Oh Shit! OMG.....now what?!

[Amarak]

Squeal, I know it doesn't help you any, but wish I could help you out. Unfortunately, time and some snow covered hills between us means I won't ride my bike over that way

Best of luck in getting this done and that it is the least expensive and easiest way to complete that.

 

[Spud]

Those plugs look like they have more than 1,100 miles on them. Usually Denso plugs are used from the factory and you have NGK??? I think somebody has been in there before you. My two cents

I just pulled my factory plugs (bought my bike new) and they were NGK's. This obviously won't help Squeal feel any better, but all 4 of mine spun out with what felt like the ideal amount of pressure to break them loose...and mine were in there for 23K miles.

 

[dcarver]

You have to pull the motor out the bottom to get to the head; at least unless you are Houdini.

Wait, wait, waaaaaait a minute, Tyler..... that doesn't sound quite right. :huh:

I know Mike Luke from Desert Valley Powersports has done a metric buttload of tickers back in the day, and I just don't seem to remember the lower block being removed when he pulled the head. (Though it has been a while, since the tickers were fixed many years ago.)

Perhaps it was more an issue of removing the engine mount bolts and rotating the engine in place (obviously a very slight amount) to gain the necessary clearances to pull the head... can't really recall, it's been too long.

But I think it merits a phone call to him Monday....

Man, this fucking sucks monkey balls.... :angry:

My 2006 did not require special measures to pull the head, IIRC.

 

[Heber Guy]

View PostFJRay, on 17 November 2011 - 01:12 AM, said:

Looking at the Timesert website it should work withuot removing the head as there is no tab to remove. I have had good luck packing the tap with grease to contain the chips. I also do the tapping with the exhaust valve open and blow out the chamber with air. if any chips are left behind they will get burned up and they are soft. If it was mine I would go for it and expect good results. Looks like the kit is around 115.00 and the 10 MM kit is what you want.

Hate to confess but over the course of riding 45 years I have done the above with no ill effects.

Good luck

 

[SQUEAL]

:yahoo: Final installment to my saga and debacle fellow FJR enthusiasts. I spent three weeks on this off and on. The mental anguish was taxing. Lost a lot of sleep too. But in the end I am victorious!! The first thing I had to do was drill out the plug body. I tried for over three hours to EZ-out the thing and it wouldnt budge. I went extra slow and vacuumed the chips often. My biggest fear was that I would drop the tip into the combustion chamber. Well, I finally broke through and I dropped the tip into the combustion chamber. I could grab it with a magnet but it was too big to get out of the hole I drilled. I was sick. I had a mental breakdown. Basically I quit on the whole project and went in the house to shower and shave. Sometime in that shower phase I realized the reamer/step-drill in the timesert kit would HAVE to be bigger to allow the installation of the sleeve. So up to the shop I went to take another whack at it. I reamed that hole and lo and behold; I was easily able to sweep up all the chips with my magnet!! :yahoo: Unfortunately I also quickly found out that the stop collar that they include in the kit was too big in diameter to allow the step drill to properly seat on the face of the head. You have to cut a recess in the head for the shoulder on the timesert sleeve to lock into. So I did what everyone else here would do....ie. I traded a buddy BEER for machine work! He lathed my collar down to the appropriate size. This weekend I was quickly able to finish all the procedures and the insert sleeve went in like a charm. All the new Iridium plugs went in easily with a good coating of Anti-sleaze. I was able to "fire for effect" some few minutes later. She now purrs like a kitten again and I am once again a happy camper. I sincerely hope this never happens to anyone here on the board. But if it does I can walk you through it and I have the specially modified FJR approved Extended Timesert kit!!! I didnt do anything at this point to #1 or #3. I just cleaned up the threads with a spark plug tap. The new plugs felt good going in and torqued fine. If need be though I can always quickly timesert them too. I know how now!! Over and out. Tyler in N. Idaho

 

[Geezer]

That is excellent news. I can only imagine how good you felt when it fired up.

