Health Check

Bentley

Hi ah there chaps was just wandering what you guys would do if you wanted to do a health check of your DT? I'm mainly talking enigine wise. Mines making a bit of a grumbling noise when riding! Ive been ignoring it as it dosent sound terrible. However if there is something wrong I'd rather fix it than neglect it and I'd like to check for myself if possible. I've done a top end before on another 2 stroke that went smoothly however I'm not a mechanic.

Calum

What's the mileage on the machine bud?

Bentley

@Calum hi Calum, supposedly 13k the mileage tallys up with MOT history. And she apparently had a top end before I bought it. Ive never opened her up so don't know condition of piston, barrel. Hopefully no detention damage to the head

Bentley

@Bentley I suppose if I take the head and barrel off I'd need to buy some Athena or OEM gaskets?

Calum

On a stock engine, I'd look to do the top end every 8K, full rebuild by 15-20k depending on how it's ridden. That said these bikes if treated right will do 30+k on the bottom end and about 15k on the top end.

Using high quality oils, warming it up and general maintenance will see the latter.

But it's always best to rebuild rather than wait for the inevitable.

If you knew when the piston had been done then I'd be more inclined to leave it alone.

Good ol gearbox oil change never hurts.

Bentley

@Calum I don't know when it had been done, the chap said it had been but who knows. Would it be worth taking the head and barrel? off then I could polish it and check bottom end? ( can I tell the condition of the bottom end by wiggling the crank or is that not correct?

Calum

@Bentley The expression if it ain't broke don't fix it always springs to mind.

Trust me when I say if the engine needs a rebuild, it'll tell you long before you need to.

Clues will be obvious, excessive smoke, down on power and it'll sound like there is sand in the engine.

Bentley

@Calum ok Calum. Your a very knowledgeable chap so I'll take your advice. I'll change the tranny oil it's 10w40 for these isn't it? I'm thinking Castrol? I do have some purloined but that's heavy gear oil

Bentley

I've just seen I've got a 3MB00 cylinder is that the standard for the Re?

Calum

@Bentley http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/engine-oils-and-car-fluids/engineoils/15w40-engine-oil/?521771961&0&cc5_246&gclid=CL6Awo_niNMCFYY-GwodnAIC6w

A litre of that stuff will work fine.

AVOID MAGNETEC oil. It'll make your clutch slip like a bastard lmao.

It does depend on how savvy you are with your bike bud. If it were me, I'd swap the piston out every 8K to keep it all fresh. But if you rely on your bike and are not a mechanic then I wouldn't bother unless it is exhibiting signs of fatigue.

3MB is standard across DTR/RE/X. Some early DTR's came with 3BN barrels, slightly bigger bore, shorter stroke.

Bentley

Ok thanks for that I'll order some tonight!
Haha I'll stay clear of that then. Im not particulary savvy with my bike as I haven't really tinkered with them much but I like to be able to do things myself, I recently put some AC10 tyres on her, so I'm pretty pleased with that although i did puncture a few inner tubes eeeek lmao But it's all sorted now! I don't rely on my bike so I can tinker with her. (And would like too learn etc)

Calum

If you would like to learn then I'd recommend just going to your local scrappy and picking up a spare DT engine and building that. Plenty of them about and you'll learn a lot too!

Bentley

@Calum ok! I know a chap who owns a bike breaker yard. Maybe I'll give him a call, they said they have had Dts in there before. Are you a mechanic? Or did you just teach yourself?

Calum

@Bentley Nah I'm not a mechanic bud.

There isn't much really too these bikes so you pick it up fairly quickly. It won't be long before you're be the one people ask for answers

Unfortunately, like most, I've learned the hard way. But it's worth every penny as now there is very little I fret in undertaking.

Bentley

@Calum sound words mate. I thought you where lol you've obvisouly done a lot of learning. I bought some of that oil she's on the way.
If I do decide to inspect the bike at some point I'll post on here with pics for now I'll just ride

NINJA

@Bentley There's always this checklist too refer to bud;

https://dt125r.co.uk/topic/275/pre-mot-checks

Bentley

@CYBER-NINJA thanks mate, that'll definitely come in handy.
Appreciate the input

Zrako

Look at this mate

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371905465746

Mightyman

@Zrako that was the usual recommended one on the old forum But tbh, as long as your clutch isn't slipping and your gear changes are Smooth enough, your alright!

Zrako

@Mightyman yeah . Im used before some 10w40 castrol I had spare in garage but friends told me thats not good use car engine oil in 2 stroke gearboxes as they work different with clutch so thats why Im got this one on the new clutch .got it yeasterday so will put it in as soon as I get my engine back together