Seeking advice

N

Norton961

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May 15, 2016
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Just brought my 2014 961 Sport out of 20 months of hibernation.

Replaced a failed starter
Replaced all oil and filter
Replaced battery

Got the bike to start several times and took a few runs down the street.

Went on a longer ride yesterday and put the bike through it's paces on the highway.

Close to home the bike just shut down and failed restart.

Checking today, I have fuel pressure and spark.

Compression test on both cylinders are ~80psi with no leakage.

The bike will not fire even with a shot of starting fluid into the airbox.

The bike seemed to be running very rich and the spark plugs are very black.

Any advice on what else I could explore to get it to run? Have I missed something?
 
Was the fuel pump priming when you turn the key on ? 80 psi compression seems low maybe just not using the correct technique to check ? We've seen some cam position sensors going bad , maybe swap with the speedo sensor ( same part on your 2014). If you buy a new cam position sensor get the Bosch version. Make sure all your fuses are good , check for any loose connections,
 
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TonyA said:
Was the fuel pump priming when you turn the key on ? 80 psi compsion seems low maybe just not using the correct technique to check ? We've seen some cam position sensors going bad , maybe swap with the speedo sensor ( same part on your 2014). If you buy a new cam position sensor get the Bosch version. Make sure all your fuses are good , check for any loose connections,
Click to expand...
Yes on the fuel pump. I actually disconnected the hose from it and put another hose on the pump into a bottle and it is moving a lot of fuel each time you turn the ignition on. It’s priming as it should. All my fuses appear to be fine. It says to test test compression with the engine warm. Obviously, I can’t get it to start and unsure if it being warm would improve the 80 PSI. The usable range Is 120-180 PSI in the manual. The test gives same result in both cylinders.
 
Norton961 said:
Yes on the fuel pump. I actually disconnected the hose from it and put another hose on the pump into a bottle and it is moving a lot of fuel each time you turn the ignition on. It’s priming as it should. All my fuses appear to be fine. It says to test test compression with the engine warm. Obviously, I can’t get it to start and unsure if it being warm would improve the 80 PSI. The usable range Is 120-180 PSI in the manual. The test gives same result in both cylinders.
Click to expand...
I guess I need to sell this bike as parts if I truly have a compression issue. It’s not worth the time and money at this point.
 
Are you opening the throttle when you make the compression measurement ? You need to hold the throttle wide open while you are cranking it over during the test .
 
TonyA said:
Are you opening the throttle when you make the compression measurement ? You need to hold the throttle wide open while you are cranking it over during the test .
Click to expand...
Yes, I did as stated in the service manual.
 
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Sorry to hear the bad news.

I was wondering, you wrote "Just brought my 2014 961 Sport out of 20 months of hibernation". How was the bike running when it was put into hibernation?
Did you notice any issues then?
When you initially started the bike and "put the bike through it's paces on the highway", did you notice an noise from the cylinder or head like escaping pressure?

If it is a blown head gasket, it would be very noticeable to the ear.
 
BritTwit said:
Sorry to hear the bad news.

I was wondering, you wrote "Just brought my 2014 961 Sport out of 20 months of hibernation". How was the bike running when it was put into hibernation?
Did you notice any issues then?
When you initially started the bike and "put the bike through it's paces on the highway", did you notice an noise from the cylinder or head like escaping pressure?

If it is a blown head gasket, it would be very noticeable to the ear.
Click to expand...
No issues when I parked it. The starter was very intermittent. It took me several months to locate a new one. Actually this is a very loud bike and I wear ear plugs. Loss of power was the only thing I experienced. I thought the fuel pump had died, but that wasn’t the case after testing it today.
 
Was mega common, before we started doing a retorque
20241015_144128.jpg
 
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Wow!
Yeah, that type of failure would not vent gases from the periphery for the cylinder, so no obvious external indication of a failure.
Still, a fairly easy fix if this is the problem. Worth the fix in my estimation.
I'd hate to see it parted out, I hope someone buys it, does the fix, and joins the forum.
 
Assuming the test equipment is in good order etc, the fact both cylinders are around 100psi down, it really just points towards head gasket failure....even more so that it's a not unheard of failure.
 

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