URGENT - Breaking down in Morocco - Ignition Sensor getting Metal pieces on it..

[TonyR]

Hi Folks..

Sorry for the urgent request.. but left home in northern Portugal 3 days ago and have just made it to Morocco today.. but... the bike has refused to start twice.... and I am on the road for the next month....

The bike: F650 (Funduro) Classic - 1995, 47,000 Miles...

The bike gets used nearly every day for work, and I keep an eye on everything.. trying to do as much preventative maintenance that I can...

On the first day of the trip the bike had a few stutters as I pulled into petrol stations, a bit like fuel starvation... I was near the 160mile tank limit but had a good 10+ miles spare on the Speedo... Then firing it back up after refilling was very difficult, took about 6 attempts and a total of nearly 30 seconds on the starter button...

As Irode down the road into Faro it started to dive as power dissapeared and the engine seemed to just miss a beat... I struggled on to the hotel... in the morning, no starting... So I ran through the usual checks, fuel in tank, supplied to carbs, tank off and tops of carbs off, all clean... rocker cover off, automatic decompressor checked... freely moving... Air box checked, clean as normal, small deposits in the bottom but nothing unusual...

Next.. RH Engine cover off... and wow... the ignition pick up sensor... is covered with small bits of metal... real shards... all of a similar size... covering all the unit and clearly shorting the sensor out... cleaned it all up, checked eveything I could get to and no signs of where it had come from... Had taken the RH engine cover off about two weeks earlier when doing the Water pump and polishing the engine covers... no signs of anything then...

After cleening fired up on first push...

As the day progressed starting got worse... ocassional bad sounds like scapping when starting too... Plus ocasionally I have always had scrapping onises when starting it up... these seemed to get worse as the starting got worse... then today... pulled into a petrol station and i wouldnt start again... 36 hours!!!! from previous repair.. This time it sounded like the starter was not turning the engine... tried to jump start it... failed but then managed to get it going on ther electric starter after a few more attempts.. someing sounded different so I tried again and it caught.. then.. 75km later...... EXACTLY THE SAME!!!! not starting.. but this time turning the engine...opened it up.. (RH Engine cover...) loads of metal in there... cleaned it up.. fired up straight away...

Do not really want to be doing this every 36 hours for the next month if I can help it.. any asuggestions on wherer they might be comoing from?

Notes: Engine oil change just before the trip... nothing in the oil, i always check... also nothing on the metal filter inside the drain hole...

My fear... is that this is something to do with the starter sprag clutch.. thing... i.e. a failed bolt that is being chewed up slowly by something...

Will it chew it up and eventually no more metal bits?

Will others fail?

Is it something else? Where else could the metal bits come from.. everything is fine to look at, no signs of scrapping ets...

Please Please Please Help... I need to nurse it through the next 48 hours and then I have time to sit and work on it... if I can find the bits and a friendly garage...

Many thanks, in advance,

Tony.

[Ian Porter]

sounds like sprag clutch to me,

can't offer much advice beyond that though I'm afraid as I've not experienced it myself

[Ton]

Hi
Has to be sprag clutch unfortunately. And I have not had that in bits yet.Sorry can help you with that one. I hope that you can get it sorted there and that you can get the bits secondhand. It requires a puller to remove if I have read previous messages correctly. Good luck anyway.

Ton

[TonyR]

Hiya

I have tried to get in touch with Alan Jeffries BMW in Bradford as they have courriered parts out to people before... SO fingers crossed... difficult part is finding someone who have a puller the right size and some loctite... everything else seems straight forward... all other gears are in good condition and I reckon it can not be coming from anywhere else in the engine.... Perhaps this will clear up the occasional weird starting noises...

Anyway.. back out into the heat, need to strip and clean it before tomorrows journey... make sure it starts and gets there... thanks guys,

Tony.

[Ton]

The puller is something that will only fit a Rotax engine is my guess and nothing else. Perhaos you can find a BMW dealer who will let you use their puller.

Ton

[TonyR]

Thanks Ton..

Only BMW dealer in the country is in Casablanca... back north a days ride from where I am... Just stripped and cleaned the ignition sensor in RH engine cover again.... got it down to 1 hour turn around now...

Still more metal appearing on it.. was as bad as yesterday...

the tool is Cartool #12-5-510 for use on the M38x1.50mm Internal Thread... any ideas people. ?????

Onwards in the morning...

Thanks folk, Tony.

[TonyR]

Thanks folks for all the help and advice...

Just got off the phone (and email) to BMW Cassablanca who have some of the parts in and are ordering the other parts for me, they also have the tool to do the job...

So... just got to get the bike the 224 miles back up there... do a strip and clean and hope for the best...

Thanks again,

Tony.

[TonyR]

Hi Folks

Well 2 days left before the ride back up to Casablanca... thought I had better clean up the ignition pick up snesor to make sure I made it okay...

1) Stripped down and got yet more metal pieces in there... this is after it was spotlessly cleaned 180 miles ago!!!! I am hoing it is the starter sprag that is falling apart and being eaten to produce this much metal...

View image in gallery

View image in gallery

As you can see, small shard of metal on the sensor housing, then building up around the 2 pick up wires are even smaller pieces.. these get bas enough to short the sensor ou after a long days ride...

2) Starter Fly Wheel.. I was reading somewhere that the starter fly wheel (driven by the starter motor and gear wheels..) should be turnable by hand... in one direction.... mine is solid... in both directions.. tried a small amout of persuasion but seems solid... does this point back at point (1) above???

Many thanks, Tony.

[ribblerouser]

According to the Haynes the reduction gear should freely rotate clockwise (viewed from the LHS). It should lock when rotated anti-clockwise. If it's doing anything else it points to a problem with the sprag-clutch, but I figure you suspect that already. Hope it's of some use, good luck

Regards

[TonyR]

Hiya, yeah I though similar.. but, nada.... no movement which leaves me thinking the Sprag is locked up and being chewed up... I just hope that none of this causes a problem with the starter... i.e. it is probably turning with the engine now... fingers crossed...