WHat odd things have you found INSIDE a cylinder when wrenching?

[Scootertrash]

Had an aquaintence bring me a generator with a Honda GX340 11 HP motor on it. Typical complaint: Sat for couple years and wouldn't start, got it running but dies off, now it won't start at all. Get it running and give it a tune up.

I didn't even bother trying to start it when I got it. Drained and pulled the carb, cleaned it, put it back on. Drained the tank, gave a fresh gas rinse, drained that and threw in enough fuel to get it running so I could diagnose further if it still didn't run.

Tugged on the rope and it pulled over really easy, like too easy. It also backfired thru the carb.

I pulled the valve cover to take a look at the valve adjustments since that was part of the tune up anyway, and the intake rocker was WAAAYY too loose, like a stuck valve loose.

So I pull the spark plug out to give it a compression test and just for the heck of it I shine my bore light for checking gun bores into the plug hole and I see what looks like a wire.

I pull the head and here is what I found:







It was a piece of tie wire we use for tying rebar together for concrete work. This guy is mechanically challenged to say the least. My guess: He heard that "If it doesn't start you can clean something or other out with a wire and it will run".

The wire had to go in thru the spark plug hole, there's no other way it could have gotten in there. The cylinder sits horizontal so my guess is the wire fell into the valve when it opened while it was being pulled over. The worst part is he didn't tell me so I could save time by just getting the wire out first and also preventing potential cylinder damage. Fortunately everything looks fine inside the cylinder and the valve is not damaged.

I think a verbal lashing is in order when he picks his stuff up.

[briano]

That's a good find right there. Someone probably told him that would blow out the exhaust. Was someone trying to find TDC feeling the piston with the wire and, uh oh, where did the wire go. Lol

[RIDE-RED 250r]

What the!!!!!

Bout the only "interesting" things I ever find in situations like that is smelly old mouse nests.. But then again, I wouldn't call that interesting.. Gross is more like it.

[Dave8338]

That is a first !

Mud wasps was the strangest thing I've seen / encountered. Once bought a bike that the PO claimed NEVER sat outside and after tearing into the seized engine, pulled both heads and they were half full of water with the rings rusted tight the the walls. The price was right, however...

[atc007]

Yep,mud wasps nest in chainsaws and trimmers. Ahhhhh lets see! Shelled corn in both cylinders in a 73 Yamaha 433. That combined with the mouse pee,equals,we chopped BOTH pistons out. Only to find the Bottom was junk from the corn pee mix. Tons of broken off valve heads in everything from 350X's,,,ALWAYS left Exhausts ?? ,, 250X,300EX,and of course the newer 4 strokers. 88 Suzuki 300,,sat in a farmers barn for a decade with the plug out. BY the sawdust pile. Cylinder was filled neat as a pin with sawdust !. Would turn both ways a little,that one surprised us .

[shortline10]

With all the mud boggers down here I see crystalized sand kinda melted to the piston and dome quite often .
Found the end of a spark plug tip wedged in a valve too LOL .

[Dirtcrasher]

Do mouse nests in the air box count??

[MRSOUND]

Field corn completely packed into the crank case of a 78 artic cat panther 500. Pick with a hook an awl set.....shop vac.....pic....shop vac...turn crank...pick...shop vac. You get the idea. Anyway got it cleaned out and started with starter fluid but wouldn't get gas to the carb. Pulled the vac line off the crankcase tried to push a wire through..yep, missed one. Finally pushed through and I ran it for 3 winters before getting rid of it

[Scootertrash]

Haha! Good stories!

When we first moved up here to the sticks, we didn't have a cat or very many neighborhood wanderers A couple of times in the spring when I'd go out to fire up the Harleys corn would blow out of the pipes. Fortunately there was never any mouse nests. Now, with our cat and a couple neighbor cats wandering around it seems like the only mice I get is when they bring me one of their kills. Good kitty!

[tri again]

My doing was to glue some little green army men into gearboxes we'd send back for core charges to give the factory guys a laugh.
Usually the grenade guy, if we could find them.

I took a gearbox apart one time and there was a coffee can lid with the note:
"I've been in this s.o.b. 3 times. It's YOUR turn".

and this was brand new from the dealer.

[Custom200]

I wasnt personally wrenching on it but when i was hanging at a local diesel performance shop the mechanic found a rag inside the cylinder from a previous mechanic at another shop

[falloutboy]

A few summers back I was hanging out with my cousin and his buddy. They were buying and selling bike parts, mostly air cooled 250r's. They got this one motor that was seized, so my cousin's buddy took the head off and there was a couple firecrackers in the cylinder. We all had a good laugh over that one.