Oil System Q3: Clearing out the oilways

[rowan.bradley]

Question 3:

What is the best way to clean out the oilways in the crankcase and crankshaft, and to check that they are clear? I have a suspicion that at some stage in its history, this engine has had a broken piston ring, and in this case there may be bits of piston ring lodged in the oilways, restricting flow. Can I put a piece of wire, or pipe cleaner, or string or something down them to check that they are clear? Or blow them out with compressed air (not easy since I don't have a compressor), or some kind of fluid - maybe diesel?

Many thanks - Rowan

[Greybeard]

Air compressors are available fairly cheaply these days. I find mine extremely useful. For instance, I recently used it to spray the stripped brickwork of our bathroom with PVA to ready it for plastering. I have some air tools as well. A rattle gun, combined with a socket and the special tool is a great way to deal with the A10 crank nut. I have a long nozzled spray gun that I use to apply Gunk when cleaning the bike. A simple blow nozzle is used all the time and then there's the tyre pressure gauge! If you can possibly get hold of one I recommend that you do. For many years I used a compressor that I made from an old fridge compressor driven by belt from an ancient electric motor. They were mounted on a Dexion frame with an old CO2 cylinder from a pub as the air holder. Eventually I decided to retire the old beast and bought a new one from Machine Mart. I think Aldi are selling a compressor for just under £80 at the moment. If you want to spray paint, (I decided that I would not be attempting that) you will want a more powerful one with a larger air tank. Leave a note for Santa.

[Rex]

True that, and it's somewhat galling to see Machine Mart selling compressors similar to the one I bought from them (Airmaster 8/50) back in 1988 cheaper now than they were then.
Compressors are like lathes and bike lifts, in that when you have one you wondered how you got by without one, though you can never beat compressed air for clearing those oilways, jets etc in the crankcases.
Crankshaft will still need the plugs removing first though......no compressed air will clean that clay-like substance out.

[JulianS]

To check the crank oilway you need to remove the blanking plugs.

[Greybeard]

To check the crank oilway you need to remove the blanking plugs.

Yes, unless you know it's been done in recent history the sludge trap in the crankshaft must be cleared and to do that you have to remove the blanking plugs in the webs. Again, there will be copious notes about this topic if you search.

Here is a video showing how to clean out the Sludge Trap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VH1vwK5_k4&t=35s

[rowan.bradley]

Does anyone know where to find a good diagram of the oil flow and oilways on an A10 Super Rocket?

Thanks - Rowan