Rode 25-30 miles with one busted spark plug... did I mess up my engine?

[sstone14]

The power delivery was definitely messed up during the ride. Open throttle not delivering anywhere near the usual torque/hp, but then eventually it would work like normal, but then wouldn't work again after downshifting and upshifting again. Idle was very choppy and unhealthy sounding.

I'd gotten stranded at my friend's house with a bad battery and had to leave the bike there outside (New England) for the past couple weeks. I also put the kickstand down, but it was in the yard, and the earth beneath it gave way to the weight, leading to a drop, and the busted spark plug. I rode it today because I finally got the new battery up there and just had to get it home because her landlords were pissed about it, but I didn't notice the spark plug was busted till I got back.

Ordered the replacement, but just wanting to know if y'all have any insight into whether or not I may have seriously damaged my engine on today's ride.

Thanks.

[lucian]

So you rode home on one cylinder?
 Did it run normally on your way home? If so , no worries , replace the bad plug.

[Kev m]

Dude, you need to up your pre-ride check. 

Ok, that aside, what bike? A 2014 Stone?

I'm sure the motor is fine.

You're just lucky the cat-con on that side never heated up cause you would have burned it up with all that raw fuel.

[sstone14]

Dude, you need to up your pre-ride check. 

Ok, that aside, what bike? A 2014 Stone?

I'm sure the motor is fine.

You're just lucky the cat-con on that side never heated up cause you would have burned it up with all that raw fuel.

Hey Kev,

It's a '10 V7C. And I know, you're completely right. I've just been playing whack-a-mole with this thing and had to get it back to home base. Was definitely led by the emotion of frustration first rather than logic, which I know was a bad move.

It is looking like there's a bit of heat damage to the pipe on that side, that's still visual after the bike cooled down. Is that likely really detrimental permanent damage? Give it to me straight, I can take it.

New rider here, obviously. Put in one season, and have been doing my damndest to learn everything I can and do as much of my own wrenching as possible, but definitely feeling like I'm doing more wrenching than riding.

[lucian]

Ok , I apologize,  I did not interpret the initial post correctly. So it was before the bike tipped that the misfiring occurred on your trip . It sounds like you have a broken plug cap before the tip over.

[sstone14]

Ok , I apologize,  I did not interpret the initial post correctly. So it was before the bike tipped that the misfiring occurred on your trip . It sounds like you have a broken plug cap before the tip over.

No, I think you had it right. I dropped the bike, busted the spark plug without realizing it, then rode it with rough engine experience. I only became aware of the busted plug after the rough ride though.

[lucian]

Ok got it , I would replace the plug and if it still acts up replace the cap , they are fragile creatures.

[moto-uno]

  And is it running ok now ? Peter

[sstone14]

  And is it running ok now ? Peter

I removed the shattered plug and cap. Ordered the replacements, so just have to wait and see. Will keep you posted though.

[Kev m]

Hey Kev,

It's a '10 V7C. And I know, you're completely right. I've just been playing whack-a-mole with this thing and had to get it back to home base. Was definitely led by the emotion of frustration first rather than logic, which I know was a bad move.

It is looking like there's a bit of heat damage to the pipe on that side, that's still visual after the bike cooled down. Is that likely really detrimental permanent damage? Give it to me straight, I can take it.

New rider here, obviously. Put in one season, and have been doing my damndest to learn everything I can and do as much of my own wrenching as possible, but definitely feeling like I'm doing more wrenching than riding.

.


Meh, run it and see. I mean I run cats cause I'm hippy weird, but unless the damage was catastrophic I can't imagine it's gonna be a problem.

It's possible, but I'm thinking unlikely unless you need to take emissions tests.

[sstone14]

.


Meh, run it and see. I mean I run cats cause I'm hippy weird, but unless the damage was catastrophic I can't imagine it's gonna be a problem.

It's possible, but I'm thinking unlikely unless you need to take emissions tests.

Will do, and will keep you posted, and will also come crying for more help if necessary.

I also just realized why you thought I was riding a '14 V7 Stone. But actually my last name is Stone and I graduated college in 2014 haha.

