Oil consumption / common oil leaks?

Message

spiderwheels · #1 Post by **spiderwheels** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:04 pm

Good evening all,

I think my bike is using too much oil. How much is 'normal'?

It may be I have an oil leak as there is oil around the engine, though I haven't looked closely on where it might be coming from.

Plenty of it appears to end up in the airbox too as this is always rather oily.

squadron Nero · #2 Post by **squadron Nero** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:29 pm

Is it possible you're over filling it, it's then spitting out of the air box and then dribbling down onto the engine?

Aladinsaneuk · #3 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:45 pm

Agree it's over filled

Bet the oil is appearing on the left hand side just in front of the gear change

With respect - you have read here about how to check the oil level?

spiderwheels · #4 Post by **spiderwheels** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 6:56 pm

I believe I'm checking it correctly as per the instructions.

I know I probably over filled it last oil change which would account for the oil in the airbox but not for the fact that it is not longer appearing in the site tube

Aladinsaneuk · #5 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:20 pm

it will not appear / be reliable untill the engine is running, at a good temp and not on the sidestand.....

if in doubt, drop the oil out and replace

measure the volume you discard

fatboy · #6 Post by **fatboy** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:41 pm

Every time I top up or replace oil it seems to take forever to register in the level pipe and I always end up overfilling despite switching off and leaving it for a few mins
There does not seem to be 'normal' with falco's

blinkey501 · #7 Post by **blinkey501** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:44 am

Just be aware, overfilling the oil tank will blow oil up the breather tube from the crank into the air box.

It can also blow oil down your throttle bodies and foul your spark plugs?

Firestarter · #8 Post by **Firestarter** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:41 am

I've replaced the stator cover gasket (wasn't that) and am currently awaiting a replacement hydraulic camchain adjuster plug (which is the source of the leak, or rather the copper washer underneath). But this is unlikely to be your source. Best thing would be to clean it all up, drop the oil and put a known quantity in, and see what happens

Tonyunn · #9 Post by **Tonyunn** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:28 am

More of a general thing but I had a constant wet side stand etc. and thought it might be the gear shat or something like that.

At the end of last year I swapped the plastic oil tank cap for an alloy one and lo and behold the area dried up, I think it was weeping past the threads under load\pressure and now it doesn't.

#10 Post by **mangocrazy** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:17 am

Firestarter wrote:I've replaced the stator cover gasket (wasn't that) and am currently awaiting a replacement hydraulic camchain adjuster plug (which is the source of the leak, or rather the copper washer underneath). But this is unlikely to be your source. Best thing would be to clean it all up, drop the oil and put a known quantity in, and see what happens

I bought a pack of 10 aluminium crush washers for a fiver off ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271142115129? ... 0137890459

The size I got were M16 x 22 x 1.3 and fitted perfectly. What surprised me was the rather low clamping force required for an M16 plug - only 20 Nm (14.5 lb/ft) torque. It took at least five times that amount of force to remove the tw@t...

Firestarter · #11 Post by **Firestarter** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:04 pm

mangocrazy wrote:
Firestarter wrote:I've replaced the stator cover gasket (wasn't that) and am currently awaiting a replacement hydraulic camchain adjuster plug (which is the source of the leak, or rather the copper washer underneath). But this is unlikely to be your source. Best thing would be to clean it all up, drop the oil and put a known quantity in, and see what happens
I bought a pack of 10 aluminium crush washers for a fiver off ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271142115129? ... 0137890459

The size I got were M16 x 22 x 1.3 and fitted perfectly. What surprised me was the rather low clamping force required for an M16 plug - only 20 Nm (14.5 lb/ft) torque. It took at least five times that amount of force to remove the tw@t...

Hmmm... won't hijack too much, but think I might do the same - I've re-annealed the washer, but the plug is taking a long time to order up (nearly at 4 weeks!), so any urgency has gone. Think an order for some washers will be going in...

spiderwheels · #12 Post by **spiderwheels** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:36 pm

It's up on the Abba stand but I thought I'd do a check anyway. Ran it for 15 minutes. There was no oil visible in the sight tube while idling and when I switched it off it came up to the Min mark. This is only 800 miles since I thought I'd topped it up to max (or overfilled it..)

D-Rider · #13 Post by **D-Rider** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:04 pm

Is there a possibility that rather than being no oil in the sight tube, that it's completely full and you just can't see a level?

Clutching at a bit of a straw here but with suspicion of over-filling, it might be a possibility.

spiderwheels · #14 Post by **spiderwheels** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:55 pm

D-Rider wrote:Is there a possibility that rather than being no oil in the sight tube, that it's completely full and you just can't see a level?

Clutching at a bit of a straw here but with suspicion of over-filling, it might be a possibility.

I considered that while it was running but unfortunately not. It's quite clear what it's supposed to look like when the level comes back up to Min after stopping the engine.

Firestarter · #15 Post by **Firestarter** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 3:56 pm

If you've got a confirmed level (albeit low), I'd put 200-300ml in, warm it up and see what happens to the level. Careful on the Abba stand, it raises the back end and might skew the level, I would leave it warming for 15-20 minutes on the side stand, stand it upright and turn off the engine - IIRC this is the correct level check process.