how to kill an engine with teflon tape - Snowmobile Forum: Your #1 Snowmobile Forum

fr0st · 09-15-2005, 10:08 AM

you guys probably never heard one like this...it really confirms the butterfly theory. this happened last septemeber but i never got the chance to tell this tale over here.. i think....anyway here goes.

i was medling in the sled , instaling a temp gauge and decided to install the sensor in place where the idiot light sensor goes.. so i get some pink teflon tape.. the tough one that withstands fuel , oil ect ect..i bought a 100 feet roll of it. so i put some on the sensor to make sure no leaks will come and all is well.. put the tape on the seat with the rest of the tools and begin to check my handwarmers since they dont work as well as the rear brake light.. so i take the tools off and put them aside the sled and remove the seat, on an ol' pantera they are snapped so its an easy thing to do. then start up the sled, and check the wires with my fluke volt meter and i keep an eye on my new temp gauge as well to see if it works well. i find the troubled wire and fix it.. next i remove the gaugge cluster on the tank where the wiring is.. and the intake. i start the sled again ang chekc the temps.. which is 80 degrees so no sweat yet. then i check out my handwarmers.. whil doing that the engine start to idle funny.. so i rev it up a couple time to see and the same time get the handwarmers warm... but as more time goes by, the more the idling becomes very strange. to a point where i cease all work on the sled and focus on what the hell is going on, the temp is at 100 F , i put my hand on the engine and hoses to check if the gauge is not lying and im not cooking my engine... and no the temp is ok.

i rev it up again a few times and when it comes down to idle it's running on 1.5 cylinders and sputtering badly.. i have to keep some throttle up so it wont stall.. then it happens... it's stalls..

now im thinking, "why you little" and i go to pull the rope.. it wont budge

im thinking i destroyed my sled while its 70-80 degrees ouside!!

temps is at 110 F

i drop everything and go back in my house very depressed and outraged.. im thinking, it's time must have come..

so months later, after buying a house with a garage , we are in novermber and i get the urge to know what the hell happened.

so i warm up the garage and get the engine out, while taking out the carbs i see something strange in one of them... it's pink..

i pull it out and can not belive im holding a piece of teflon tape in my hand.. im thinking "wheres the rest of it?????" wait.. wheres the roll ?????? i get my hand in the airbox and with a longnose and pull out the entire roll... empty!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im thinking it cant be... so i take off the cylinders and pistons and i see the horror, the tape got sucked in somewhow, and rolled itself around the crank, next to the rod and thrusted the rod to one side..... thats why it's stalled... it was too hard to turn and the piston-cylinder on the pull cord side had trouble firing ( duuuh)

so i clean everything out.. it took me a week and i didn't even remove the rod .. cleaned up everything, put new gaskets on and put the pistons back on.. it didnt even had a scratch.. got the engine back in and started it up...

compression was above 140 on both and i rode that ol cat all last winter without any problems ( other than the clutch which i had to rebuilt)

go this thing to 80 MPH on the speedo and it still goes well..

just thought i'd share this with you guys.. so if you ever make a mistake on your sled and kill it... just think that i , killed mine with a roll of teflon tape

like granny used to say "keep smiling :P "

Fr0sT

ITriumph · 09-15-2005, 10:40 AM

I would say that you got very lucky there. Holy crap. Got out of it with a gasket kit.

MackmxzX · 09-15-2005, 10:51 AM

haha interesting story....attack of the pink teflon tape huh

G-ForceJunkie · 09-15-2005, 12:29 PM

DOH! at least you were able to fix it

IndianRvrShiver · 09-15-2005, 04:57 PM

Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction...........there is no way you could have made that up. Lucky it was fairly inexpensive fix!!

Snow Freak · 09-15-2005, 08:08 PM

Yep like said above, luckily all you needed to do was buy some gaskets! and not a new sled!

fr0st · 09-16-2005, 07:41 AM

of course i didn't make this up, who can come up with a strange story like that?

one thing that i find ironic about it is that it was teflon, and since teflon is good on friction that whats saved my engine... when i got it opened i inspected the pistons and rods and it was all ok.. exept some pink teflon residu was left in the rod bearing on the crank.. and since i didnt want to open up the case i left it there..never had any problems whats so ever... maybe this year i might get whats coming to me

another thing i can tell you though, i have a few stories like that but none of them have something to do with sledding so.. :P(one even includes 4 punks, a big spot light, 3 supersoaker guns and ol toyota tercel and a broken portable cd player.. and vengeance...but i wont get into details)

call it my Karma.

Fr0sT

**smallengineguy** · 09-16-2005, 01:16 PM

C'mon now! You can't leave us hanging like that!!!

