Need some quick help, anyone know what this stuff is?

JM485
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10/4/2017 5:50pm Edited Date/Time 10/5/2017 4:15pm
Long story short, I pulled the pipe off my RM to install a skid plate (don't ask, it was a nightmare), and upon checking the wear on my piston I noticed these odd flakes of something sitting on the top of the piston. I pulled the plug and this is what I found, I don't know what the heck this stuff is or where it came from. The inside of the pipe is a little rusty, so I made sure to get any loose rust pieces out, but I don't think that's what this is, it's too thin and flakey to me to come from the pipe. I also don't know how any of that could have made its way into the cylinder. The bike has been sitting for a while, could it be a product of bad gas sitting in a film on top of the piston?

I'm stumped, I've never seen this before and I have no clue what it is. Trying to race the bike this weekend which is why I started working on it in the first place, so if anyone has some ideas please let me know.





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rmoto003
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10/4/2017 6:00pm
Good thing the pics are focused on your thumbs and not the spark plug
Squidward
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Ocitillo, CA US
10/4/2017 6:24pm
looks kinda like gelled up crappy gas. Not sure if thats what it is but you may wanna pull your tank off and take a look to see whats going on. I pulled the top end off one of my go peds and saw exactly what looks like that stuff sitting in the bottom of the case. And it had been sitting outside forever with junk gas in it. So thats just what i figured.
JM485
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10/4/2017 6:36pm
Squidward wrote:
looks kinda like gelled up crappy gas. Not sure if thats what it is but you may wanna pull your tank off and take a look...
looks kinda like gelled up crappy gas. Not sure if thats what it is but you may wanna pull your tank off and take a look to see whats going on. I pulled the top end off one of my go peds and saw exactly what looks like that stuff sitting in the bottom of the case. And it had been sitting outside forever with junk gas in it. So thats just what i figured.
Interesting, here's some pictures with the head off. I already stuck a small vacuum down the plug hole but I decided to pull the head just to make sure I got everything out. Glad I did, there's still some garbage in there.




SLOWTIME
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OH US
10/4/2017 7:45pm
Out of curiosity.. What fuel/oil are you running?

The Shop

FahQ
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NJ US
10/4/2017 8:34pm
Put a bunch of nuts and bolts in the pipe with some solvent and shake, rinse, repeat until it comes out clean.
A two stroke gets supercharged by the pipe, that could absolutley be rust from the pipe.

via GIPHY

" class="img-fluid" />
Hows the air filter look?
I would also start with fresh fuel and a new sparkplug.
JM485
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10/4/2017 8:52pm Edited Date/Time 10/4/2017 8:55pm
SLOWTIME: At the time I was running 50/50 pump and AVgas, with a 50:1 mix of Lucas. I've been running that same setup for years and never seen this.

FahQ: I know that when running the pressure wave within the pipe helps keep the charge from just blowing out the exhaust, but this bike hasn't ran in the last couple months. I'm still struggling to see how it would have gotten from the pipe into the cylinder, unless it happened from the kickstarted just slowly being pushed down by hand or something. I do think it has to be rust in there, but damn is it weird that it made it up that high, pipe looks new on the outside to. I also could have sworn I started the bike after I washed it last, but maybe I forgot?

Edit: Filter was all good last time it ran, I'm beyond anal about that. I'm just going to vacuum the crap out, put a new head gasket in, new plug, and call it good I think.
Squidward
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10/4/2017 9:03pm
^^^probobly just what I would do. It's odd you have that crap in there with the good gas your running. I would agree its some type of issue with the pipe, but heck if I know how that happened. I'm sure if there's any other little bits of crap in there it'll burn off and/or blow out once you run it a bit. Hope it all runs good and nothing screws up.
Paw Paw
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Benton, LA US
10/5/2017 4:39am
It looks to be water damage. Leaking head gasket or a submerged engine.

Paw Paw
NITRODOG
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Fantasy
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10/5/2017 4:15pm
FahQ wrote:
Put a bunch of nuts and bolts in the pipe with some solvent and shake, rinse, repeat until it comes out clean. A two stroke gets...
Put a bunch of nuts and bolts in the pipe with some solvent and shake, rinse, repeat until it comes out clean.
A two stroke gets supercharged by the pipe, that could absolutley be rust from the pipe.

via GIPHY

" class="img-fluid" />
Hows the air filter look?
I would also start with fresh fuel and a new sparkplug.
45 years I been doing this..and finally somebody shows me a simple explanation of why that 2 stroke pipe is so important! Thank you!

could also be dirty gas....water leak in to the cylinder head area (head gasket) or even lead from the avgas
tuggy450
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Massapequa, NY US
10/5/2017 4:53pm
Looks like fuel varnish to me recently took apart a marine carb with the same stuff kinda gritty, check the float bowl,

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