Another shop ruined this engine... Let's find out what they did.

In this video we try and figure out what caused this engine to lock up on the way home from another shop.
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[@darkiee69]

When I first saw the water I thought "They forgot to add antifreeze", then I remembered that the CB is air cooled... 🤨

[@kevinchamberlain7928]

Me too!

[@Felixthecatz]

it's custom, so it's vodka koolink

[@1000CC_Mandra]

lol snap

[@vladimpaler9274]

Check out this little bike kzbin.info/www/bejne/eavJh2RnqL2Di5Y

[@TECHCRACKin]

Lol same...😂😂 first i thought ...they forgot to add coolant..😂😂

[@Martin_IPL5990]

Excellent bit of diagnosis Taylor, that was brilliant to watch.......

[@garyross3659]

Ben watching all of your videos it has gotten me to an almost finished 73 CB500 4 Rebuilt carbs to your videos and a bunch of other stuff. Thanks for all the help.have pictures of my engine mounted pressure gauge you might like can I email them to your link?

[@nickjames205]

Great looking bike. Can't wait till you work your magic on this one

[@MoxieMike66]

I've got multiple bikes that are screwed up thanks to shops that've screwed me. My first 79' KZ1000 ST I bought, my 2nd bike I bought from the guy that screwed my first bike, which was a 79' GL1000 w/only 8k original miles. Basically, I've gotten screwed multiple times from multiple shops on bikes that were damn near mint before they f%cked me. In short, I pretty much hate people.

[@bigal7561]

Where are your finished bikes at? LInk?

[@chadkline4268]

It seems to me that Japanese bikes use inferior metals compared to BMW. I have a 1971 BMW R60/5, and it never had 1% of the corrosion i see commonly on Japanese motorcycles. They don't seem to be built to last decades in good service. Am i wrong?

[@LastCall534]

As a motorcycle guy and wrench. It always breaks my heart to see stuff like this.

[@BrickHouseBuilds]

Man thats unfortunate for the previous owner and the whole situation. That sucks to see poor work being done but you will give it a second life!

[@uhtred7860]

I know someone that could unseize that engine and get the old girl running again :-)))))

[@R2D2trashcan]

Last owner: “hmmm seems this thing has an engine issue, lemme just take the spark plugs out real quick and leave it in the rain for a few years that ought to sort this issue out”

[@uhtred7860]

The healing power of nature! :-))

[@eefneleman9564]

Well, it did go from 'frozen' to 'frozen solid'.

[@redneckhippiefreak]

I wonder if it was before or after they drained the oil out of it?

[@jeffshootsstuff]

I wonder how many engines those buttholes ruined.

[@preez77]

They made a liquid cooled sohc!!!

[@wadetyler5056]

Uh, I got tools…must be a mechanic! Seen this at my local mc shop, kids that ride or hang out doing the oil changes and filter changes while you pay the $100+ shop rates!😡

[@randycrager4074]

Back in 78 a buddy of mine showed up at my place needing me to ride with him to pickup his Log Truck at the end of the drive I hopped off and he stopped (ridding that same bike in your video) and asked me 'what the heck' Randy? I told Rodney a voice just told me not to go. The next night while at the local Tavern having a beer with my older brother, I bumped into Rodney and he had both his arms bandage from his wrists to his elbow. On the way to get his Log Truck he picked up a rock that locked up his front tire throwing him off and onto the pavement. He had his leather riding jacket on thankfully but the pavement peeled them to his elbows. The pavement ground the side of his helmet down to the inner padding. I'd have either been dead or in pretty bad shape if I'd stay on for that ride.

[@noahmercy-mann4323]

That milkshake ain't bringing ANYone's boys to the yard...

[@goldenscales]

Hey Taylor bro! Good to see you back! I have no words descriptive enough to show my disdain at the shocking way this motorcycle has been treated! All that water and rust have left me gobsmacked! On the flip side, this bike would make a hell of a restoration video! Lol.

