Mille won't start after stopping at shops

At the very beginning of investigations but would like to share and gain any opinions which may assist in the diagnosis. Riding home from work yesterday, warm day, RSV Mille 2000 model totally stock, bike running normally (moved to Sydney from Essex for a few years now), I stopped at a shop near home, jumped back on 10 mins later and just got a clicking sound from the solenoid.

I suspected the solenoid or starter motor was to blame as it was running fine before I stopped and the battery is only 6 months old. I was near home as mentioned and had a bloody steep downwards hill between myself and home so pushed it to the top and thought I’d bump it halfway down. Got up to 56kph and popped it in 3rd and sadly instead of it bursting into life, the rear locked up, which made it interesting until I slowed. Ended up pushing it back up the other side of the hill inches at a time, which nearly did for me and got it home.

Now, do anyone think it could have seized or something gone south in the gearbox when it was fine when it stopped? I don’t have the luxury of a list of good motorcycle engineers as I used to back home so will start to strip this weekend once I obtain a manual or info showing me how to but in the meantime, if anyone else has experienced anything like this, I’d love to hear from you and any outcome.

Thanks,

Paul

Pulled all the fuses and checked them?

When it happend to me the solenoid connections were loose

Paul,

Before starting to strip her down, check all the obvious bits first. I would be very surprised if it was seized as it was running correctly until you stopped and switched off.
The electrics sound the likely culprit (unless you ran out of fuel). Check all fuses and all relays - check all connections - check plugs and leads are connected properly - check battery voltage (charge it up) - check operation of starter solenoid - spray and clean kill switch.

Gray

check the earth wiring point on the rh side cast frame spar , lift the tank , both mine have had that issue

bump starting a big twin , not easy mate , its not seized btw

Update: I’ve pretty much run out of ideas and planning on getting the bike carted off to a workshop to check the internals. I’ve charged the battery, jumped from a brand new car battery, confirmed the solenoid is working and has no resistance when powered, I’ve checked and cleaned the earth mount on the RHS of the frame also the positive connection on the starter motor (cant find a negative anywhere so assume it’s earthing through the mounting bolts) , confirmed the starter motor is receiving power when the starter is pushed, I also removed the bottom two mounting bolts from the starter to perform a basic test to see if it moved slightly when powered and it twitches indicating to me at least that its trying to turn the flywheel. Ruled out the sprag clutch as its not spinning the engine. Sadly it feels something inside is well and truly stuck.

I’ll update again when more is known in case it ever helps someone else going forward.


View attachment 6724

Hello there,
With battery fully charged what happens when you turn the key? The board starts and you ear some sound tak tak tak and then stops? At the same time the speedometer needle has little jumps?
If this is the case the battery has problem.
Hope can help.
Luca

I removed one of the two plugs in each cylinder but no matter of rocking backwards and forwards or trying to roll down my steep driveway, would turn over the engine in 6th. It’s a 2000 so the flywheel weight should be a permanent fixture and that shouldn’t have come away. Could be a magnet I suppose. Will have to go in and look now and will advise what turns up.

I ended up getting the bike put into a shop due to time and a general lack of ability when it comes to big twins. All of the electrical checks appear to have been in vain. They just called and informed me that the rear cylinder is well and truly seized. Cant give more details unless they start to strip it down.

Rebuild at the very least will be in the 1000s of $ and there’s a lot less of them out here than back in Blighty so sadly it may be time to sell as is or break for parts.

Hi there, did you place in a new battery?
Sometimes battery re charged are not going to provide enough power.
It happened to me.
If the rpm needle "dance" it means battery is not ok.
Worth to check.
Hope this has been checked properly by the shop. But never say never

ViewAskew said:

I ended up getting the bike put into a shop due to time and a general lack of ability when it comes to big twins. All of the electrical checks appear to have been in vain. They just called and informed me that the rear cylinder is well and truly seized. Cant give more details unless they start to strip it down.

Rebuild at the very least will be in the 1000s of $ and there’s a lot less of them out here than back in Blighty so sadly it may be time to sell as is or break for parts.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. Hope it doesn't prove terminal.

Amazing...!
- So bike ran normal. You stopped bike when ticking over outside the shops. And then the engine seized up!!!

Before you stopped the bike:
- Did the engine temp flag as high ?
- Were you riding very hard?

- When did you last check the oil level?

Everything was normal when I stopped and had just been gently commuting back for about 25 mins. Was a hot day but other than that nothing to help give an idea as to why it seized. Oil was last checked probably about a month before it happened.

Since the rebuild will be in the 1000s and most I'll get for it will be about £250 in this state, I'm going to get it home and attempt to remove and strip the engine down. With the help of more knowledgeable members on here, I may be able to find out the root cause and then see if it can be fixed or Im looking at importing a new engine from somewhere.

So I'll probably look for an existing thread (or start a new one if I cant find anything) on removing the lump and stripping it down. I'll document it anyway in case it helps others.

just replied on rsvr.net

Paul, you might consider buying a second hand engine, allowing for the age of your bike. You can get them with reasonable mileage at around £500 in UK, by way of a benchmark.

Sounds like your oil feed to the cylinder bore in question might have failed...

If I was back in the UK then 100% I'd be on the hunt for a replacement engine and work on the failed one in my spare time but the cost of shipping a lump to Sydney I reckon would be atrocious.
My best hope is to open up the current one and hope it's something relatively easy to fix or replace due to the fact the bike was running until I stopped it for 10 minutes but I suspect oil starvation due to the lower than expected oil quantity when I drained it and not really sure what sort of damage that would have caused.

I did eventually take the cover off the other day and wish I’d done so before sending the bike away as I’d be a lot closer to getting it fixed and $300 better off. Turns out one of the three sprag retaining bolts had sheared off and jammed between the stator and the housing. I managed to remove the stud left inside and am now on the hunt for a replacement stator as the original one if pretty mashed up.

Pictures here if interested or it helps https://goo.gl/photos/Qn8PqemnEAH4C5847

View attachment 6835

Thanks for keeping this updated, interesting to read and would like to know final outcome for this problem, and am I right in thinking that the rear is not actually seized?

The thanks should goto the excellent people on these threads as without them id have probably taken the engine out before taking off the generator cover and seeing the snapped off bolt and the mushed stator. Searching for replacements I've come across quite a few people who've had exactly the same issue. I'd heard there were a bunch of Rotax engines that didn't get loctite. The remaining two bolts were loose so I assume one wiggled out far enough to get collected by the stator and snapped off and jammed it. Little peeved at the bike shop mechanics who just said the rear cylinder was seized and advised to sell in the broken state. I've not got it running yet so of course there could be something else but since it was running when it was turned off, I'm pretty positive a new stator and tight bolts should see it back on the road. Annoying thing here is that as its not been registered for over three months I have to hand back the number plates, re-register it with a new roadworthy certificate and then buy new plates, ho hum.


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