Upside down off the bridge - Metal piece came out changing oil - what is it?

[tedcool]

My wife dropped her TTR125 off a bridge today, and it ran upside down for 5 - 10 seconds.

 

It has been running great, and was running great all the way home.

 

After our fun ride today we decided to change our oil.

 

She and I maybe have 15 hours since the last change.

 

She opened up the drain plug and saw this little beauty fall out.  It looks like a little section of one of the rings, but I don't see any curvature, and it's not shiny.  It doesn't look like it went through any gears, either.

 

This can't be good....

 

Any idea what it could be?

 

Would it be better to take the engine apart now, or wait and see?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Weezer the Geezer]

Is it metal? Attracted to a magnet? It doesn't look like it broke off of anything. Has no sharp edges?

If it was my bike I wouldn't start tearing it down. It may have been in there for a long time and just got dislodged by being upside down. If it doesn't look broken, or like it has been "jammed" in some way, I wouldn't worry. My opinion. 50 years experience working on cars and bikes.

[tedcool]

Yes - it is steel.  It doesn't look chewed up anywhere - no bright or sharp areas.  It looks like each end broke cleanly off of something else. 

 

Thanks for the advice - I feel a little better.

[TheKX500boi]

Chances are you'll be fine just don't make this a regular thing.

[stevocz]

For a piece of metal it sure does look like an odd specimen, Weezer the geezer has summed it up though, just keep uppa,

Was there any material in the filter!?

I'm big on cutting the filter open ( paper ones obviously) and having a good little peek at the material caught, will generally tell the story if a catastrophic failure could be on the horizon

[mlatour]

Did you actually see this piece fall out of the drain hole or

did you find it in the bottom of the drain pan afterwards?

(any chance it's from another oil change / repair where the same pan was used?)

 

If it did come from the bike's crankcase,

very unlikely it was caused by running upside down for only 10-15 seconds.

 

If the engine runs fine and doesn't make any new noises,

it's perhaps rather a metal chunk from another component: gearbox, shift or kickstart mechanism.

 

(any hard missed shifts or kickstart problems lately?)

Edited October 9, 2016 by mlatour

[EmpireofDerp]

When I find stuff like that I do an Italian tune up. Just jump on the bike and run it at or near redline up and down your street in second or third gear until the neighbors call the cops. If it didn't catastrophically fail, it's fine.

[Weezer the Geezer]

Montour made a good point. Are you sure it came out to of the bike? Looking at it again, it is rounded and looks like a piece of molten metal. Like from a welding project??

[tedcool]

1:  Yes - my wife saw if come out of the crank case.  The oil has to flow across the skid plate, so we get a good look at it as it drains.

 

2:  There is no filter or screen on a TTR125.  The rest of the oil looked pretty good, though, and it was still fairly clear, so we would probably see if other metal particles came out.  We use Rotella T 15W-40

 

3:  We never kick start this bike.  TTR's are sometimes weak in this area.

 

4:  Shifting is generally fine.  She did have a failed shift ( slipped 2nd to neutral ) once on the way home, but she thinks it could have been her.  No other shift issues.  TTR's do get shift mechanism wear issues, and the linkage shifter is not crisp, so hard to tell, but nothing is worse.

 

5:  The metal piece does seem to have a rectangular cross section.  Far from perfect, though.  Not just a lump of slag.

Edited October 9, 2016 by tedcool

[motovita]

When I have a situation like that I look at all the parts diagrams of the engine/transmission until I find a part that looks like it. I'm not a member of the "don't worry, be happy" camp.

[EmpireofDerp]

When I have a situation like that I look at all the parts diagrams of the engine/transmission until I find a part that looks like it. I'm not a member of the "don't worry, be happy" camp.

That's called "mechanical sympathy," my pops always claimed I was born without it. "Why do you always gotta rev the piss outta everything boy?" I can still see the veins popping out of his forehead lol. Different strokes.

[timd1286]

Maybe the bottom part of the oil plug. Long shot but only thing it looks like.

[stevocz]

When I find stuff like that I do an Italian tune up. Just jump on the bike and run it at or near redline up and down your street in second or third gear until the neighbors call the cops. If it didn't catastrophically fail, it's fine.

Preferably with no helmet on Edited October 9, 2016 by stevocz

[tedcool]

The oil plug and its threads look perfect.  Good idea, though!

[Weezer the Geezer]

The fact that it is smooth and has rounded edges, with no sharp corners, or shiny sections, or signs of being recently broken off, I would say it has been in the bottom of your crankcase for a long time.

[HappyAndy]

My guess is that if it truly from the engine's guts, it's been there a long time,maybe even since break in, and the upside down incident just dislodged it from its resting spot. You said it ran normally for hours afterwards, so I wouldn't sweat it, and wouldn't do a preemptive tear down because of it.

Unless it was running WFO when it was on its back, I don't see how that could have caused real damage, and if something did fail, it was just because it was ready to go.

I would get a drain plug with a magnetic tip ASAP.

[HappyAndy]

Double post

Edited October 10, 2016 by HappyAndy

[tedcool]

I like the magnet idea.  Thanks again to all of you!

[Greg_E]

Have you checked the engine's compression? If it was part of the top ring and maybe second ring, you might find low compression. You could also try looking into the cylinder with a flashlight through the spark plug hole. Hard to see anything, but might yield something. A cheap USB scope camera would be nice to have and something I still need to add to my toolbox, ebay has a large selection for pretty cheap.

 

Looks like it could have been a cast piece, not too many of those in there so I would expect part of a gear if it really is a newer break.

[rfox7]

If your bike is an E start, It might be a piece of starter clutch. How does your starter sound?