[@tomashton1781]

My two cents, , run a hone thru the bores, clean the pistons, and use file fit gap rings, as for the cylinder head, dont mess with porting those engineers got it down, if no valve guide wobble, is okay then just lap the seats and install new valve stem seals

[@rodbowes5309]

Personally I think the CB550 as a whole should be considered a boat anchor - the worst machine I've ever had. It put me off motorcycling for 25 years and off in-line fours for ever!

[@gibbogle9486]

Whoever left the bike outside with plugs removed deserves whipping.

[@redneckhippiefreak]

Im pretty sure the Repair Bill flogged them a little.. XP

[@agrameroldoctane_66]

Everybody is "vintage" mechanic these days ...

[@ry491]

Great video. Very well described and presented. No one here in the UK seems to upload stuff like this. I have got so much good advice from you Americans . Thanks a lot for taking the trouble to show all this . Good luck from a fellow biker in the UK .

[@scudger99]

Search for Allen Millyard. An absolute tea drinking cake munching master, right here in the UK.

[@lukebt]

Hey! Just wanted to say thank you for posting these bike rebuild videos. I got my 1974 kz400 running after watching all your Honda videos!

[@3cclesiastes1213]

That’s incredible! This leaves me with so many questions. I appreciate the work you do and for making these videos available.

[@Bugholeexcalibur]

That water in the oil tank was cleaner that most water supplies. Hot damn.

[@jonathanbrown1120]

I’m surprised a company doesn’t remanufacture larger engine parts like jugs and heads, cases... there is definitely a market

[@handyhippie6548]

uhhh, looks like you have a little oil in your crankcase water. i just gotta say, you know it's bad when your aluminum head has rusty combustion chambers. i'd have to agree with your analysis of what killed that engine. the oil pressure sender being deleted was a total boner move on someone's part, and contributed greatly to the tech not realizing he installed the filter incorrectly, and the owner not being able to shut it down before catastrophic engine failure. good job there taylor!

[@simonallan9941]

You're awesome dude, archeology is definitely the word for it bro, I love to make sure that everything is still used that's usable, and try and keep original when possible, it's absolutely amazing what survives these kind of catastrophic engine failures, which are not usually the engines fault 😉, thanks awesomely for such a great channel and very inspiring ideas and your very talented style of work.

[@mikecartlidge5355]

I remember quite a few years ago a Kawasaki Z650 coming into the shop were I worked as a mechanic. The whole machine had been restored, including the motor by another company and the bike looked better than new. The owner brought the bike to us because the motor was not running right and asked us to balance the carbs. On starting the motor it sounded dreadful and did not want to rev at all, in fact the motor sounded like a bag of hammers. To cut a long story short I checked the engine oil and it looked grey and cloudy so I dropped it into a drain tray to find it was a sludgy mess. What had happened is the company that worked on this bike before us had the crankcases and top end vapor blasted and they did a very bad job of cleaning remaining blast media out of oil ways and the like and the result was a wrecked motor, main bearings, big end journals and rods, in fact most of the moving internal parts were damaged. The owner bought another motor and we fitted the polished outer cases off the original motor, but cleaned them out properly before fitting them and then fitted the replacement motor into the bike. The guy then went back to the other company with the wrecked engine, I never did hear the outcome.

[@Crosshatch1212]

I just done a bandit 600 rebuild .Freind gave me the name off a spray painter to get the frame done .he then talked me in too getting it powder coated .I picked it up four month later once all parts etc had been cleaned polished etc it was time to start the rebuild .every hole on the frame was powder coated threading for every frame bolt had been left unplugged and they had been fully coated .always check who you use as a worker on any part off you’re bike .tap n die set later and few hours a job that didn’t need done was done . On another note does anyone reading this have any ideas on spoked hubs or wheels I could use for the second bandit I’m building .u cld put a reply on the video ,cheers

[@uhtred7860]

@@Crosshatch1212 Yeah you have to put some old bolts in any threaded holes you dont want covered in powder coat, the powder coaters won't do this for you. Another thing is powder coat is quite thick, and can cause some issues when putting the motor back in, as all the gaps between mounting points and engine have now got a thick coat of paint on them.

