• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

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TE 450 EFI Is engine rebuild really needed so soon?

Tetley

Tetley

Husqvarna
AA Class
I have a 2010 TE450 EFI with the power up kit fitted, which is used mainly for trail riding and the odd gentle enduro.
The manual says if used for racing, then full engine rebuild after 80 hours, and if trail riding 6000 miles. It now has 5000 on the clock so soon approaching the rebuild. However does it really need doing seing as it all seems in perfect order. Cam chain and tensoiners still fine, never had to adjust valves, no knocks or rattles, uses no more oil than when it was new, and when draining the oil there are never any shards of metal in the filters or magnet.
Seeing as the recommended replacement of parts is going to be VERY expensive (Piston, rings, cam chain, tensoiners, valves, main bearings etc etc....), does anyone have any experience with whether all the parts can be checked for wear and reused, or should some or all be replaced even if they are like new?

Thanks,

Bruce. UK
 
I have almost 8000 dual-sport miles on my 2010 TE 450, still running strong, I am hoping something wears out slowly and doesn't blow up badly!
 
I have close to 9000 miles on my 2007 TE450. It has had a combination of trail riding and dualsport. I didn't even have to adjust any of the valves until around 8000 miles.
 
Just as an FYI; it's the conrod bearing that takes the beating. It's one of those things that creep up before failure. It usually starts as vibration, then a slight ticking/ knocking, you'll begin to notice ferrous metal on the magnet. I'm sure a lot of it is how the bike is used not just hrs put on the engine.
Let's put it this way, a scheduled rebuild prior to any damage would cost just a conrod kit, piston & rings, gasket and seal kit. Keeps the bike operating as new. After you notice damage being done the cost can escalate. (cylinder, valves, transmission gears). I'd say, pay closer attention to your engine as it surpasses the scheduled period before something happens.
 
Thanks guys for you input and experiences with your bikes. Based on this, I think I will run the bike until next summer, when it will have about 7500 - 8000 miles on it, and strip the top end to check the crank upwards. I will replace anything that's worn, but probably not bother with anything thats well within spec. It doesn't seem that the valves will need replacing, as no one is reporting any wear on them - you probably have to compete at a very high level in enduro to trash the valves.:cheers:
 
Valves usually only get trashed when the piston hits them :P
There's a procedure to measure the valves, but I'm sure they last well. The springs would lose tension with all those high revs.
 
My '05 TE has around 15000 miles on it and still runs strong, I replaced it with an '09 TE and turned the '05 into a supermoto. My suggestion would be to ride until it is time to replace the whole bike.
 
Planepower said:
Just as an FYI; it's the conrod bearing that takes the beating. It's one of those things that creep up before failure. It usually starts as vibration, then a slight ticking/ knocking, you'll begin to notice ferrous metal on the magnet. I'm sure a lot of it is how the bike is used not just hrs put on the engine.
Let's put it this way, a scheduled rebuild prior to any damage would cost just a conrod kit, piston & rings, gasket and seal kit. Keeps the bike operating as new. After you notice damage being done the cost can escalate. (cylinder, valves, transmission gears). I'd say, pay closer attention to your engine as it surpasses the scheduled period before something happens.
Click to expand...

The con rod bearings require a complete case-split teardown, correct? Any idea on cost for this, say, if I sent my motor only to George at Uptite, to replace the con rod bearings?
 
OlderHuskyRider said:
The con rod bearings require a complete case-split teardown, correct? Any idea on cost for this, say, if I sent my motor only to George at Uptite, to replace the con rod bearings?
Click to expand...

Yep, connecting rods need the engine cases split ... Not sure on the cost or George ... He quit selling Huskies but that does not mean he will not work on one ... Rod kit ~145$ for a 250 ... OEM mains, $76 each for a 250...

My 08 TXC250 went ~950 hrs before the big end rod went out ... ~900hrs great, ~950hrs .. toasted ...

Everything was going as usual, no bad sounds from the engine, power OK, nothing different on the bike ... just at one oil change, the oil plug was covered in metal bits and the filter was full also of shiny metal flakes ... No damage to the engine other than the connecting rod ... Mains might have been very slightly loose at the same time ... Replaced them also ...

Watch and listen closely to the engine and maybe pull the oil filter out between changes to catch it filling with metal bits between the oil changes, depending on how far between oil changes you ride ... And keep riding ... :)
 
Checking the filter and screens is a good way to find out when big pieces are starting to come off.
To find out before things get to that point, oil lab analyisis is done for trucks, heavy equipment, marine or anything else, including transmissions, differentials etc. For about 30$ a pre posted sample bottle can be puchased at truck and equipment dealers. Within a few days of sendinng the sample, a detailed report will arrive in the mail. If there are dangerous levels of metal, anti freeze, dirt etc. they will call or email you imediately. So if you have a high hour motor this would be a way to find out where you stand.
Accurate oil change intervals (hours/miles) can also be established by testing because the condition of the oil is also evaluated.
I don't sample as much as I should, but I have sampled bike oil on a high mile KTM that I thought was vibrating more than it used to. It came back with a clean bill of health.
 
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