[pehayes]

 good to know if it is FI or Carb.
FI delivers fuel on every intake stroke.
Also carb, but only if there is a suction vacuum.
Remove the plug entirely and the carb delivers a lot less raw fuel.
The unburned fuel can wash lube oil off of the cylinder walls.
When in doubt,  remove the broken plug.
I remember MGNOC reports in the early days of people doing hundreds of miles on one cylinder to get home.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[Kev m]

Will do, and will keep you posted, and will also come crying for more help if necessary.

I also just realized why you thought I was riding a '14 V7 Stone. But actually my last name is Stone and I graduated college in 2014 haha.

Feel free to enlighten us to the year and model anytime you want...

[BMCMOTO]

Might want to give the oil on the dipstick a sniff, smell fuel there, change oil before riding.

Brian

[Tom]

A guy from the UK won the Iron Butt one year.  Last 50 miles was on one cylinder.  He had a condensor go out.  IIRC.  Anyone can correct.  I'm not doing the research.     Definitely look at dumping the oil.  Forgot to add he was on '83 LM III.  (modified)

[rschrum]

Left it outside for 2 weeks? Guzzi abuse, bad karma.

[sstone14]

Feel free to enlighten us to the year and model anytime you want...

I told ya above. '10 V7C.

[sstone14]

good to know if it is FI or Carb.
FI delivers fuel on every intake stroke.
Also carb, but only if there is a suction vacuum.
Remove the plug entirely and the carb delivers a lot less raw fuel.
The unburned fuel can wash lube oil off of the cylinder walls.
When in doubt,  remove the broken plug.
I remember MGNOC reports in the early days of people doing hundreds of miles on one cylinder to get home.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

Fuel-injected.

[lucky phil]

The power delivery was definitely messed up during the ride. Open throttle not delivering anywhere near the usual torque/hp, but then eventually it would work like normal, but then wouldn't work again after downshifting and upshifting again. Idle was very choppy and unhealthy sounding.

I'd gotten stranded at my friend's house with a bad battery and had to leave the bike there outside (New England) for the past couple weeks. I also put the kickstand down, but it was in the yard, and the earth beneath it gave way to the weight, leading to a drop, and the busted spark plug. I rode it today because I finally got the new battery up there and just had to get it home because her landlords were pissed about it, but I didn't notice the spark plug was busted till I got back.

Ordered the replacement, but just wanting to know if y'all have any insight into whether or not I may have seriously damaged my engine on today's ride.

Thanks.

What I can say to you is riding it like that isn't good for it. The primary reason is it's still got raw fuel pumping through the dead cylinder thats not being burned which is washing down the cylinder wall of lubricating oil. How much of an issue will it be, hard to say. If you did this to a CAT equipped bike though the usual result is massive smoking from the exhaust system from the fuel and oil washed off the cylinder walls which then catches fire internally in the CAT and burns there overheating the exhaust system as well. I've seen this a few times in 1098 Ducati's and even met a rider that pulled his engine apart because of the loss of power and smoking expecting to find a blown up cylinder which he didn't. He was a little miffed when I told him he had either a dead plug or coil over and his engine strip was a waste of time.
So the lesson is, NEVER, NEVER ride the bike around on a dead cylinder, ever, esp if it's catted. Stop and find out whats wrong with it.

Ciao 

[sstone14]

What I can say to you is riding it like that isn't good for it. The primary reason is it's still got raw fuel pumping through the dead cylinder thats not being burned which is washing down the cylinder wall of lubricating oil. How much of an issue will it be, hard to say. If you did this to a CAT equipped bike though the usual result is massive smoking from the exhaust system from the fuel and oil washed off the cylinder walls which then catches fire internally in the CAT and burns there overheating the exhaust system as well. I've seen this a few times in 1098 Ducati's and even met a rider that pulled his engine apart because of the loss of power and smoking expecting to find a blown up cylinder which he didn't. He was a little miffed when I told him he had either a dead plug or coil over and his engine strip was a waste of time.
So the lesson is, NEVER, NEVER ride the bike around on a dead cylinder, ever, esp if it's catted. Stop and find out whats wrong with it.

Ciao

Thank you for this input. I think this may be exactly what happened. There's clear heat damage to the left pipe that is visible from the exterior. I'm going to replace the spark plug, cap, and do an oil change before riding again. Beyond that, do you have any recommendations for this scenario?

[blackcat]

Thank you for this input. I think this may be exactly what happened. There's clear heat damage to the left pipe that is visible from the exterior. I'm going to replace the spark plug, cap, and do an oil change before riding again. Beyond that, do you have any recommendations for this scenario?

