SCEM Engine on DL650

[ozhanu]

hi all,

while i was do some research on dl650 before i decided to buy, i have seen some interesting articals in wikipedia.org. below you will see the copy/paste from wikipedia

keyword: suzuki dl650 v-strom:
In a significant departure from the SV engine, which uses cast iron cylinder sleeves, the DL650 uses Suzuki's proprietary SCEM (Suzuki Composite Electro-chemical Material) plated cylinders, a race-proven nickel-phosphorus-silicon-carbide coating for reduced weight and improved heat transfer, allowing for tighter and more efficient piston-to-cylinder clearance[3], similar to a Nikasil coating.

keyword: nikasil
Nikasil was very popular in the 1990s. It was used by companies such as BMW, Ferrari and Jaguar Cars in their new engine families. However, the sulfur found in much of the world's low quality gasoline caused the Nikasil cylinders used by BMW to break down over time [1], causing costly engine failures. BMW eventually abandoned its Nikasil coating after replacing a number of M60 V8 engines in the USA and the UK.

Nikasil or similar coatings under other trademarks are also still widely used in racing engines, including those used in Formula One and ChampCar. Suzuki currently uses a race-proven nickel phosphorus-silicon-carbide proprietary coating trademarked SCEM (Suzuki Composite Electro-chemical Material) to minimize cylinder size and improve heat dissipation, e.g., on the engine of the Suzuki DL650 V-Strom and Hayabusa motorcycles [1].

--end of copy/paste.

i am quite suprised. i know there are some travellers who are on their rtw trip with v-strom. but after i read this articles i come to a conclusion that v-strom engines might cause problems on rtw especially where petrol is low quality.

different ideas welcome!

[Walkabout]

Hi again,
I think that SCEM lining has been used by Suzi for a number of years and on quite a few bikes (including, for instance, the GSX1400 that has been around for about 5 years).
I have never heard of any problems with it - no grape vine of rebores or that type of thing. What a difference from the usual line of talk when dealing with guys who collect old classic bikes!

Still, it would be interesting to read what others know about SCEM.

[DLbiten]

I have a V-strom 650 I know of no sulfur burned out cylinders. There are bikes with over 150,000 miles on them. There may be a problim with the nickel and the sulfur moving Suzuki to add the phosphorus. To help hold the chemicals together. I dont know.

I think the bad gas gum up the bike and mean gas people dropping sand in the gas to "mess the white boy" be more of problem than cylinder burning up.

must be some reason they spent more to make the DL650 wonder why they do that. Seems odd to me.

[Dodger]

Most Suzukis have this type of bore these days .
I wouldn't worry about it , it seems to work fine .

[pecha72]

so, has anyone heard of one single DL having such problems??? I've been riding the DL recently with any kind of fuel thats available (now in Indonesia) and it does give a bit of knocking sound, if I were stressing the engine hard (low revs, twist the throttle hard going uphill, for example). So you can tell the low-octane fuel does have some effect. But of course its better not to ride it that way anyway!

I trust Suzuki get this sort of fundamental things right, they havent started to build engines last year. (Wont say anything, bad or good, about BMW, though...!!)

[ozhanu]

hi folks,

please do not take my post offensive. i am just trying to do my homework well before i decide and buy one of the dl

i know that dl's are good bikes and has bulletproof engines like xrv750. i just want to be sure that scem is better than nikasil and nothing to do with sulfur etc...

sorry for bothering you.

[Dodger]

Absolutely no worries friend, I'm sure nobody took offence , this forum is all about exchange of information .
Good luck on your travels .