Its 17 degrees out side and my 2005 883 wants to go for a ride . Sunny day . 60 wt oil in the engine with 5 ,000 miles on the oil and 14 K on the engine .A little sluggish starting and I WARM 'ER UP FOR 3 MINUTES AND THEN VERY SLOWLY I start out and really take it easy , no going past 3500 RPM , ride about 2 miles and then come to red light .ALL IS FINE , then start off slowly and hear a squealing noise , sounds like a slipping car alternator belt and then I hear a kinda jingeling metal noise and then ALL power lost , coast to side of road and ht the E start ,NO engine resistance , like there is ZERO compression ,. Wait a few minutes , try again and there is like ONE quick moment of the usual starting resistance and then no compression. Sounds like there is "chuffing" coming from the top end as if there are no spark plugs installed . I'M STUMPED.
Yeh i know I should have put thinner oil in the engine for this cold of weather.
Question : stuck all four lifters ? Cam gears broken ? Two valves stuck open ?
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Sounds like a stuck/bent valve to me. Takes awhile to get oil to the top end especially thick oil on a cold day.

 

valve stuck or blown head gasket,,,,get it home and try a comp test, after visual inspection of course, then open it up.
m

 

Hey thanx guys ,
I pulled the spark plugs and the pistons are going up and down . I dont have a boroscope so I could not see if valves are opening , I hve like zero compression . I'm thinking that short squeal I heard before power loss was the valves seizing in the guides .
Next question, If a couple of valves hung up would they tag the pistons ?
I have heard of engines that if the cam screws up or belt breaks that the valves wont tag . " zero lash" - is that the term ?
Hoping for the best .I'm also wondering if the hydraulic lifter "pumped down " that the valves would not open , thus zero compression .
I've always been into jap and solid lifter engines , so this is new to me .

 

Sheared pinion gear/oil pump gear key ?

 

Could be anything. Sometimes it's not good to speculate. A tear down will decide.... You now have plenty of time.... I'd start in the primary..

 

if mr. 88's assumption is correct then see if you can blow air back through the cyl's and see where it exists, carb/exh. if the sequence does not change, key is in ???. other option is remove an upper cover and watch for rocker movement. this key is a weak point, why hd did this, hummmm, good ???
do as little engine rolling as possible since the gear/shaft damage may make it where you must pull the crank for a new shaft.

 

Will some one explain why the oil pump pinion would have anything to do with compression loss ? If anyone has a diagram of what the internals of the engine are , I'd like to see it .
Gearhead 88 , have you experienced a oil pump failure ? Is this a common thing on Harley's Sportsters ?
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I expect loss of compression would be caused by ring failure due to low or no oil. Lucky for you the motor quit running just before it seized.

 

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