[@davidbesant]

@@uhtred7860 or, you could just do what OCC did and wiggle a drill in the hole, and convince the tv people that's the cool way to do it.

[@uhtred7860]

@@davidbesant Why am i not surprised they did that. :-))

[@aussiefarmer8741]

Ok the dude buggered the motor. He could have just on sold the bike straight away to someone who could be bothered fixing it. Thus keeping a classic bike alive but no he had to be an idiot and totally fuck it. No respect for the engineering or it being a classic. Some people need a good slap sideways. Good on you for having a go.

[@fxrjoe4894]

Would not waste my money or time. Look for a cb750 4 if you are going to build a Honda. But why when you can get a sporster for same price.

[@47MasoN47]

Having an actual oil pressure gauge for these bikes would be really nice, especially one that wouldn't require drilling and tapping somewhere in the engine. That's a clever idea using that cover in that way. I dunno how much of a market there would be for them, but I'd definitely be interested in a permanent mounted one. I don't have a lot of trust in the idiot lights.

[@Sebastian_Dinwiddie]

I was riding my ZX11 home one day after service at the local dealer, including an oil change. I pulled away from a light, turning left, when the rear suddenly went all squirrelly. I suspected a flat tire but nope! Dealer only hand tightened one of the oil drain plugs. So lucky it happened at slow speed.

[@vgwalldecals]

I wonder if the previous owner THOUGHT the low oil pressure switch was bad because the light was staying on. bypassed it and it was actually low oil pressure that was the issue and not the switch. Nothing like shooting yourself in the foot.

[@mariodesmo]

Shop's that incompetent should be called out to avoid having this kind of crap happen to others. I can't believe a shop owner doing an oil change could be that stupid. But you never know... Or it could have been a typical high school kid with no skills working part time, who did the oil change....

[@martinkupka3575]

Please take in mind: Even a good shop can "accidently" hire a bad mechanic and it could take a few days (or an incident like this) before they notice and fire him. So before ruining the reputation of a company one should be sure, if this is the typical behaviour of that shop or not. But if they usually work like that, I absolutely agree with you.

[@shelliecarlson7015]

THAT is a crying shame! All Hondas want to do, is run. Run run run. And someone completely prevented that. So much impeccable engineering ground into the ground by incompetence. Treat her well. Please.

[@Animal1985LV]

einstein you take out cam chain tensioner and can easy flip that chain on cam shaft and get to that bolt out

[@martinkupka3575]

Thanks for taking the effort to find out the fault. Finding reasons for failures is always exciting.

[@Downstairsish]

People have to be soo careful when working on motorcycles. I knew someone who was killed after work was done by a dealership.. He was riding on the motorway (freeway) and the engine seized, Turned out that the mechanic put the clutch plates in the wrong order. Such a simple mistake but with massive consequences. Greetings from the UK.

[@Buddycoop1]

I've worked on small engines and Mother Nature can really destroy anything sitting outside in no time.

[@buzzmorales4339]

Wow, so sad that a shop destroyed a nice bike engine, that’s why it’s worth taking bikes to people with proper experienced mechanics! This video was awesome as usual, thanks for the learning opportunity! 👍🏍

[@JDnBeastlet]

Great video, Taylor. I especially like your oil pressure gauge and I think running one where you can see it while riding is a great idea.Too bad about the maintenance error coupled with the missing sensor that killed the engine. I really enjoy your channel and it's great when a new video pops up. Keep up the great work!

[@bobnoffs7565]

some of the stuff you do with no eye protection is scary

[@jeremycaylor9151]

Great video, shame such a small screw up could cause the engine to seize. I recently got a 1980 CB650c up and running after it had been sitting for a long while, just needed some carb and clutch work and she rides very well.

[@tortron]

Got mine going but lots of blue smoke. Oops

[@jeremycaylor9151]

@@tortron Sounds like it's burning oil, new rings might be in your future lol.