IndianRvrShiver · 09-16-2005, 02:28 PM

Be careful, anything you say can, and will be used against you in a court of law............

fr0st · 09-16-2005, 05:57 PM

ok then, but i warn you it aint somewhat legal and i aint too proud of it now.. some will say im lying, thats impossible that a story like that can happen to one person... but i swear that what i will tell in the next lines is VERY real, and i have not altered in any way the content of it to make a show off... im telling it to show what i mean by being a magnet for stupid things to happen.

so for those who will say/think im lying tell yourself this : if i am making the whole thing up i would lie to myself and therefore i would not be worth much right? and your right i wouldn't be worth sh!t so..if i tell this story it's because it's true, legit and VERRREY stoopid :P

now i've always been a honest helping person and i would not lose my name for stealing something to someone or whatever.
but i always believed in Nicolo Machiavelli saying "The end justifies the means." i find the phrase true and depending on you look at it / apply it, it becomes too much. and this is a case of too much... it's also a case of putting matter in your own hands.. heck you'll see.

next post

fr0st · 09-16-2005, 06:34 PM

story one

the scenario,

this happened in june of 1999 a wednesday i think, me and my GF of the time had finished a 5 year relationship 2 weeks before and i must admit that it was hard to swallow at that time so around 10 pm i'd walked to store get myself some booze and continue my journey to a friends place..you know to cheer myself up.. you can't feel down coze of a girl c'mon! :P so i'd do that atleast 3 - 4 times a week.. gather with friends and have fun. that same week i bought myself a 1991 honda civic. low mileage, good car for the time being that my earnings at my job werent that good. i always had the problem of beating my cars badly.. intelligently( if thats possible) but still.. for me, a rev limiter was there to stop you, so i used it alot. but on this car, it wasn't the same normally it would take me atleast a month before i start to beat a new car.

the story:

so one time, going to my usual corner store to get some booze, which was like 500-800 feet from where i live.i was about halfway, going my own business with my sony discman on with loud music, i see some youths pass on the street in an old rusty tercel and looked at me funny... i shruged and continue one.. i find it normal for people to look at me funny and i am not insulted nor do i have the urge to say " YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?"... since i have my walkman on, i dont hear them turn around and come back from the back with no lights on the car... then out of the corner of my eye, i see a brown car coming up to me and then it hits me... must have been some kind of wild spotlight thats blinds you like hell... and then... shower time...i jump back all wet and the walkman fall down on the sidewalk and breaks.. cover and cd are on the ground beside it and i dont know about you but when you have those little earplug headphone and the walkman falls down the plugs follow with you ears! and it hurts... so they take off laughing there asses off and i soaking wet, with a broken walkman in my hand and looking up thinking "why the hell do i deserve this??"... then a little voice inside me is saying " you don't , this is an outrage, an insult and must not go unpunished" i pick up my stuff and run back home, i get inside, get the car keys and get in and start the car.. since i was in a very vengeful mode, i even took the time to get metallica enter sandman on( heck why not have fun in the process) and i took off after them in my neibhorhood... now i had the element of suprise since they wont think that someone would be stupid enough to go after them, they tought wrong.. i find them to streets below and start to follow them but from a distance.. they splash a few poeple , the same way hey did to me on their way to the street where the store is. ( remember this is a very residential area so no highways close) .. then they got up to an old couple in their 70's taking a stroll and splash them good , the old lady almost fall... now when that happened i thought, ENOUGH, this has to end now... another car gets in front of me and makes me lose them in the neibhorhood.. so i start o go faster and search for them.. i find them in a street close to where i live and pass on without stopping.. i turn around at the end of the street and pump the civic to 50 mph and lock the 4 wheels infornt of them and get out as fast as i can, i grab the driver by the shirt and pull him out half way and start to ram him into the door and roof and the 2 others are freaking out, they start to shoot me with the soakers again but i aint stopping... and one time the guy ( hes about 18) gets back into his car and reverses it full throttle and i have the time to kick the fender in a bit and then i return to my car, and follow them.... now at that point i dont know about you, but i dont think you can outrun, out handle a civic with a tercel with a automatic tranny and they shake me off , they pass on red lights, sopts, you name them.. i followed them like that for atleast an hour, then i got tired of it and let them run off.. they had fear in there eyes.. and i must say, i've always lived in this neiborhood and i have never seen them again...

imagine all this crap started of with 3 guys and super soakers...

what really ticked me off was the fast that when they showered the old couple, one of them could have had an heart attack... imagine them killing your grand parents and your parents with a soaker gun.. wouldn't you like to kick there butts?

anyway, it ended like it started. i went to my friends place , with my car and had a couple of beers and we had a good laugh.

Bullet74 · 10-03-2005, 09:42 AM

Great story Dude, I would have done the same Dame thing.

Bullet

fr0st · 10-06-2005, 04:25 PM

yeah well sometimes you just have to put up for the smaller people...and it felt good too

Fr0sT

axelmain84 · 10-09-2005, 09:45 PM

and this has what to do with snowmobiling!?!?!.......no im just kidding, great stories dude!

fr0st · 10-09-2005, 10:15 PM

heck your right .. it has nothing to do with sleds at all

oh well.

Fr0sT

**smallengineguy** · 10-10-2005, 06:55 AM

Whew! I was starting to get nervous you weren't going to tell it! Nice!

Stefman722 · 10-10-2005, 02:15 PM

Good Story man. I liked it. haha. I woulda done the same.

**RJ Gleason** · 10-10-2005, 02:31 PM

ABSOTIVELY AND POSOLUTELY

fr0st · 10-11-2005, 11:45 AM

my ultimate story telling would be catching a robber in my garage... but it ain' happened yet.. and i hope it doesn't... for the sake of the robber.

it would involve tie raps, a wooden chair, cold water in a bottle, booster cables and a 800 cold start amp eliminator car battery.

now wouldn't that make a nice story?

but it wont happen..sorry :P

Fr0sT

BRPforlife · 10-11-2005, 07:39 PM

On behalf of every punk hating person in canada! I thank you