oil leak

[David Tinsley]

Oh dear, confession of an idiot time!
Thanks for all the tips on what I thought was an open gallery in the inner timing cover. Went out again this morning, pushed a wire up the hole and it stopped after about 1/2". Hmm, tried again putting air through the top hat hole and rotating the engine. Sure enough, no air from that hole, just the nice open sound of the correct breather as the engine lined up. Goodness knows what I was feeling yesterday! There is no play axially or radially on the top hat and no air escaping when the breather is not lined up so I think I will button up the outer timing cover and see how she goes.

Still thinking the blow by from the crank shaft area is indicative of a seal gone? Thoughts? way too cold to be out there more than 15 mins at a time now

Thanks for putting up with me chaps!
Dave

[fffcycles]

Oh, we are all capable of fooling ourselves sometimes or even worse overthinking about a problem and developing a bigger problem than reality presents.
Frank
Yeah the cold has come up here in Kamloops as well but my big shop is fully insulated and heated. Costs a bit but worth it for the joy the work brings. I mean the joy for my wife of having me out of the house!

[sean]

I would leave the primary cover off and run it for a while and see if oil is coming past the seal … theoretically the scavenge side should be keeping levels to a minimum in the crankcase

[berger]

betsy has been stood for weeks now and her oil never ends up in the sump, i will be checking this again before she goes out of the house next year in the better weather, i doubt it will move. this engine was built a few years ago AGAIN with the ball re seated and an srm oil pump.

[Worty]

betsy has been stood for weeks now and her oil never ends up in the sump, i will be checking this again before she goes out of the house next year in the better weather, i doubt it will move. this engine was built a few years ago AGAIN with the ball re seated and an srm oil pump.

Heh, 3 days and the oil tank's empty on mine mate.  Did you say it was a ball bearing on the oil pump not seating correctly and, if so, is this an easy fix??

[sean]

betsy has been stood for weeks now and her oil never ends up in the sump, i will be checking this again before she goes out of the house next year in the better weather, i doubt it will move. this engine was built a few years ago AGAIN with the ball re seated and an srm oil pump.

I put a new ball and spring in mine along with the blue pump hasnt wet sumped in a year since I did it .
I was surprise at the difference in the spring length between the old and new springs but after being compressed for 60 odd years i guess its to be expected .
Seating the new ball is the key to curing wet sumping in my mind.

[berger]

worty you will have to drain it , the ball is inside the crankcase and your cases were a mess as we know. the screw hole in your cases was chewed and the seat didn't look good when i inspected it. hence i only lightly tapped an old ball onto the seat because they weren't my cases and i didn't want to break the alloy where the ball sits, it turns out this hasn't proved good enough. also after spending multiple hours trying to build a decent pump out of those you brought won't be helping matters. something you will have to live with mate, leave a jug under it but don't keep taking the sump cover off after your bad stud experience, you need a drain plug. or has it it got one i can't remember.

[Worty]

worty you will have to drain it , the ball is inside the crankcase and your cases were a mess as we know. the screw hole in your cases was chewed and the seat didn't look good when i inspected it. hence i only lightly tapped an old ball onto the seat because they weren't my cases and i didn't want to break the alloy where the ball sits, it turns out this hasn't proved good enough. also after spending multiple hours trying to build a decent pump out of those you brought won't be helping matters. something you will have to live with mate, leave a jug under it but don't keep taking the sump cover off after your bad stud experience, you need a drain plug. or has it it got one i can't remember.

No probs mate, just wondered where the ball bearing was and whether it was fixable without any major work.  I have got a sump cover with a drain plug, which is a very good arrangement and makes draining a doddle.  I will probably leave taking the sump cover off and checking the gauze so frequently now.  I reckoned that doing this was a good idea after the issues and then the rebuild, but nothing has turned up so far except a few blobs of gasket.

[berger]

worty just wondered where the ball bearing was? i still want to know how this ball bearing was in the camshaft oil hole , it must have been forced in by the camshaft because i had to drill the plug out to retrieve it, but who dropped it in?

[Worty]

worty just wondered where the ball bearing was? i still want to know how this ball bearing was in the camshaft oil hole , it must have been forced in by the camshaft because i had to drill the plug out to retrieve it, but who dropped it in?

So, might that be the original, anti-sump bearing??

[RogerSB]

This is going to be contentious in the extreme on here but here is one simple solution. It's not a repair but it will stop your wet sumping for all time.

https://www.themagnetoguys.co.uk/oil-tap-with-cut-out-switch

I fitted one (against all advice) but for me it's been a brilliant and a fairly low cost easy solution. It's a simple on off ball valve. I don't use it unless leaving the bike long enough for it to wet sump. Here is a description of how it work:-

A microswitch is housed inside a nylon body. It's fully waterproof, protected to IP67. A cam plate is attached to the oil tap handle so that, as the tap is turned on and off, the microswitch is automatically operated in such a way that the engine cannot be started until the oil tap is turned fully on.

CLOSED: When in the 'closed/off' position to prevent oil flow, a cam plate makes contact with, and presses down, a microswitch plunger protruding from the top of the nylon body. As a result:- The magneto will be shorted to earth  and its not possible to start the engine.

OPEN: When in the 'open/on' position to allow oil flow, the cam plate moves away from, and releases, the microswitch plunger. As a result the magneto cut out will be disconnected from earth and it will then be possible to start the engine.

The shape and position of the cam plate ensures that, even with the oil tap in mid position, the ignition system is still prevented from working. The engine cannot be started until the oil tap is in the fully open position resulting in a completely clear path for the oil to flow through it.

Here's a photo of how I fitted mine (click photo to enlarge). You can see the cable coming from the switch in photo. In my case with lever vertical switch is in off position, horizontal is on (same way the oil flows). It can also be used to cut the engine and that's a good way to test the electrical connection is still ok.

Rog.
 

[berger]

worty no it's the wrong size . it was the anti lube the camshaft ball

[Swarfcut]

  Spurious sized ball from a Rivet Man PRV conversion?  A convoluted oilway leads from the PRV blow off port up to the cam trough, but it defies logic how the proper size ball could make the trip from a functional PRV.  But a ball jammed in the hole effectively bypasses any PRV operation and give full oil pressure, so maybe another example of the bodgers' art.

 As an anti cam lube ball....yes, it's a winner.

 Swarfy.

[Worty]

worty no it's the wrong size . it was the anti lube the camshaft ball

Gonna think of a Worty cheaper solution to Rog's nifty valve gizmo.  Hold your breath...........

[groily]

Here's one on a Notrun worty, does the same thing. Earths out the mag. Plumbing valve basically with a few tweaks. Prototype form shown here with ugly clips etc, but a good workable job.