Keep an extra set of plugs on the bike along with clutch and throttle cables.

[Guzzistajohn]

Years ago a dude won the iron butt on a LeMans. He rode the last several hundred miles on one lung. And the stock hardwood saddle.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Years ago a dude won the iron butt on a LeMans. He rode the last several hundred miles on one lung. And the stock hardwood saddle.

"British Invasion!

Steve Attwood, a management consultant from Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England, shipped his 1983 Moto Guzzi MK III LeMans to the United States to compete in the Iron Butt. While the rest of the field of 41 riders came equipped with radar detectors and laptop computers (for navigation), Steve showed up with a set of simple AAA maps and an iron will to finish.

Eleven days and 12,458 miles later, Attwood won the Iron Butt Rally by a decisive 1,751 points (only 6 points separated the top three in 1991)! Steve overcame enormous odds to win the rally. Besides the handicap of locating remote bonuses (imagine finding places like Lee's Ferry, Arizona or Kelso, California in Europe on a rally of this type), Attwood had to deal with flat tires (the '83 Guzzi uses tube- type tires which require time-consuming wheel removal to repair) and had to replace wheel bearings in Florida. On the last day of the rally, with just 150 miles to go, the LeMans refused to start. Attwood traced the problem to a broken ignition coil and with just three hours remaining before being time-barred and eliminated from the rally, Attwood pulled out a spark plug and rode the final leg on one cylinder. With just 29 minutes remaining, he limped into the final checkpoint in Mansfield, Texas with the Moto Guzzi sounding like a large air-compressor rolling down the road.

Great Britain has thrown done the gauntlet to the American Long Distance Endurance Riding Community. Is the U.S. up to returning the Iron Butt crown to the States in 1995? Only time will tell!

Fast forward to 1995 and bad luck reared its ugly head. Steve hit a deer on day 3 and was uninjured but did not finish the rally."
 

[lucky phil]

Thank you for this input. I think this may be exactly what happened. There's clear heat damage to the left pipe that is visible from the exterior. I'm going to replace the spark plug, cap, and do an oil change before riding again. Beyond that, do you have any recommendations for this scenario?

No you pretty much have it covered. Get it running on both cylinders and see how it performs.

Ciao

[pressureangle]

No you pretty much have it covered. Get it running on both cylinders and see how it performs.

Ciao

This.
If there's no indication of damage after you correct the problem, then there's no damage.
I would throw in a half pint of Marvel Mystery oil into the gas tank to help clean up any gum around the rings deposited by the cold oil.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Blue pipes used to be normal, I wouldn't worry if its still running.
I had a similar problem with my V7C when it backfired due to a fault in the alternator (not charging) and blew the throttle body apart.
Both Cats caught fire (the insulation on the outside) and flames were coming out each exhaust.
There is some bluing on the mufflers and header pipes but it seems none the worse for wear.

[Kev m]

I told ya above. '10 V7C.

 

 

 

[Road Rocket]

 So about 10 years ago I got this high mileage 84 Cali and stipped into a bob job....On the first longer ride the Dyna ignition installed by the previous owner failed 50 miles from home...I rode back on one cylinder....It didn'seem to hurt the running of it....sold it to a guy here who still rides it.....In the newer car world , continued running on a dead cylinder can cause an overheated /ruined convertor .It maybe be that some ECU's will deactivate the injector on a dead cylinder and or severly limit engine power....

[lucky phil]

So about 10 years ago I got this high mileage 84 Cali and stipped into a bob job....On the first longer ride the Dyna ignition installed by the previous owner failed 50 miles from home...I rode back on one cylinder....It didn'seem to hurt the running of it....sold it to a guy here who still rides it.....In the newer car world , continued running on a dead cylinder can cause an overheated /ruined convertor .It maybe be that some ECU's will deactivate the injector on a dead cylinder and or severly limit engine power....

They don't because they don't know which cylinder is dead. The Lambda turns on the CEL because it knows a cylinder "bank" has a misfire or no fire but not which one. I don't know of any motorcycle or automotive efi that does what you suggest. When you interrogate the CEL logged code it will throw a code for "misfire bank 1 or 2" etc such as P0300 or P0312.

Ciao 

[Road Rocket]

Yes, I was thinking that maybe some engines might have thermal sensors on each cylinder exhaust port....