RE-ringing the 03RX engine

[turbozrocks]

Just wondering how many of you guys have tried this??

I am seriously thinking about doing it to mine..She has 19000 kms on it, and It has pretty much burned oil the whole time I have owned it....love the sled, but can't stand the thought of it burning oil....

Some q's

Did you get the block honed ( I've heard that they is still lots of crosshatching still in there at this about of kms)

Is that engine fairly easy to tear down, and re-assemble?

Can you/would you do one piston, at it time, and go to the next one?

Just looking for anyone who has done this before, I have rebuilt many engines before.. So I am fairly experienced with type of work.......

And most importantly, does it fix the problem????

Looking for pointers that will help me out!

Thanks

 

[crazyyamaha]

05 rings will take care of oil burning . I would hone the cylinders and if you have rebuilt engines before this shouldn't be a problem. Get a service manual you will need it . Don't reuse the rod bolts. All the bearings are sized for the journal they ride on DON'T MIX THEM UP! they are not like care engines where they are all the same size . Good luck.

 

[03RX1-ER-LE]

How much oil does it use? 2 of my sleds use oil. So in a 1,000 mile on average season, about 1 qt in my sons sled with almost 12k on it, and 1.5 qts in my sled which just turned 5k last weekend. That being said, for the cost of the parts and the major overhaul of the engine, the oil needed is minimal. Plus if you look at it this way you will have some fresh oil in engine during the season. Just check/add the oil in the garage in the morning when your 2 stroke buddies are not around to save some ribbing.

 

[04warrior]

I agree with 03-rx1 even if you use 2 qts your still cheaper than the 2-smokes oil my 04 with 8000 mi uses qt synthetic every 1000 mi. as long as its not excesive oil use i'de leave it alone IMO

 

[dexter]

I was thinking of replacing my rings on my 04 as well.... has low compression at cold start and fine when warm... think the rings are sticking. tried a bottle of free, but its' not much better and I hate the thought of douching it 2 or 3 times at 30 bucks an oil change. how much would a ring job run you think for parts? anyone done this?

 

[turbozrocks]

I went through 1.5 litres in about 1000 kms... And I burn seafoam in every tank as well.... So when we went on our trip up and around algonquin park (1000 kms), I had one side of my saddle bags loaded, with oil and seafoam.....and there wasn't much room for anything else.. I will say that the seafoam definately helped! The same trip last year, I used over 4 litres for the same amount of miles! I just hate the thought of filling the oil up all the time too...... It's a four stroke for a reason...now I'm just ranting.....lol!

 

[turbozrocks]

how much would a ring job run you think for parts? anyone done this?

I think your only looking at about 250.00 bucks in parts ..

120 for the ring set
30 bucks for the head gasket
50 bucks for the set of rod bolts.

Then another 50 or so for the misc gaskets 'n' stuff....

The biggest thing is your time I could see myself easily spending 4 hours or so pulling it, and documenting where everthing goes with pics, bagging and tagging all the bolts, then a good 8 or so to tear down, and clean everything, and probably another 4 to 8 to re-assemble, 4 or so to put it back into the chassis, and then you're good to go......!!

 

[turbozrocks]

. Don't reuse the rod bolts.

Did you reuse the head bolts?? Or does this engine use head studs? I read a lot in the manuals about the good old torque to yield procedure!! Sounds like a mopar engine!! lol

 

[RX1Jim]

