How long do the engines last? I got 70k miles.

[crash7863]

I am putting some money into updating my bike. Lots of little things were wrong when I bought it. I'll be taking the bike to the shop soon. One thing I'm wondering is how many miles can I expect on the engine before she blows? My old man has 130k+ on his Goldwing so high mileage is possible. I'm a week end warrior so I don't go on huge trips. I like to zip around and maybe ride to work every once in awhile.

If the engine blows, I'll probably look for one on Ebay. I have never rebuilt a motorcycle engine before, but I have done snowmobiles. Couldn't be that different.

[Pat Conlon]

These FJ engines are stout. They were designed for endurance racing popular in the early eighties. They are currently used in Legends and Thunder Roadster racing world wide.
These race car guys absolutely hammer these engines.

If you keep the valve clearances within spec and oil fresh you should get over 100k miles easily.
We have a Forum member in Colorado who has over 300,000 miles on his '84 and he has never had to open his engine.
I got 142,700 on my '84 before a rebuild. Totally my fault, I got lazy on my valves. Still, my bike ran, it was just low on compression and smoked a little. I could have nursed it to 150k but Randy needed my money.
The early FJ's have a transmission problem with the shift forks, not really an engine problem per se.
Most common engine problems I've seen have been:
#1 burned valves from not maintaining valve clearance. Most common.
#2 piston ring wear, just normal.
#3 hydrolocked (bent rod) from fuel in the crankcase from leaking vacuum petcock and float needles.

Over the years I've heard of only 2 stories where the FJ engine threw a rod.
I'm sure there are many stories from the race car owners, but that's racing, stuff breaks, but only 2 that I know from motorcyclists.
One was the owner of the Pashnit web site (great site) who threw a rod on his FJ, punched a big hole in the front of his engine case, but, he continued riding on 3 cylinders until he could get to a service station.
I'll see if I can find the story....Found it: https://www.pashnit.com/yamaha-fj1200
The 2nd time was from one of our forum members who made a mistake in the reassembly of his engine.

Question for the group...Any forum members have an FJ engine fail on them?

[Troyskie]

Not me, but I believe Noel cooked one of his in some lovely Melbourne traffic.

[Sparky84]

Question for the group...Any forum members have an FJ engine fail on them?

Not going to answer that question Pat, sorry
Murphy's law rules in my neighbourhood !!

[FJ_Hooligan]

According to Lee, he never even rebuilt his carbs!!!

[Pat Conlon]

Question for the group...Any forum members have an FJ engine fail on them?

Not going to answer that question Pat, sorry
Murphy's law rules in my neighbourhood !!

You are correct Alan, disregard the question. What was I thinking? 

[crash7863]

It's good to know that. Thank you for the information, that was very helpful.

[FjLee]

I am putting some money into updating my bike. Lots of little things were wrong when I bought it. I'll be taking the bike to the shop soon. One thing I'm wondering is how many miles can I expect on the engine before she blows? My old man has 130k+ on his Goldwing so high mileage is possible. I'm a week end warrior so I don't go on huge trips. I like to zip around and maybe ride to work every once in awhile.

If the engine blows, I'll probably look for one on Ebay. I have never rebuilt a motorcycle engine before, but I have done snowmobiles. Couldn't be that different.

Crash7863......

Well....where to start?  I feel that maybe you've not been around many Yamaha FJ riders......at least not for very long.

QUOTE:   "One thing I'm wondering is how many miles can I expect on the engine before she blows?"

I've never heard that question before.   On the other hand, I suppose  that an engine blowing means different things to different  people.  Probably the Legends race  folks are more familiar with  that term, when used in the context of suffering  sudden major damage.

I think that 130K on a properly maintained   'wing ain't shit.  But I'm not a 'wing owner.

130K on a  properly maintained Yamaha FJ ain't shit either, and I've owned and ridden FJ's since 1984.

Jump on a properly cared for FJ...and start circling the planet URTH, at the Equator.  Maintain your FJ....keep circling the planet.  After 8 loops.....still keeping  up the maintenance.....and still keep circling.....

TLC...tires....gas....oil...batteries...brake pads........more TLC......repeat.....

Get the idea?   I've put over 220,000 odo miles on the 1984 FJ1100 that I bought in 1984.  In those miles, never once was  I stranded due to Yamaha FJ1100 weakness.   Punctured tires and  1 unexpected battery failure yes.....dribbled a bit of gasoline from 4 UN-REBUILT CARBS......but never stranded due to a crappy poorly designed motorcycle.