[@tortron]

@@jeremycaylor9151 yeah doing rings and gaskets, the last guy never got it on the road because of the smoke, so it's been like that for nearly 10 years. Have it all ready to go back together now

[@vladimpaler9274]

Check out this little bike kzbin.info/www/bejne/eavJh2RnqL2Di5Y

[@daveco1270]

Wow. That water looked drinkable, like it was coming straight out of the faucet. : ) Don't let your bike sit outside, people...and if you do, make sure to put the spark plugs in! That's an engine killer. I don't even let my bike sit in my garage with open spark plug holes. I'm paranoid something might fall in there.

[@uhtred7860]

We got a Kawasaki ZZ-R1100 in the shop once and the owner said it had been running fine when he parked it, but it had been sitting for 5 years (in a garage with a cover over it) and now it wouldnt start. Fresh battery, hit the starter, nothing. Took a cover off and got a socket on the bolt in the crank to see if it would turn, and it was locked tight. Further investigation revealed a massive rats nest in the airbox, (thankfully they werent in there when it was found:-) they had gotten in through the ram-air snorkel and ripped up the filter and chewed plastic to make their home. Over the years of god knows how many rats pissing in there, the piss had dribbled down into the inlet, past an open valve and seized the pistons of a couple of cylinders. 1000s of $$$ in damage.

[@TheTbmillard]

These are my favorite kind of videos to see of yours, keep it up Taylor, love the Classic Honda content 👌 Never get sick of it. Currently restoring and rescuing CB500/550's and CX500's up in Canada 🇨🇦

[@niquejoling8603]

I am doing my cb650z in the city os Assen, home of the dutch grandprix also known as TT👍

[@uhtred7860]

@@niquejoling8603 Love the track at Assen, when i was living in the UK in 88 and 89, i travelled there to watch the Grand Prix. We could only afford to do 2 GP races on the Continent, and my mates wanted to do the German and Austrian, But i talked them around to do the Dutch and Belgium, Assen and Spa! At Assen Wayne Gardner won in 88, and Wayne Rainey in 89 (after leader Schwantz's Suzuki shit itself with one lap to go) Gardner won Spa in 88, but the 89 Spa GP was a bit of a disaster and the race was stopped.

[@StuckTako32]

Definitely be keen for an oil pressure gauge 👀

[@madcat4563]

I haven't done an oil change yet, but I've been through the workshop manual enough to know that the spring is in the wrong place. Waiting for some parts, then I'm going to do a oil change.

[@Jurica-mtb]

Oil replaced with water and oil pressure sensor removed sounds like a sabotage. Dude must've had a hater neihobur.

[@isaacbibeau4587]

Having a manual oil pressure gauge would be a good piece of mind, if you make some sort of set up and sell them I would be interested. Like the Videos, very helpful on these CB550s

[@mohawkdriver4155]

How on earth does that much water get into an engine like that? Inquiring minds want to know.

[@cyclonebuzz8172]

It's because it sat outside with the spark plugs out and not covered. Rain got down into the cylinders and leaked past the rings into the crankcase. People do this all the time and it just destroys the motor completely. The motor could of been fixed with a crank, rods, and pistons. Now everything that sat in water is scrap metal.

[@mohawkdriver4155]

@@cyclonebuzz8172 Thanks. Didn't realize the plugs were out. Makes sense now. Terrible end to a great engine.

[@cyclonebuzz8172]

@@mohawkdriver4155 when he pulled the head off you can tell because three of the combustion cambers had rust in them. That means the cylinders were full completely with water for it to reach the head. The intake valve will only be open on one cyclinder at a time and same thing with the exhaust valve. It had a exhaust on it and carburetors so the only way for that to happen would be the plugs left out 3 cylinders.

[@kasperkjrsgaard1447]

I’m just surprised that the water looked so clean. 🤔

[@neilhamill318]

A good reason to learn as soon as possible. Basic motorcycle matinence. Save you a ton of money and maybe your engine's life.

[@mikeford5106]

Never turn the motor over by useing the 10mm nut ! ..... use the larger nut on the same shaft !!!

[@michaelmays9292]

Funny he don't want to show the compression test, but yes the compression should be at least 130 ,and ideally 160 .junk engine that should run but for a cylinder to run it should have 100 PSI ,SO HE SHOULD AT LEAST hone the cylinder and ring it

[@MrSportster12]

Rather than break the cam chain could you not have just backed off the cam chain tensioner?