 

[Joe2Lmaker]

Tyler,

I'm glad this ended well.

Now I can ask the question that's been on my mind...

Why would you ever need to replace the rear pads?

Edited to add: The same thing is going to happen the first time you try to pull the bolt out of the rear caliper to replace the pads.

 

[dcarver]

What an epic journey Congrats!

 

[Donal]

Excellent news and thanks for the (very useful) feed back :clapping:

Don

 

[yamafitter]

Now I can ask the question that's been on my mind...

Why would you ever need to replace the rear pads?

You obviously have never rode a dirt bike. I probably replace the rears more than the fronts since I like to lock the back brake to kick the back end around in the tighter trails.

The damn ABS won't let me do that on the FJR.

 

[SQUEAL]

Not sure where the reference to brake pads came in? This was a spark plug issue. Fred W; you say you saw my photobucket account?? That wasnt me!! That is Low and Silent with the darksider. I fall on the Warchild side of the fence on that issue. Yes, now it is back to basic stuff like wiring in my PIAA's. I got them roughed in last night. Warming up the shop now so I can go find the high-beam wire. I am going to trip my solenoid with the high beams. I will also put an additional switch in-line so I can have complete control over them. Thanks for all the kind words and support guys. If anyone ever needs help on something like this; I have the goods. TZ

 

[dsmack]

Happy it turned out well for you, T!

Was afraid initially that you were going to melt down on us, but your common sense and perseverance stepped up and saved your ass!

Good job especially on figuring out how to modify the tooling so it fit the space in the head... good thinking, and I like the way you bribed your machinist friend with BEER! (spoken as an old machinist myself :dribble: )

It's excellent that you are back in business now.

Don

 

[Fred W]

Not sure where the reference to brake pads came in? This was a spark plug issue. Fred W; you say you saw my photobucket account?? That wasnt me!! That is Low and Silent with the darksider. I fall on the Warchild side of the fence on that issue.

You know, I thought I remembered seeing those piccies before (Low and Silent's). And good on you for being a smart tire chooser.

PS - I'm really glad to hear you were victorious in your head re-thread. Now that you've conquored that, well... damn ,man... nothing can stop you!! :yahoo:

 

[03HiYoSilver]

... This weekend I was quickly able to finish all the procedures and the insert sleeve went in like a charm. All the new Iridium plugs went in easily with a good coating of Anti-sleaze. I was able to "fire for effect" some few minutes later. She now purrs like a kitten again ...

WOW what a Recovery and Great Job...Thanks for sharing your Sucees!

 

[escapefjrtist]

Great news Tyler, glad the '07 is well again! :clapping:

--G

 

[FJRMGM]

so truth and justice once again prevail and our fearless hero is back on the road again!!

good job!!

 

[Blue Crab]

You know what, I went to change the stock plugs in my BMW 325xi (car) the other day... car has 130,000 miles on odometer so it was due for new plugs. Engine was cold (car had sat overnight), so I pulled the coil packs and started wrenching... Plug #1 felt like it was seized. Plug #2 felt the same way. I turned harder and nada! Then I started having flashbacks of your seized plugs in your FJR... CRAP!! I was now afraid to apply any more torque to the wrench... what to do... I was literally about to put the coils back on and forget the whole ordeal. I decided to start the car and run it for 60 seconds so that the aluminum head would warm up and expand a little. Sure enough, after the quick warm-up, the plugs came right out. But, the ENTIRE time I was doing the job, I thought of you and your ordeal. But, my new plugs are installed with a nice coating of anti-seize compound. I'm glad to hear that you have a happy ending to your ordeal... and I can totally empathize with you and what you went through. Congratulations for not giving up! And congratulations for getting the job done!

Steve

 

[Greb]

Tyler- Haven't been on the forum for awhile, sorry to hear of your problem but happy you sorted it out. I still haven't forgotten the great times and hospitality you showed us on our September trip. Hope to catch up with you again soon.

 

[Kevin_Ireland]

Sorry it happened to you but what a great read!!