I also own a high-dollar truck that I bought new, and it left me stranded several times before it had 10,000 miles on the odo....including  once being stranded  on an elk hunt the other side of BF.

So if   _YOU_   don't cause yer FJ to "blow up"....it almost fer shure ain't gonna "blow up"...!!!

Since you evidentally bought a used FJ.......bring her mechanically up to spec.....then caress her....ride her and enjoy the Hell out of it!   I sure wish Yamaha still made 'em!!

FjLee   

  Denver,CO         1984 Yamaha FJ1100     2016 Suzuki 1250 Bandit

[crash7863]

Blowing up is when the engine needs to be swapped because it's so messed up you can't rebuild it. The crank destroying itself or putting a rod through the side of the cylinder would be things where you look at engine swapping. That's what I meant.

[Troyskie]

There's a dude in Europe with genuine 1,400,000km on his 11. Not sure what rebuild/maintenance he's done.

My bro's 11 has two top end refreshes, and other routine maintenance, 700,000km, original crank, bla bla.

[FJ Flyer]

Got 118K plus on my '87.  And it has endured through DC summer commuter traffic.  Not saying is doesn't need a rebuild, tho.

[Bones]

Mine has 121.000km on it, still has good compression, original clutch, and burns no oil. There's no need to rev these engines hard to get up to speed, and I think that's the key to their longevity.

[Millietant]

Plenty around in the UK owners club with over 100,000 miles on them and more than a couple with over 150,000 miles on them, without engines blowing.

Safe to say with proper maintenance they're pretty damn near un-burstable.

[balky1]

There's a dude in Europe with genuine 1,400,000km on his 11. Not sure what rebuild/maintenance he's done.

My bro's 11 has two top end refreshes, and other routine maintenance, 700,000km, original crank, bla bla.

He had said it to me, but let's see if I remember correctly. Two or three times piston rings have been changed and one major overhaul with first oversize OEM Yamaha pistons in it. Two times the second gear was fixed (he bought it already messed up back in '91 wit 1xx xxx something kilometers and was an oil burner).
We didn't talk much about the head jobs involved. I do know that once he had a burnt exhaust valve somewhere in Spain or Portugal and he rode it back home to Croatia (some 1300 km) on three cylinders, fixed the valves and had no other issues because of it.
He went on some large tours. As far as I know when it comes to spare parts, on tours he brings a set of coils, CDI, tires, throttle cables and oil. Maybe a spark plug or two.

[Bill_Rockoff]

I don't know that engines just "blowing" is a thing that would actually happen in the life of anybody young enough to be riding today, unless you're talking about third-world nonsense like a Ural or an Enfield, or maybe an AFM era Harley. But for Japanese bikes in the 1970's and later, and European bikes in my limited experience from the 1980's and later, they don't just suddenly put a rod through a block for no reason. They wear out and get weaker, or they leak/burn a bit of oil, and then you can neglect them until you get a low-oil-level failure. Or, I suppose you can abuse them somehow, maybe run it without oil or over-rev it deliberately (an FJ has a rev limiter built into the ignition, so you'd have to downshift at speed to an inappropriate gear to mechanically rev it high enough to damage it; it won't let you do that to it just by opening the throttle.) And I guess if you crash it, you can damage something and leave room in a bearing for something to rattle around and break itself.

But generally, modern first-world engines in general - and FJs in particular - just kind of keep going, getting a little weaker and burning a bit more oil, for a long time. I have never heard of a modern (post-1980) motorcycle engine just self-destructing.

At 70,000, mine was still powerful enough to scare me and it was as reliable as the rising of the sun. At 100,000 miles, it would still pull easily into triple digits (as my profile photo to the left will attest.... That pic was taken as the odometer rolled over from 99,999 miles to all zeros.) Four years ago at ~110,000 miles, the alternator failed and it quit charging its battery, which is the only time in nearly 30 years that this bike has ever stranded me. At 118,000 miles, it seems to run out of steam trying to pull beyond its power peak (8,500 rpm) in top gear, it's really working a bit harder above 120 mph than it used to, and it burns a quart of oil per tank if I'm riding that hard, so a rebuild is definitely in my plans... But I'd turn the key and ride it anywhere, right now.

And mine is probably the worst-condition bike you'd see at a rally.