Yesterday I went riding with my group and one of my members has a 2016 Street Triple 1050 after we broke to head home I got a text saying his bike started making a loud banging noise and he was on the side of the road, when he took the bike to his mechanic he was told it was out of oil and that it must have burned all of the oil. My issue is when I was admiring his bike that morning I didn't notice any oil residue in or around his exhaust pipes so wouldn't there be a sign of burnt oil from a bike that had burnt over 4 qts of oil?
I had an '07 Speed Triple that lost about 1 quart of oil every 1,000 miles (which Triumph told me was normal). I had to really keep on top of checking the oil to keep it at recommended levels. But I would think his low oil warning light would have come on before he completely ran out, at least it should have.
I asked if his light came on he said the only thing he saw was the little wrench/maintenance indicator. Maybe his doesn't have an oil light i know nothing about the Speed triple i know my T120 has a light for low oil.
There may not have been obvious signs of the bike burning oil beyond the oil level getting lower. If he wasn't checking his oil regularly, this is how it happens.
There is no 'low oil warning light'. There is a an oil pressure light. This'll come on when there is no oil pressure. If this is caused by there being no oil then the damage will already be done.
Losing that much oil without anything amiss being noticed is really weird. Makes you wonder if the bike had been in for a service immediately beforehand and they didn't refill it after draining. Or did the drain plug come out? Or was the the oil filter loose? Burning that much oil? Unlikely methinks.
On my 2009 speed triple I ran over something (a piece of steel rod I think) which flew up and punched a hole in my oil filter. The oil started to flow out and then the oil pressure light started to flicker then stayed on. I shut the motor down instantly and rolled to a stop. Oil kept running out onto the ground, but not too much. When I drained the remainder there was only about 250 mls left in the motor. I reckon I had lost at least 75% of the oil before the light came on. As i switched the motor off quickly I avoided any damage to the motor.
If your friend had shut down his motor as soon as the oil light came on he probably would be okay also, but if his motor is damaged, he probably ignored the light and kept riding.
That’s probably average. I’ve had 4 Speed Triples. Some didn’t use any and some did.
Current 2019 sips about like yours. Don’t check every time I ride but will before a trip and on returning.
So my friend had the mechanic drop the oil pan they found metal shavings in the oil and he is going to have to do a rebuild for $1500.00 he admitted he never checked the oil, is it a difficult task on Speed Triples? I know on my T120 I just look at the sight glass and I check mine once a week at least.
Checking the oil on a Speed Triple requires removing the dipstick, wiping it down, reinsert it all the way, remove it to check the oil. The oil is meant to be checked with the bike level.
Does the speed triple have a center stand? I though not. In which case the bike has to be straighten for the oil level to be checked.
So either you put the dipstick back in as explained above then you straighten the bike and put it back on the side stand and remove the dipstick to see the level.
Or you invite a pal to drink a beer, but before absorbing the alcoholic beverage, ask him to hold the bike straight and double check the oil level. Then drink the two beers while the poor guy is holding the bike :icon_drink.
From the user manual:
Note: • An accurate indication of the level of oil in the engine is only shown when the engine oil is at normal operating temperature, motorcycle is upright (not on the side stand) and plug/dipstick has screwed home
The Speed Triple doesn't come stock with a center stand. You can purchase one from an aftermarket source, at least for the older 1050 models. It doesn't work with certain exhausts and rearsets. I know this from prior experience.
But, what I do is use a short block of wood under the kickstand so that the amount of rotation to upright takes less effort. I also use a level on the seat to help verify that the bike is upright. Probably overkill, but that's me.
Oh, not hard at all! We love to do this at least once a week:
-wait 5 minutes after end of a warming cycle,
-unscrew the ol’ dreadful dip stick,
-clean up the waffled area,
-not lose your s***t trying to get the thread on right and screw it in all the way
-get on the bike
-balance it even with our natural machine-like balance
-carefully and slowly bring it back to kickstand position
-unscrew the dam ol’ dreadful dip stick once again
-check level
-add an unknown/eyeballed amount of oil according to the also often inaccurate level observed on the waffled area on dip stick
-again not lose your marbles trying to screw the gddam dip stick back in
-get on bike again
-balance, this time with a bit less patience and on the edge of just dumping the whole thing to the floor and walk away
-bring it back to kickstand
-unscrew the ancient dip stick
-check the waffled area, ok this time? VERY fortunate scenario
-screw the dip stick back in, oh got the thread on the first try? You’re on a roll!
-or... muehhee scratch about half of the bulletpoints since you found you added way too much oil, in that case you’ll have to remove the drain plug from the sump and again eyeball how much you may believe you went over. Sweet. reinstall using another crush washer. And keep praying.
-After all done and buttoned up, realize you could’ve just used the the oil level window conveniently located on the bottom left side of the engine case And save yourself from all of these steps, oh wait...
The wrench should be something service reminder in modern bikes. The oil pressure which he should look for is the one which is red with an oil can lit up on ignition (since no pressure) then goes off after starting/during cranking.
If the bulb is broken, or the pressure sensor went wrong... he wont get any warnings.
I had similar problems with the coolant system. Both the temp sensor and the thermostat went wrong AND i neglected checking the water expansion tank coolant level. Ended up with head gasket change.
What was the problem? Why to rebuild? Where did the shavings come from?
He must have gone quite a while to have 'burned' all the oil, I'm talking several thousand km. And if he never checked the oil over that long a time/distance then he'll get little sympathy from most enthusiasts on here. Hard, and expensive, lesson to have learned.
Still curious as to why there were no warning signs, trailing blue smoke, lots of smoke on start up, a cloud of smoke when you pull away after sitting idling at the traffic lights kind of thing.
OR was he a wheelie junkie, Triumphs don't like sitting on the redline with all the oil down the back of the sump away from the pickup.
He admitted to never checking to oil I know he rides very fast 120 mph is not unheard of I don't know if he does wheelies he's never done one when riding with me.
That's what I thought too I even located one that was the same year that only had 8000 miles for $1250.00 shipped with a 90 day warranty but he wants to go the rebuild route. I think he's crazy because I would be worried about some unseen problem just lurking when it all goes back together.
Somewhere in a South Carolina junkyard there's a twisted up, red, 2012 with a well taken care of engine with 54,000 miles you can probably get for cheap.
I know, I know,...54,000 sounds like a lot of miles... but it's really not if you keep freaking oil in it! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
So here are a couple of pictures of the bottom end of his motor seems weird that only the center piston's connecting rod bearing failed but the other 2 didn't and he said all the bores escaped damage too.
For some reason, on Triumph triples (675, 885, 955 and 1050) it's nearly always center piston's connecting rod big end bearing that fails first when the engine is run very low on oil. Also happens if the bike falls down and the tip over switch fails to operate so the engine continues to run. People who run engines dangerously low on oil are also less likely to change the oil regularly so what oil there is tends to be old, dirty and well past it's best.
Have attached some pics of a 2006 1050 project I picked up late last year It had a seized engine courtesy of a spun centre bearing. Fortunately the crank journal wasn't too bad and I was able to linish it back to life. 8,000kms later still going well.
Sure. Oil starving may have done some damage everywhere.
Fred
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