Well it all started with a plan to take the wife out on a ride for our anniversary. I was a bit reluctant because two years ago EXACTLY I went on a ride for the same reason and we ended up sinking my ride in a mud hole and ended up snapping an axle, flooding my tools/firstaid kit/sat phone/cell phone, cooking the stator and MSD....it wasn't a great experience, but this time was to be different...I had done all the normal checks, coolant/oil levels, cleaned the air filter and changed out a tie rod end and upper ball joint and had just installed new Big Horns. All was good now! This time it was in an area I traveled frequently and really enjoyed. My wife hadn't been there in many years and was looking forward to it. The weather was great with hardly a cloud in the sky. We headed out on the first FSR early enough that we missed most of the holiday weekend traffic (BC holiday) plus it was Sunday anyway. This allowed us to travel at a reasonable clip and enjoy the views without dust and frustration from lots of vehicles. This was a 60km (40mile) trip that brought us into the nicer area. From here was some trails and back roads that lead us past beautiful lakes and mountain peaks - about anther 40km (25miles). We were going to camp overnight so we had packed our tent, sleeping bags, cots, cooler with food/drink, safety equipment and 10gal of extra fuel - we were loaded down pretty good and travel was smooth but slow. At this point, we ran into some friends who offered us to join them in their cabin nearby for the night so we could have a comfy place to stay - that sounded great and we said we'd be back at the end of the day. We then turned north and traveled into the mountains and traveled up to 7300ft (our starting point was 700ft). We saw 4 others on mx bikes and that was it! The views from this point were great - we could see for what seemed forever...in fact, we could see the great mass of thunder clouds not that far off...We decided to head back down to the FSR and make a plan from there as to where next to go. I quickly fueled up and headed out. Along the way, there were several HUGE rain drops that came down and it clouded over VERY quickly as it does in the mountains. We were prepared, but wanted to avoid it obviously. We got back to the FSR and had a choice to turn now towards our friends cabin, which was into the storm, or away from it towards some more lakes and views which was still very sunny. We turned towards the sun and carried on. We were now about 160km (100miles) into our journey and we hadn't seen anyone for a long time now - how great was this! Suddenly (you must have seen this coming) my machine seemed to get an engine miss or like a fuel issue. I had just fueled up from a clean jerry can...there is was again, a big miss. I had experienced this once before when my tank wasn't venting so I stopped and left the machine idling as I cracked the fuel cap. A VERY small hiss and that was it, that did not seem to be the issue. I decided to drive a bit again and was shocked to have it seem to act normal again. I'm a mechanic and I know better than believe things fix themselves BUT I carried on...for 1/2km (1/3mile). At this point the road was 4x4 trucks only - very rough and slow and there was a puddle of muddy water that seemed to be in this same spot all summer long regardless of the weather. Because of this, everyone on bikes/quads just weaved up the bank beside it and avoided it, which I had also done on countless trips through here before. I knew that when you came back down onto the road you had to expect to be pulled towards the edge on the other side of the road so I was down to 10 km (6mph) or less and as soon as I got back onto the road...BLAM, the wheels locked up and everything came to an abrupt hault. The engine had quit. I looked at my wife and said "that's not good" and tried to restart the engine. The solenoid clicked and that was it. Tried again and same result with an error now of 12 (crankshaft position sensor fault as I found out later). "Happy Anniversary" I said... Literally as I said this, the few rain drops turned into heavy rain and thunder started pounding around us...are you kidding me??? I checked the oil and found it slightly low and some vapours but nothing I would say earth shattering, I could see no holes in the block or case, coolant was still evident in the overflow tank. WTF? I hoped the belt had just snapped or something and jammed the clutch so I pulled out the tools and removed the seat and clutch cover - no, belt good and clutch turned great one way (free wheel) but no go in the other direction - oh oh. Called it done and started to make other plans. Dug out the Sat phone (no cell here) and started making calls - oh yeah, long weekend, everyone is out and about...Ok, this area is VERY popular especially on long weekends, so we'll walk the next km or so to the camp ground at the lake and see if someone there can provide help. Off we went and found NO ONE ANYWHERE. I have never seen it dead at the best of times let alone the BC long weekend!!! Back to the Sat phone and low and behold, I got a friend on the line. He was happy to help (amazing, concidering the distance away (approx 160km, 100miles) over crappy roads on a long weekend...) He was grabbing another friend and bringing over a pick up to get us. Excellent! We then, feeling better, noticed the rain had stopped but the thunder continued. We ate some food/drink and set up our cots for a snooze and watch the skies. The thunder stopped and we actually slept for a 1/2hr or so. Very quiet. No one around. Wow. We then had more time to kill, so we walked back to the lake and did some fishing. Caught a few pan friers but released them as I had enough to deal with. We walked back and waited. It took 4 1/2 hours from the time of the call to pick up and then another 4 to get home. We arrived home at 2am. I said to my wife, "Who else do you know gets to view scenery, hike the boonies, take lots of pictures, fish, camp out, and get rescued on their anniversaries?" She laughed! My only concern from the time of the failure to the next day was my friends whos cabin we were going to be headed to that night. There was no way to get a hold of them as they didn't have phones (out in the boonies remember). It was 40km out of the way from where we were going and it was now late enough they wouldn't have come out looking - I was not feeling good about the way that ended up but hoped to have them not panicked waiting for us. I had rode with them lots before and they new I was always prepared for weird stuff, so I hoped that would cross their minds. The next day, Monday, they were heading home anyway and I was able to get a hold of them and all was good. they suspected that the weather had forced me to camp elsewhere. Whew. All good.
Now home, I pulled the drain plug on the oil and it was clear of debris of any size - it was great actually but the level was down about 1/2L and the coolant was also down somewhat but no visible leaks and I hadn't smelled any burning of coolant or oil - but who knows. I pulled the spark plug and it was in perfect condition and colour. No debris here either. I pulled the cap off the stator side and put my bar on the crank and it would not move AT ALL in either direction. I decided I will pull out the engine and go from there. I was at 20,995km - 5km from 21,000(13,050miles) on a stock, relitively untouched engine. It owes me nothing. Regardless of what I find, it is time for a rebuild! It may be a gear on the transmission side of things that failed, or a piston seize (unlikely) but what ever it is, it might not have damaged much due to the fact I was at very low speed and low RPM when it stopped and it locked up immediately - no carrying on for seconds or more, just immediate. I will update when I get the drive to dive in further.
Any guesses on the failure before I dive in?
How's that for a single day in a long weekend on an Anniversary!