Turbo,
The rebuild process for the RX-1 engine is pretty easy, much easier than rebuilding the engine/transmission from a street bike. I have been researchingthe same project. My 03 RX1 was consuming approx. 1 qt every 1200 miles and got progressivley worse with mileage. Even though the rebuild process is fairly easy, I want to hear from people who have done this process to learn if it actually solved the problem. Yamaha did change the rings in 2005. The parts you will need are the 2005 rings, head gasket, connecting rod bolts, exhaust gasket, and crankshaft/output shaft seal. You should also get a shop manual, it is probably posted on this site. The bearings for the crankshaft and connecting rods are color coded and match to the crank and rods. The manual explains the color coding and relationship of the coding to the crank bearing positions. The Nicasil plated layer on the cylinders is very hard and difficult to hone properly without a diamond honing tool. I have had success honing this material with a conventional 3 stone hone. Since the oil consumption is getting worse so I am convinced I need to change the rings although I would really like to know all the work is going to solve the excessive oil consumption. I am concerned that it will not since their are people on the APEX forum who also report excessive oil consumption. I have spoken to several Yamaha technicians and they all give me the "party line", oil consumption of approximately 1 qt per thousand miles is within the Yamaha specification. I think that is a load of crap. My 4 cyl. street bikes do not consume any significant amount of oil in 3000 miles of riding. I think the key to eliminating/minimizing the oil consumption is to prepare the surface of the cylinders properly then break the engine in properly. I have built MANY high performance and daily driver car engines. In my early days of building engines, I used to run them for 30 min. at a fast idle for an extended period of time. On these engines I would measure good compression in each cylinder but the engine would consume oil. As I gained experience, I would minimize the time the engine was idling and put a load on the engine by taking the car for a drive, gradually increasing the load on the engine with progressively harder acceleration runs. The rings on those engines seated properly and did not burn oil.

The rebuild of the RX-1 engine will be one of my many sled project this summer. I have a bit more homework to do before I get started, need to get all the parts ordered.

 

[Fourcam281]

. Don't reuse the rod bolts.

Did you reuse the head bolts?? Or does this engine use head studs? I read a lot in the manuals about the good old torque to yield procedure!! Sounds like a mopar engine!! lol

If the bolts are torque to yield they shouldn't be reused.

 

[03RX1-ER-LE]

The Yamaha tech is correct on oil spec. I have been a automotive technician since 1976 and all the manufactures oil spec is 1 QT per 1,000 miles. Does that mean you will use oil, no. I have owned vehicles that have never used a drop of oil. 10 yeas ago I retired from wrenching and now work for a major automotive company, the one that did not need govt money, and they are firm on that oil spec. They are now producing vehicles with turbos (some v engines have 2 turbos) and they can use oil under extreme driving conditions. Now think about our sleds, do we not spin that motor up around 10k rpms most of the time we are riding? For the most part the street bikes we are refering to do not get spun that high as much as our sleds do, unless you have a stack of speeding tickets to show us. If you do decide to overhaul the sled, do your homework. Most modern engines use torque to yield fastners, so they MUST be replaced! The timing chain has to be dead on or you will most likely damage the valves in the head when turned over. Now that it is snowing again lets go out and shred the trails!
:rules

 

[Mighty]

You really can't compare the way this engine is run in a sled compared to how it is in a bike. Look at the constant high rpm's she pulls in a sled application compared to a bike.

 

[03RX1-ER-LE]

You really can't compare the way this engine is run in a sled compared to how it is in a bike. Look at the constant high rpm's she pulls in a sled application compared to a bike.

Correct, that is what I said. This engine is always spinning very high RPMs, a little oil cosumption to me is not all bad, gives you a chance to add some fresh oil.
Anyone on here that has been in one of these motors know if the T-chain sprockets are keyed, or are the like all modern automotive engines that use a tapered journal (no key way) with color keyed links and holding tools to hold the cam/crank to properly set up the timing, making the chain set up very critical to keep from bending valves when turned over.

 

[dexter]

may be a stupid question, but how much difference is there when checking oil with cold engine and hot? It's a pia to start it up and let it run and then stop it to check it.

 

[03RX1-ER-LE]

may be a stupid question, but how much difference is there when checking oil with cold engine and hot? It's a pia to start it up and let it run and then stop it to check it.

Owners guide or Shop Manual says warm engine, on level ground and then check, remember to not screw it back in just lay it in opening, making sure it is between the E and F (in cross hatch area) marks on the dip stick. E is not empty, it is for enough!