[@daveharris7734]

I got rid of my HD"Good Riddance" and now back to riding Kaw. I own a 02 Vulcan Classic 800. It had three miles on it when I drove it off the dealers parking lot. Now it has 18k. I do all the wrench work on all my junk because of what the Cheap Trick someone did on that guys bike "oil pump." Get you a shop manual. Way cheaper.

[@Harfinou]

Cylinders & pistons are full of rust, but however, the lowest part of the engine is full with CLEAN, CRYSTAL WATER ? I don't buy that.

[@mattivirta]

my favourite bike has my second bike i buy honda 750 four, this has perfect bike my travelling trip around europe i has young boy. 16 year i buy this bike and have my dream bike im now 64y and want found bike repair and drive again. but my pension country thailand not have many. i not know were can buy, or all what has found have super expensive.

[@robinsattahip2376]

Motorcycles like that last 100,000 miles here in Asia where they are used for serious transportation. It's sad the way Americans destroy perfectly good bikes through abuse and neglect.

[@geraldscott4302]

By far the most failure prone part of any engine with chain driven OHC engines is the cam chain. I've owned a lot of Japanese bikes, and the engines in three of them failed due to broken cam chains. A chain will always wear considerably faster than any other part of the engine. And automatic cam chain tensioners don't help. Virtually all of them fail at fairly low mileage. There was a time when bikes had manual cam chain tensioners and replaceable cam chains.

[@got2kittys]

From the looks of that thumbnail, that engine needs a complete re- machining of every part. I had a CB 550 as my daily driver for years. Great bikes!

[@MrJeffcoley1]

Too bad the previous owner wasn’t able to go back on the shop that did the work. They would have bought him a new engine. I know - as a former Jiffy Lube manager I did it. Twice.

[@burnone716]

When u said it was locked up my mind went straight to Locked up by Akon ''Steady trying to find the motive, why do what i do?'' Would nickname the bike Akon ^^

[@Crosshatch1212]

I would saw the engine up ,as in square chunk here one over there half a piston away half showing ,and put it on display .brass plaque,.HOW NOT TO STORE A BIKE

[@mattivirta]

rust not have big problem, elektrolysis can take all rust off, but cylinders need honing or maybe drilling next size. and bearing need ofcourse old bike change all new, and chain and chain tightens.

[@lend8947]

I also found my KZ750 LTD to have the oil filter spring in the wrong place when I changed the oil. Fortunately the engine seems to still be in good condition. The flat washer that goes between the spring and filter was also missing.

[@bigal7561]

That's a great idea about the oil pressure gauge. I have fully restored a 1975 Honda CB 360t. No oil gauge at all. perhaps a oblong gauge to go on the bars and would be easy to line up the lines with a light to be able to see at night. Make it and I'll buy it for my bike.

[@salvo9718]

Hey Taylor, bro you have 25 minutes and and you keep on talking. Why don't you start taking that old-timer apart.

[@malachy1847]

Thinking at Six Min - 58 Secs in, the Link from the Chain link extractor went Flying across the top of those heads...at least there was footage of where it went...

[@MrGeno1951]

I drove a CS 550 cross-country in '72 as a graduation present to myself- sorry I ever sold it many years later. Never an issue- and it attracted locals with food.

[@SteveHacker]

Where is the next video for this? There is no link in the description and no future titles indicate they are the follow-up to this one…

[@masterofnonetv8361]

I have a set of refurbed carbs for that bike, dipped, stripped clear coated and rebuilt!. was just gonna put them on Ebay. Hmu

[@sugarskulllyfe5890]

watchingthis video gives me nightmares makes me want to do a thorough walk through... not telling what people have done on some of these used bikes......... but also shouldhave hadtheoilsensor

[@mehdimirza8777]

Good 👍 Excellent Explanation good service I enjoy your videos very informative

[@TheWibbo]

had a '77 550f supersport back in the early 80's, basically the same bike with a 4 into1 exhaust

[@williamcoulter5462]

I was in our car park once when I saw a neighbour pouring water into the oil filler, I asked what she was doing and she told me it was getting hot so when she opened the cap and saw no water she was topping it up like her husband had told her to do when she told him she could not see any water after taking the cap off. He should have gone out to check which cap she had opened to check the coolant, instead he spent the day draining and re-filling his oil as well as fixing the leaking top hose and topping up the coolant correctly, he never got her to check anything under the bonnet again.

