new CCT and fire that baby up.... Or post pictures or more info when you start working on it. Its probably not a catastrophic problem.

 

[EricV]

I've BTDT with a CCT failure at 83k. I was under warranty, so it got fixed. In the end, it's not that much in parts. One piston was damaged, two valves,(IIRC), damaged, CCT and some related timing chain parts. On Gen I pistons, you can't order just rings, you order a piston, it comes with rings. (Gen II, you can order pistons and rings separately.)

They re-lapped the valve seats on mind, in part due to the new valves. I got all new guides and seals and paid for the other piston/rings and a timing chain to be replaced. That was a failure right upon start, and I foolishly cranked it multiple times thinking it might be a hard start issue. It back fired at one point badly enough that it blew the intake off the manifold. I gave up then and trailered it to the dealer.

If you tear it down your self, or at least pull the motor and have your friend work on it, ($15/Hr is an incredible deal!), you'll be into it far less than you believe now. The rest of the motor will go many, many more miles. Easily double what you have now.

Worst case and it's truly trashed, there is a 2014 motor on ebay for $2200 and $75 shipping. That's cheaper than buying a crate motor or buying a rebuilt motor. LINK

There is a difference between wanting a new bike and needing one. I did an engine swap on my FJR years back and it wasn't bad at all. That clean, low mile engine only cost me $1600 at the time. Way cheaper than having rings/pistons and a valve job on my existing 100k motor that had suffered a 'dusting' after a tech failed to re-tighten the intake boots and I never double checked their work.

 

[SilverBullet]

I'm baffled why anybody with a higher mileage Gen 1 would still be trusting their original CCT. So much written, so much known about it. Noisy or 40k mikes, replace it. Do it early enough and Yamaha foots the bill.

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

 

[~TABASCO~]

The motor broke on start. Ran for maybe 2 seconds, louder than usual chain noise then kaput.

I'm sure it's a top end as reported on another thread. http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=12729.0

I have a retired mechanic in my neighbor hood and he does work on the side @ $15. Very competent. So if the valve seats are in good shape, ect. then maybe tops $2k.

BUT, I will salvage. I might find another Tenere and transfer my Excel Rims and other goodies.

Service writer was surprised a Yamaha motor went down but kept telling me to scrap the bike. Good mechanics are a rare breed these days. Good 'ol USA "Throw it Away"!

She took me around the northern hemisphere AK to Panama.

If you need any suggestions, help, advice, or questions just write or call..... I've torn into the this motor many times.....

 

[Checkswrecks]

Start by simply draining the oil to see if it is full of metal. My guess is that it's not and like Tabasco says, you simply need a top end repair. You can save hours of repair cost by stripping the bike and if possible, dropping the engine or at least getting it ready for your neighbor to drop.


I love this quote and you're making us all smarter:


I'm as smart as the height of the pile of parts I broke. - Kevin Cameron

 

[Zepfan]

Too bad Yamaha can't issue a service bulletin.

Woulda....shoulda....coulda......... :'(

I'm sure it dosen't have any bottom end damage. Guess I should do the clutch while it's apart.

 

[Buelligan]

Here's an engine on fleabay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/14-Yamaha-XT1200ZE-XT-1200-Super-Tenere-Motor-Engine-38E/362171390847?hash=item545318db7f:g:IWoAAOSwEotZ0uGz&vxp=mtr

 

[eemsreno]

If it was mine I would put it back in time and do a leak down test before ever pulling the head.

 

[greg the pole]

I never had my t. chain slip (manual cam chain adj. installed) ..only oil usage.
at your mileage, if it skipped, you may have bent valves. If you're in there, you will need valve seals, and the first gen rings were not sooper awesome, especially if you rode it as intended.
wouldn't leak down basically show duff valve seals? maybe valves not sealing due to carbon build up, which would be cause by shitty valve seals...
I know nothing btw...shade tree kind a guy

 

[eemsreno]

Leak down shows if to much air is getting out of combustion chamber. [ bad rings, exhaust valves, intake valves.] stem seals have nothing to do with combustion.
Leak down is just pressurizing combustion chamber with air and seeing how much leaks out. about 15% max.
you'll be able to hear it coming out of the oil fill hole if it's rings or piston or out intake or exhaust.