855 Tigers Blowing Up After Being Dropped

[tigerhund]

There has been discussion on the Tiger List about 855 Tigers having had catastrophic engine failures due to hydraulic damage by oil leaking into cylinders when the bikes have been dropped.  I have inserted an excerpt from the Tiger list below as an example.  The reported fix is to re-route and lengthen the crankcase breather.  Does anyone have any experience with this or know where instructions for the breather fix can be found?





Excerpt/Example from Tiger List:



A mate dropped his 855i between Melbourne & Adelaide.  Picked it up,

rode home to Adelaide and had the damage repaired.  Picked it up and

headed off to my place.  Got about 700km into that trip and put a leg

out of bed.

The explanation was that oil ran into the head when the bike was on

it's side.  At start up the hydraulic pressure fractured the conrod

which then separated 1200km later.



cheers

RayB

[Foxy]

I've done it. It is not a hard mod.  



1. Go to an automotive parts shop.



2. Buy a length of tubing of the same bore/diameter as the original breather but longer.



3. Remove original breather.



4. Put new breather tube on. Route it from one side of the bike to the other and back again.



5. Route it so that it stays in place by itself and/or cable tie it in postion.



6. Job done.



As for how well it works....who knows? I haven't blown my engine up, but neither have I dropped it on it's left hand side (which is the side that causes the problem).



Oh, and it's 885 btw.

[Patrick]

How good is your french?

Or your german?



Sorry, there is no english version available. But I think, the included pics in combination with google translation may do it.





Have fun!



Patrick

[MARKC]

Wheeled my 2000 885i out of my mothers garage,loaded it up,mounted up and then fell over.This confirmed my mothers worst fears about motorbikes being dangerous and that perhaps her safety advice about wearing clean under wear and socks might not be enough.



Anyway drove to Milan and back (2 and a bit thousand miles) without a problem. May be she was not on her side long enough for oil to seep in thank God.!!!!

[Foxy]

Mark, it depends what side you drop it on, and not having the engine running (especially when the bike is on it's side) helps.

[MARKC]

The engine was running but I turned it off sharpish.The bike ended up on the right hand side so maybe this is why I got away with it.

[jp4evr]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but dropping it on it's left side is not a definitive "blow up" maneuver.  This is not the end all even if it is running for a second.  

I've gone down on the left 2 times (still no breather tube mod) and nothing, but I had the bike righted in a matter of 20 seconds or so.

[scooterdude]

I deal alot with insurance bikes, and I've noticed (3) 1999-2000 tigers with the same failure. the engine explodes on the upper left case. pretty much destroying the engine. The dealer claims due to oil loss.I think its a design flaw. The 955 is a much better engine.  Buy the way does any one have a 955 motor for sale?  Just my 2 bits worth.  8)

[Blue Tiger]

This is a situation called hydraulic lock. The oil seeps into the combustion chamber, the piston tries to compress it but as it is much harder to compress than the fuel / air mix the con rods bend! I think it can only happen if the motor is running. Not limited to the Tiger by any means though as it can potentialy affect all old type injected engines. Plenty about it on www.t595.net (http://www.t595.net)

[apache]

I question how thats possible?? The hole in the crancase breather is fairly small. if dropped on the left side all tjhe oil would go to the left side and not into the airbox, if dropped on the right then some would get into the hose but then it shoud drain out the airbox drain if left for a few minutes. Its late and Im have road lag so Im probably not thinking right but how else would it get up into the top end and hydro lock it to the point of bending rods?? Ive flipped over trucks and then righted them and drove for hundreds of miles with out issues.

[TigerTrax]

I just  had a situation where I felt my #1 cylinder may be flooded with gas and possibly a hydraulic lok may occur if I tried to start it.

 So I trailered it home.



A mech told me that if you ever suspect that again ... simply put the bike in a high gear 5-6 and walk it backwards. This allows the fluid to drain down into the crankcase and make itsafe to start.



Seems to make sense to me.

[apache]

The down side of that is diluting the oil with gas and possibly causing lube issues if bad enough. someone here had an issue with bad carb needles allowing the motor to flood. I would have thought if the needles stuck though the carb bowls would have had fuel gushing from them. I can tell you my steamer`s petcock does not shut down fully ba a long shot. I installed a aftermarked one and another filter for times of storage.