Magneto Cover & Crankshaft

GoldenMotor.com

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
This engine just recently started running a little rough; not idling well, missing and there was a noise that I'd not heard before. I started looking and found the left side of the crankshaft has been rubbing on the inside of the magneto cover. The metal shavings were all over the mag and the soldered connections and some might have gotten into the crank seal. I cleaned everything up, took a little off the end of the shaft and put it back together. Runs like it used to but I'm a little concerned. I've not seen this on any engine before. There is no discernable side to side movement in the crank and there was an extra thick gasket on the cover. Has anyone ever encountered this before? Did it get worse? What did you do about it?
Tom
 

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Dave31

Active Member
Mar 1, 2008
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Aztlán, Arizona
Hmmmm, I have never seen that before Yoda. And you say there was no side to side movement from the crank. Kinda strange I wonder what caused that?

Is this a new motor? Maybe just a shaft a tad too long? Or a Mag cover that is cast with that excellent Chinese quality?
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
Hmmmm, I have never seen that before Yoda. And you say there was no side to side movement from the crank. Kinda strange I wonder what caused that?

Is this a new motor? Maybe just a shaft a tad too long? Or a Mag cover that is cast with that excellent Chinese quality?
Fair,
This motor has a history and about 1000 miles on it. It just started acting weird in the last couple of days. I tried to move the crank but it doesn't move at all side to side. This one's a mystery. This motor had a bad crankshaft seal on the magneto side out of the box and after I replaced the seal it has run great until a week ago then it started idling bad and missing at mid range and had lost some power. I attribute that to the metal shavings around the magneto connections, misfiring maybe. After I cleaned it up and put it back together it runs great again. I just can't see why/how, the crank moved to the left like it did. I hope others read this and chime in with some ideas.
Tom