New newby with new newness

[Liam]

Hello all
I live in Ireland, and my experiences with motorcycles are with Japanese bikes from the 70's
My friend recently bought this:

[Liam]

There is a problem and it is to do with the oil.
If you run the bike for a while then the oil seems to overflow from the oil tank.
We replaced the oil pipes which were plastic reinforced and they were hard and inflexible.
Replaced them with reinforced rubber pipes and new clamps.
I know very little about these engines, and was hoping that some of you fine folks can give me a few pointers to try fix this problem.
I have a feeling that at some point some of the oil leaked into the sump from the tank, and then maybe the oil level was topped up
so now there is too much oil in the system.
My friend owns the bike and bought it from a dealer to use regularly but he is not able to get to the bottom of this.
The bike has had little use for several years as far as i know.

[trevinoz]

You probably filled the oil tank while the sump was full of oil, as you surmised.
You are not the first to do this.
These bikes have a tendency to drain the oil from the tank to the sump if not started for a while.

[Greybeard]

You probably filled the oil tank while the sump was full of oil, as you surmised.

I had to store my bike for a few months while we were moving house and there was no garage for it for a while. When I had my new shed ready I went to collect the machine. I absent-mindedly topped up the oil in the tank and set off for a 60 mile ride to the new house. Pretty soon my right shoe was soaked in oil and looked like shiny patent leather. There was a nice clue to my route on the road! You only do that once, (I hope).

[beezermacc]

You won't have done any harm. Just drain or syphon the surplus out until you can see the return pipe blowing oil back into the top of the tank. Provided you can see the oil returning healthily and the level in the tank remains fairly constant everything is (probably!) OK.

[muskrat]

G'day Liam 
Exactly as others have said and you assumed.
The "power egg" (A50/65) is very similar to our A7/10's. Wet sumping is a trait for both. If the bike is used regularly (weekly) it won't be a big problem. Check the oil level after a ride and bring to the correct level. After sitting for a few weeks check again. If it's low (and not on the floor!) it's in the sump. It might make a mess and or smoke on start up but will soon (a few minutes) clear. The other alternative is to drain the sump and top up the tank before start up. This is what I do as my A7 will empty the tank into the sump in only a couple of weeks.
Cheers

[Liam]

Thank you folks for the replies. I am going to study how to drain the oil from the sump and fill the tank with the correct amount.
I have no experience with these machines, even though I am almost 59 they were before my time.
I will post my progress here.

[barry2]

Hi Liam
no need to drain the sump, just start the engine, then check level after a few minutes when the oil has come back to the tank,,,, mine has a tap, not too keen on that, as it can be forgotten,,
thinking of putting a non return valve on instead
QUESTION:::: I bought a non return valve of E/bay it is a spring/neoprene disc type anybody use that type?
Barry
 

[beezermacc]

Actually you really should drain the sump unless you are sure there is only a small amount (1/2 pint) of oil in it. If the sump contains a lot of oil you are reducing the volume of space below the pistons and, even though there is a breather, the engine won't cope with massive fluctuations of bottom end pressure. At best you will find you have oil spewing out of the breather, but at worst you could blow gaskets and even damage some components. Fitting a sump plate with a drain plug is a very useful mod on BSA's!

[lawnmowerman]

Hi Liam
no need to drain the sump, just start the engine, then check level after a few minutes when the oil has come back to the tank,,,, mine has a tap, not too keen on that, as it can be forgotten,,
thinking of putting a non return valve on instead
QUESTION:::: I bought a non return valve of E/bay it is a spring/neoprene disc type anybody use that type?
Barry

Hi Barry

I would not trust the one way valves. They are used on Velos and an engine builder I know reckons they keep him in business rebuilding trashed engines due to failure of the valve. I use a ball valve with a piece of white plastic waste pipe slid over the kickstart with "oil tap" written on it. Once I have started up it goes in the top box and goes back on when the bike is back in the garage and the oil turned off.
In the longer term I plan to check the magnetic sump drain plug is not affecting the seating of the one way valve and then give the oil drillings a good clean.
The ultimate fix has to be the A65 conversion where the valve is then accessible by removing the oil pump rather than splitting the crankcase.

Jim