How to tell crank seals need replacing?
Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 12:54 pm
My project KR-1S came to me in boxes and with a damaged piston (broken ring) and barrel and one side so I have no knowledge of how it was running (clean/smoky etc) before it broke. It has 19k miles on the clock which from mot history look like they're genuine
I'm stripping it down (currently stopped as waiting for flywheel puller to arrive) but when I do get it all apart I'm wondering about a few things.
Rather than replace/refurb everything just in case, I'm initially thinking of just fixing the obvious stuff (ie wrecked piston/barrel) and seeing if it runs OK.
So my question is, are there any obvious signs that would point to the crank seals being past it/damaged, or the crank bearings for that matter (beyond just spinning them or listening to them). As it's a specialist job to pull the crank apart and replace seals and bearings it would probably be better to get them done them now rather than later if it's clear they do need replacing. But if they are in OK order, then I'm happy to leave them alone for this summer at least. I'm just not sure how I'll know one way or the other...
I guess it's possible that fragments of broken ring could have made their way into the bearings so maybe the correct approach would just be go for a full crank overhaul?
What would people's experience suggest here?
I'm stripping it down (currently stopped as waiting for flywheel puller to arrive) but when I do get it all apart I'm wondering about a few things.
Rather than replace/refurb everything just in case, I'm initially thinking of just fixing the obvious stuff (ie wrecked piston/barrel) and seeing if it runs OK.
So my question is, are there any obvious signs that would point to the crank seals being past it/damaged, or the crank bearings for that matter (beyond just spinning them or listening to them). As it's a specialist job to pull the crank apart and replace seals and bearings it would probably be better to get them done them now rather than later if it's clear they do need replacing. But if they are in OK order, then I'm happy to leave them alone for this summer at least. I'm just not sure how I'll know one way or the other...
I guess it's possible that fragments of broken ring could have made their way into the bearings so maybe the correct approach would just be go for a full crank overhaul?
What would people's experience suggest here?