Arrgh, Stupid Mistake By ellpee (Read 540 times)

[ellpee]

Unexpectedly I'm back in Ruidoso where the Magnum was in winter hibernation, and Sunday I thought, what the heck, while I'm here I might as well at least run the engine for a few minutes. So I hooked up the battery, fired 'er up, and ran her for maybe five minutes, max ten. M mostly slow, putt-putt-putt idle, maybe 15 seconds of 2000 rpm or so, then shut down.

PROBLEM: totally forgot I had drained the oil!

I heard no awful noises or anything, but obviously I'm concerned. How much if any damage did I do to the innards of the engine? I'm going to put some oil in today and run it again for a few minutes, and hope for the best, but what do y'all think about the possible dire consequences of my forgetfulness? And is there anything I can do to minimize same?

[JR]

You'll know soon when you put the oil in. Maybe no damage at all if the parts still have a thin film of oil on them and it didn't get too hot.

JR

[alleyoop]

I have to ask Why Did you Drain the OIL? Never drain the oil out of any motor for storage. Always leave it in, In the spring when your ready to start riding then change it for the summer.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

The temp gauge didn' rise much above the startup reading. As to why, I drained it because I had reached the 1000 mile mark, then figured why fill it again now, I'll just wait until spring, since I won't be running it again until then. Bad assumption, of course, something came up and here I am, six months ahead of projection. The gas tank I left completely full and augmented with that StarTron additive everybody seems to love, because our one and only local motorcycle/scooter/atv mechanic said that's the way to go.

You'll know soon when you put the oil in.

HOW exactly will I know? Noises? Oil leaks? What should I be watching for? And what should I do if I notice anything? Do they still sell that "Motor Honey" stuff Paul Harvey used to hype back in the day?

[alleyoop]

You will know something got damaged, Noises, Smoking burning oil, low compression, it would usually be the bearings and or the rings.
Only drain the oil if your going to change it right after you drain it or if your going to tear the motor apart.
Alleyoop

[fflintstone]

Yup,only drain if you gonna change it right away---I learned my lesson with my car one time--drained it on Friday night ,then didn't fill it until late Sunday--the oil pump lost its prime and it made a lot of noise-after I filled it up-luckily I got it shut down in time to save it--but I had to remove the oil filter and and prime it with vaseline --anyhow thats what my local mech told me --worked but I had a scare--oh,the reason you have to prime it with vaseline,the filter bolted on horizontally ,the Buick V-6 238 engine and won't prime with oil..the things you learn the hard way--good luck ,I think you may not have hurt the engine,since you didn't hear noise already--fflintstone

[ellpee]

Dodged a bullet, maybe. Put oil in the Magnum, fired it up, no starting problems, no funny noises, no oil smoke out the exhaust. Knock wood. Guess I won't be 100% certain until I take it on the road again, but looks good so far. Another lesson learned at Good Ol' Scooter U.

[alleyoop]

Good to hear, with the cold the 10 minutes was not long enough for the motor to really get overly hot.
Alleyoop