What was I thinking!…
-
I use Castrol power 1 race, fully synthetic can get it from halfords.
I always get mine up to temp for a few miles then always at 10k rpm most of the time in each gears, always gets a beating when it comes out and never had an issue with anything sticking
-
I do stick to around 5K with 6 being my limit. This is because of the state of the engine though! Not for any altruistic reason!
it’s rough! The last 2 pistons had the ‘ring pins’ rattled out of them. The stator side of the piston had about a MM of play in the wrist/gudgeon pin! I think the con rod is bent to one side. The barrel I put on it I used the only piston that was a close fit, it was one that has been seized twice and has a crater in the crown from overheating. So I’m nursing it till my next rebuild, I consider it to be in ‘lump mode’ 
It’s been so reliable considering it’s ‘pedigree’ … -
@SpookDog Understandable you're keeping the revs low in the circumstances but I'd say that's a big part of the PV being carbon seized.
Also I think your running premix is playing a part here. Besides user convenience, one of the greatest attributes of Autolube is its flexibility as the oil delivery rate is varied in two ways; engine speed and throttle opening (or three if you count the TZR-R see-saw linkage but I'm assuming we're talking about your DTR here) so it really is a mechanical form of engine management which varies the oil ratio from about 120:1 at tickover to something like 30:1 when you're absolutely full bore giving it the beans.
Premix is fine for competition bikes as it's assumed you'll be ragging the arse off it for most of the time you're riding, but road bikes have to spend time in everyday traffic situations where that kind of riding just isn't possible so you don't really need that 40:1 or whatever oil ratio sat in traffic at 4000rpm. So it oils everything up because it's not being blown out like it would be on a track. In fact it could be having a negative effect because if there's a percentage of oil as well as petrol going through any carb jet at any engine speed/throttle opening, this could translate to a lean running/overheating condition.
If you're planning on doing a full engine rebuild sometime, get a £25 Yambits oil pump repair kit and if you have a spare, do a clutch cover build with the oil pump fitted so it's ready. They also do a ball and spring kit for the outlet pipe and a transparent delivery pipe kit so you can check at a glance it's working, and after rebuilding you can pre-bleed the pump using a syringe so the final bleed on the bike is easier. The DTR Autolube is even better than most as the OEM throttle cable actually has a mechanism inside the splitter box which balances the carb and oil pump automatically (another reason to avoid those bloody awful £12 pattern throttle cables which are responsible for a lot of engine meltdowns) whereas even all other Yamahas you have to check and adjust the oil pump cable regularly. And Suzukis right up to the RGV250, the oil pump is a weedy little thing behind the front sprocket. Yamaha Autolube is one of the most reliable and user-friendly systems ever made and seeing this gives you rock-solid peace of mind.
In the 90s an American tuner called Eric Gorr wrote an article in Dirt Bike Rider (UK) Magazine about cleaning up gummy powervalves as some of them are quite complicated (the Honda Power Port valves on the '86-91 Honda CR250 had over 20 moving parts and required servicing every two hours' runtime, but the CR was the best 250MX engine of its era). He talked a lot about this, Kawasaki KIPS, Suzuki AETC etc, all of which are equally fiddly but he left out Yamaha YPVS altogether because in his own words "the Yamaha system is so simple and reliable".
-
Hey bud! I stripped and cleaned the PV when it last got gummed up. It wasn’t carbon. It happens within 2-3 days of using the ‘emergency’ 2T oil. I think that all the misfiring (20,000miles!!) has done a number on the conrod, I’m surprised the bearings are still good! I had the piston’lock’ a couple times when the head gasket was really bad & I was topping up the rad every 10 miles. I had to put it in a high gear and rock it back and forwards till it cleared!…
I plan on putting the pump back on when I rebuild the Dtr. I can’t remember why I went premix exactly, it was to cross something off a list though. I think premix can be problematic with setting up the carb…
I’m going to read through your whole post now! …Edit: I would not want to service that power valve setup!! Damn! 🫣
PPS: I have a pic of the worn piston - pin clearance on the stator side, I’ll try and find it. You’ll understand why I’m in limp mode
…
