Where has my oil been?

[nicketynoo]

Was gonna have the title where has my oil gone? but I reckon I've found it.
Took the bike out of the garage to give it a clean and whilst I was cleaning the wheels thought I'd start her up and warm her through. Did this for about 5/10 mins but took the choke off a bit early and she cut out ,so left her turned off and carried on cleaning.
Just happened to check the oil level and nothing there!
Absolutely not a scrote showing in the sight tube. Now the last time I remember checking it was at the marches meet when it was about halfway between max and min when cold. I know you should warm it up before checking the level. Have only ridden home from newcastle on clun and out to a bike night since so probably done 200 miles since I last checked it.
I stripped the belly pan off and no sign of any oil there, none around the drain plugs, just a little noticed around the top left of the front cylinder and a little had dripped onto the starter (left hand side)
I daren't start her up any more until I'd topped the oil up, so got a litre today . topped her up with approx 700ml until the sight tube was showing halfway again.
Started her up and watched as the oil level in the tube disappeared off the top of the scale
drained some off and warmed her fully up ,then drained more until the level was halfway between the marks again and guess how much was in the measuring jug . Yep about 700ml WTF?
where was this oil hiding and can I expect this again in the future, was quite worried for a while.
Also any idea where the small amount of oil could be from, I've cleaned it off now so will check after my next ride.

[HowardQ]

The Falco has a dry sump system, which pumps oil into the engine from the oil tank rather than the sump of the engine itself, (this is the system that all road cars and many bikes use).
Oil in the sump is not perfect on a bike as the engine does not stay in the same place all the time. It is often seriously banked over and even worse, if you wheelie the bike where the oil goes to the back of the sump, which can make bikes like Ducati a bit risky to hold in a wheelie for a long time as you can get oil starvation.
All sumps that hold oil are baffled to try and stop the oil moving by angle of lean or more commonly centrefugal force, but a separate oil tank is much better.

The Falco has an oil feed pump, which feeds from the tank to the engine.
It also has a scavenge pump. which scavenges the small sump returning oil to the tank.
The oil sight tube indicates the level of oil in the tank.
If you cut the engine both oil pumps stop, leaving some oil still in the sump at the bottom of the engine, this is what makes checking the oil difficult on the Falco!
The hot oil eventually seeps back into the oil tank, helped possibly by the side stand being on the same side as the oil tank, so it leans towards the oil tank (??).
This is why the manual asks you to leave it stood for a while, (Andy will be along soon to tell us exactly how long), after running the engine, before you check the level.
If you start the engine again after a brief stop, the scavenge pump returns it straight away.
Hope this makes sense, the simple answer is that it was hiding in the engine, not in the oil tank, where you were looking.

[D-Rider]

PLEASE RTFM

It tells you how to check the oil and it can't be done any other way.

Anything else will give a false reading - often a very false reading.

[blinkey501]

You will know if there has been too much oil in the tank when you remove the air box cover.
The breather pipe into the air box pushes oil from the engine upwards.
Some complain of oil residue in this area when servicing the bikes.
I do believe the general rule of thumb is to run the engine until the fans kick in. Stop the engine, and check the oil level about a minute after the engine has stopped.
This must be checked with the bike stood vertical and not on the side stand.

[randomsquid]

Don't be surprised if you park the bike up for winter and all the oil seems to disappear. It'll come out of hiding when the bike is run up to temp.

[nicketynoo]

Thanks for the replies I was worried at first but my minds at rest now! can go back to sleeping in my own bed and not cuddled up with my baby in the garage