Surpising cannibal.

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wistech · #1 Post by **wistech** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:37 am

I got a cannibal in from a local shop who didnt want to deal with it. It had not run in a few years after the owner gave up on it. I was told it died on the trail so first thing I just assume the crank locked up. Oil filter was perfectly clean. Strange..... Of course the fuel in it was rotten as well as the suction lines. The rest of the system had been upgraded to the plastic stainlees steel braided so it was fine. After changing the fuel line and fresh fuel I had to fix all the diagnostic damage the owner inflicted on it. The pingle was destroyed as well as shorting out the fuel pump driver so it had to be rewired . First thing is check for spark .What do you know the spark plug had a cracked insulator and was sparking deep down inside the plug. I threw a new plug in and she fired right up . So what I just normally expected to be a full on teardown and rebuild turned into a couple of hours and out the door. I think thats a first . The engine was extremely loud and clattery though and the ball joints were smoked so I have a feeling it will be back. I warned them not to drive it until new joints are installed but somehow I dont think they will heed it.

Is it just a natural thing to do for the shade tree mechanic to short out the fuel pump drivers when doing diagnsotics. I must have a dozen ecu here all smoked because of that. I guess touching the terminals with a wrench is like moths to a light bulb.

yamadjs08 · #2 Post by **yamadjs08** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:12 pm

Have a little more faith Wistech, not every broken down Cannondale should be chalked up to needing a full tear down lol.

I've got an early cable clutch Cannibal that I paid $450 for years ago not running and it just had a short in the solenoid wires. Gave it a tune up and have been beating the piss out of it ever since. Although the oil is looking more and more metallic every change, it can't last much longer.

Ironically a ball joint broke on it off of a jump the last time I had it out... Fortunately it didn't result in a bad accident like the last time I had one pop out. You would think I would learn but no... Be sure to replace those worn out ball joints guys!

I've also got a few ECUs with bad pump drivers from previous owners lol. Never done it personally though.

who_gives_a6 · #3 Post by **who_gives_a6** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 10:43 pm

Awhile back I bought a complete low hour Cannibal for $350. Hadn't ran since 2003. New plug, fuel, fuel lines, battery, and oil and it fired up pretty quickly. Previous owner thought it locked up because it died on him and then only a click would come from the starter/no turning over.

Also have bought another complete and running Cannibal after a battery swap that had 450 kit, ported head, etc for $350 and an E440 that just needed a battery and fuel lines for $250. Sometimes you get really lucky.

wistech · #4 Post by **wistech** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 9:17 pm

QUOTE (yamadjs08 @ Jul 29 2014, 09:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Have a little more faith Wistech, not every broken down Cannondale should be chalked up to needing a full tear down lol.

Well this would be the first of hundreds so I guess its a start .

wistech · #5 Post by **wistech** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 3:25 am

UPDATE
I heard the owner of this quad ran it for a while during the summer and decided to sell it to one of his friends. Wouldnt you know it the engine seized up a very short time later on the buyer. Maybe thats a good thing as the ball joints were not replaced. I will be expecting it to be parted out or someone looking to repair it soon.

wistech · #6 Post by **wistech** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:33 pm

Where as expected this quads new owner found me and decided to go ahead and do a rebuild class. He said it ran fine and then just locked up on the trail. I have not pressed the crank apart but there really is no need . You need to get pretty darn hot to make the counterweights turn colors. They are pretty though. The oil looked fine and the filter was clean so it must have been an all of the sudden failure. Hopefully all the molten metal was contained in the sump. The oil pumps are undamaged. Weird

wistech · #7 Post by **wistech** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:34 pm

Of course the cams and buckets were all smoked being the full lobe new style ones.

Catmochanic · #8 Post by **Catmochanic** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 12:03 am

Looks like it was starving for oil, maybe there was a pressure side leak or restriction?

wistech · #9 Post by **wistech** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 2:16 pm

Ive seen a couple of cases of lack of lube and the in both cases the wrist pin welded itself to the piston and ripped the bottom out of it. One was run out of oil from a heavily worn wiseco piston and the other they forgot to refill from an oil change. The camshafts also got hot and had burned into the valve buckets. The crank pin bearing on a cannondale is a roller bearing which needs very little oil at all to run and would be the last to fail from lack of oil . Ill press this one apart to see the carnage.

wistech · #10 Post by **wistech** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 9:30 pm

Well here is the new guy . His name is Jonny (AKA Jooper) and he decided to do a hands on rebuild. This is one of the rare times I am building another engine at the same time. This ones getting a brand new crank, dlc buckets, new nitrided cams and possibly a new aluminum valve cover. With the money saved from doing the class he opted for a ported head. I had to help him out with a few things like torquing the head bolts as he is recovering from a shoulder operation but otherwise he is diggin in deep on this project.