What the........

[Stralya]

OK, I changed the oil, three litres. I didn't run the bike and there are no oil leaks. I had to drain the oil to install my big bore kit.

I unscrewed the oil drain plug and removed the filter housing and no oil came out. HUH???????????

I removed the oil filler cap but still nothing. I turned the engine over and a couple of drops came out of the oil filler hole but that was it.

Where did the three litres of oil go?

[firecrackerboom]

how long ago did you change the oil? has the bike moved since it was changed?

[JWSanders]

Well, I've been known to drink several Fosters oilcans and then forget completely what I did the rest of the night.

This isn't one of those "I got smashed and forgot to add the oil" things is it?

[Stralya]

Fosters frenzy....I wish

Well I changed the oil three days ago, started the bike and realised the rings on the pistons I had just installed were shot. The bike sat for a few days until today.

When I started it, the smoke screen it created told me the rings were shot. Do you think three litrers of oil can go up in smoke inside five minutes?

There WAS oil in it, I only put it in a few days ago and there is no oil on the garage floor and the garage was locked which rules out desperate oil thieves.

I'm having a break now. I've dropped mt 10mm spanner down the cam arcade. I can see it, I just need to bend a coathanger and fish it out.

I'm just stupified as to what could have happened to the oil.

[mro]

install my big bore kit.

Do you think three litrers of oil can go up in smoke inside five minutes?

Not on an XS...
Imagin new rings came with pistons.
Might raise front of bike until exhaust is tilted down to see if thats where your oil went.
Could be a case of "bad" boring the cylinders or you FUBARed installing the rings. Even with all the ring gaps lined up should not let that much oil pass.


mro
surprised it would run if passing that much oil.

[mro]

Hey Stralya

just noticed you be down under...
Should be a good read when you post where the oil went


mro

[Stralya]

G'day mro

I was about to install my big bore kit when I realised there was no oil in the bike.

I've pulled the head off, struggling with the cylinder block though. Still no three litre oil deposit lurking anywhere and no, there was nothing in the pipes.

When it blew the smoke it had pistons and rings which were second hand and turned out to be utterly worn out. I only had it running two or three minutes and the smoke was so thick I couldn't see my own astonishment!

That's all I did. I started out by emtying out the old oil after Pete (fellow member) rode the thing over here (about ten miles) from his place.

I noticed then that very little oil came out and I figured it must have been the rings. So I filled it up after re installing the oil filter housing and sump plug with brand new 20w50, started it up and got the smoke storm, turned it off, scratched my scrotum for a while and locked the garage. That was three or four days ago. So like I said, today is the day I install my big bore kit. I undid the sump plug, removed the oil filter and housing and NO OIL CAME OUT!!!!!

Three litres of oil have vanished. Houdini would be proud. If it didn't evaporate in smoke and it didn't get stolen and it didn't leak out onto the garage floor and it didn't somehow trickle into the pipes, frame, airbox, carbs, head, next door's swimming pool and I didn't drink it, where could the oil have gone?

Hope to finish the 3mm Wiseco kit tomorrow. I already have a cylinder block bored out to the pistons in the kit so I'm all set. I just hope it keeps the new single weight oil I'll put in when the job's finished.

Dan.

btw, we ride all year round in Australia. Just thought I'd make you jealous.

Dan

[trbig]

You have to prime your pump!!!

When you drain your oil completely, you have to fill up the cup that the oil filter sits in about 1/2 to 3/4 full, or your oil pump won't pick it up!. Your rings might not be fried... yet... but rubbing around in there with no oil on them will do that in a hurry! All your oil is still in there sitting in the gear box, waiting for your pump to quench their thirst!!


Tod

[Stralya]

Now that's starting to make sense, only problem being I made sure the filter housing was as full of oil as I could get it before I reinstalled it.

I'm half way through the big bore kit installation. When I'm done I have to fill the engine with single weight oil.

I might just fill the filter housing and crank it up and see what happens. If oil suddenly appears then I know it's been hiding in the gear box. If not, I'll fill it up and then see what happens.

Wish me luck,

PS

Any tricks to getting the cylinder block off? I used an OEM bottom cylinder gasket when I installed the cylinder block a couple of weeks ago and it's holding on strongly.

[Hammerhead1st]

That makes sense...

Did my oil a week ago after a 400 mile ride...but when I re-installed the filter, I filled the cup just as I would do for a new filter on my cage...to prevent dry starts. Your take on the situation seems perfectly logical and legit.

Stralia, I'd go with that idea...prime the system by filling that filter cup before reassembly. Let us know if the big bad Oil Baron actually missed your bike, or if we should begin protecting ourselves against the desperate oil thieves which have targeted your home!!

BTW, about you riding all year long... ...with a sidecar and good warm clothing we can do that here in New York State as well!! ANd the ice tires...cant forget the ice tires!!

[Hammerhead1st]

Originally posted by Stralya
Any tricks to getting the cylinder block off? I used an OEM bottom cylinder gasket when I installed the cylinder block a couple of weeks ago and it's holding on strongly.

Um....BFH???

[Stralya]

BFH

I've got a BF Rubber hammer but I can still break fins with it. I just spoke with my Dad, he's a very bad man. He told me to get something like an electric drill and make up sort of a cam, put in in the chuck and vibrate the block. He's a very smart man as well so I'll give that a burst.

As far as the oil thieves are concerned, I haven't ruled out someone picking the lock on my garage door, doing the ill deed then cunningly picking the lock again and stealthily sneaking off in his newly oiled sneakers, who knows what these desperados will stoop to.

What are Ice tyres? I've never seen snow in my life. I don't know about such things. I just get on my bike and go 365 a year.

We also have excellent beer.

Off colour joke.

Why is American beer a lot like making love in a canoe?

Because it's f*c*i*g close to water!

[skids]

Tod, I have never done that and never had problems. If you are speaking of the oil filter housing, I would think it whould be damn difficult to install with oil in the housing beings how the seal is around the bolt. Am I being dense?

Originally posted by trbig
You have to prime your pump!!!
When you drain your oil completely, you have to fill up the cup that the oil filter sits in about 1/2 to 3/4 full, or your oil pump won't pick it up!.(snip)

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Skids, and Stralya,

The filter cup and filter bolt does have a tight fit and O-ring around it, so when you push the bolt up into the cup, it seals the bottom so that you can fill it with oil before putting back on the engine.

HOWEVER, it does't really do much good for the oil pump because.
. . . . the oil pump is BEFORE the oil filter chamber. The pickup sump for the pump is IN the Tranny pan, and draws the oil up thru it, thru the pump and then OUT to the oil filter cup, thru the filter and then up thru the engine! The cup can be totally DRY for that matter, just need to 'bump' the engine over in 5 second bursts to pump the oil from the tranny pan, thru the filter and up into the engine, so watch until the oil pressure light starts to flicker during a 5 second burst, and then you'll know that the oil is getting into the engine, then it's safe to go ahead and start it!

I can't suggest where the missing oil is, aside from IF all of the return channels in the head got clogged, and the oil got stuck up in the head around the cams?? Are you sure there's nothing clogging the tranny pan drain plug hole, so that the oil is still actually in the tranny pan, but can't drain out?? JAT?
T.C.

[mro]

originally posted by da Aussie who can't find his oil
btw, we ride all year round in Australia. Just thought I'd make you jealous.

Maybe you didn't notice...but I live in the SF Bay area.
Has the "best weather" year round anywhere in the world.
Not to hot, not to cold and little rain, altho I ride in the rain too


mro
btw, what TC said works for me.