[@mikepxg6406]

What kind of shop was it ? a clothes shop, a shoe shop, a second hand shop, a DIY shop, a camera shop..... we may never know !!!!!

[@datamek]

Fokkers in shop changed oil filter wrong way, got oil pressure lamp lit, then they replaced oil sensor with a plug...

[@lesleysmith5623]

Sooo ... after your strip/diagnosis .. did the previous owner go back to the shop and tell them and try get some compensation ?

[@wnicklas]

Water, add antifreeze 🤭 🤣🤣🤣 So sad that guy didn't go back to the shop and confronted that mechanic.

[@peterbigblock]

Another reason why I do all my own work. Some knucklehead at the shop puts the filter in wrong and destroys the whole bike.

[@JDeezle21]

Never seen anything like this 😆🤯🤣😂

[@hodaka1000]

Thats your fault You should get around more

[@mattyb1030]

Still want to know why anybody would get rid of the oil pressure sensor. My guess is someone did that to sell it quick. Idk

[@John_Ridley]

Good lesson - if the oil light doesn't come on when you turn the ignition on, then turn off when you start it, get that pressure sender and light fixed!

[@bigbelconut]

I bet the shop that did the work on it couldn't get the oil light to go out so they bypassed it. Prime example, some people don't need to be doing this stuff.

[@trxtech3010]

The water in the oil helps the engine cool better lol

[@S3dINS]

Another shop?? I’m not buying that. By the state of the bike I’d bet it was the owner who had no clue what he was doing.

[@shakey2634]

The previous owner is not at all like me. I would have been back at that shop in a heartbeat insisting that they fix it.

[@gijsv8419]

In one second I recognized this type. My first motor was a Honda 550F.

[@richardwoodhouse8397]

Wow" a water cooled air cooled bike, must of been bursting for that pee lol"😅

[@sicks6six]

Squirt some oil down the plug hole to get a better pressure reading, It creates a seal, dry rings score the liners,

[@Chris-yy7qc]

I hate it when people dont give a single FKK and dont even take the time to reinstall the plugs or put a bag over the engine...

[@13tucker45]

I think you could rebuild that pretty easy. I dont know if its worth your time or not though

[@bigal7561]

Also. I'm interested in this bike. Left a message on your webpage. Get back to me

[@notsogreat123]

Looks like you ruined it by letting water get in. I really doubt the shop did that.

[@alcrooks9095]

That's easy to fix that bike just put it straight in the garbage can where it belonged when it was new

[@fonziebulldog5786]

Would be fun to find the one who destroyed the engine and tell him about it even after many years. 😄

[@larrygaal4808]

the camshaft will come out without having to push a pin on the cam chain, not a Honda M/C made that you have to do that

[@thubandra963]

Indians with a dirt floor shop and a pan of soap and water would have that thing purring in two days!

[@mpccenturion]

Eh! Canuck here. Death by Mechanic! I run a 22 yr old - VW diesel. 260K km. I had to do a complete weld up and body repair - after 20 yrs in Salt-land. I am pulling the oil filter - and it has TWO seals on the plastic top piece - and 2 seals on the bottom {Dick extender} - uh - anyone who knows - knows the description is accurate. These two errors could have fragged my engine with time. At 61 - I will change my oil - because of Daffy Duks. { insert your Fav dump phrase} - Sadly - your engine was great - until Daffy got a hold of it. Great Job! My current build - is a Seca 750-4 - 1984. Thank you! Cheers!

[@hodaka1000]

Wherever possible I do all my own work

[@theodavies8754]

Seen the one where oil light is on for tick over. Time to sell on without the sensor connected.