Can you help me diagnose a loud banging noise please?

[Lukejd8]

Hi there, I'm Luke, and I've just started riding and i've got myself an 84 Maxim 400. I was riding yesterday for about an hour when about 2 blocks from home, I completely lost power. I switched to reserve immediately, but then had difficulty starting the bike again. It would start for a bit, but had a loss of power, and my red warning light came on and stayed on. After I pushed her home, I fiddled and was able to start her again, only this time there's a grating and an intermittent loud banging noise coming from inside the engine, as if something had come loose or unlubricated. I IMMEDIATELY shut her off. My oil level is fine, it's floating in the center of the bubble window, but I did pull the spark plugs and found them to be quite fouled up. It's as if the oil is not getting around the engine.

Oil pump? Broken piston? Please help me with a diagnosis, I will be forever grateful.

Cheers.

Luke

 

[drewpy]

red light is usually oil pressure. should never run an engine when you got no oil circulation

 

[Lukejd8]

Thanks drewpy, so do you figure the oil pump is broken?

 

[drewpy]

...and the engine

 

[Ruined1]

...and the engine

Couldn't have said it any better... My guess is you're looking at it being cheaper to put another engine in it at this point...

 

[Lukejd8]

Thanks for the replies fellas, much appreciated. They are somewhat vague though. I'm going to take her apart this weekend and find the source of the noise.

Thanks again!

 

[drewpy]

well the questin is hard for us to answer because a loud noise could be anything. but Billy Ocean sang...."red light, spells danger"

 

[OnePhate]

hey buddy i hope im not too late on this, but take a look at this video and tell me if the sound is similar

 

[Lukejd8]

Yes, that's very similar to the sound, and shortly after that, loud intermittent banging noises, which I'm pretty sure is a piston hitting the casing. Does this bike in the video have a broken oil pump perchance?