Oil mystery

I finally got my carbs redone and the fuel level set. I am waiting on the funds to get them synched. But that’s not my problem. I changed the oil and drained the main reservoir and the middle gear, and then filled it back up with oil. The service manual says that it takes 2.8 qts with oil filter. I bought 3 qts of oil and started filling it up. I put all 3 qts in and the oil still doesn’t show up in the oil viewing hole. I changed the oil before when the carbs flooded the engine, but I don't remember if I had this problem. Any ideas?

One more thing. I got the carbs installed and put gas in it and the oil changed, and run her for a bit. When I finally shut her down she started flooding again. I had a screwdriver handy and so I nocked the handle on all the float bowls and it stopped. Could this have been a fluke or would the carbs being out of synch cause this to happen? I have run her around to work and back with out any problems. Any ideas on this one too?

Thanks

Doug

 

Oil - check it again to see if it has settled. Are you checking the level on the centerstand on level ground as described in the manual? I usually put in about enough oil - start the bike for a 10-20 seconds - let it sit and then add enough to bring it up to 1/2 to 3/4 full on the site glass.

The flooding you describe is a stuck float most likely. That could mean that a bit of dirt got past your cleaning... frustrating but you've now got practice. Tapping it fixed the problem for now... it's possible it solved it as it could just have been a bit of dislodged crud that has now worked it's way through. On the other hand, it could happen again and at that point you'd have to reassess your plan.

Also - did you clean your petcock - sounds like it isn't working properly either.

Carb sync is unrelated - that is the balancing of vacuum preasures which in turn balance the mixtures going to the cylanders ensuring each cylander is doing an equal ammount of work with the right mixture of fuel.

 

Yes I checked it on level ground with the center stand Ill check it again this morning. I cleaned parts of the petcock but i didnt take it apart. Just out of curiosity what tells you the petcock isnt working?

Its postible that the bike wasnt quite level when i was filing it.

Thanks

 

Yup - if the bike was leaned over to to the left even a little, it makes a huge difference in that oil sight glass window. Also, clean oil is tougher to see - I've mistakenly overfilled thinking I wasn't seeing a level -- so I find using a small flashlight makes seeing a whole lot easier.

 

If I'm not mistaken this is a vacuum operated petcock ( Not the turbo version as it didn't apparently have enough vacuum or too much vacuum - which ever way it was it's different than non-turbo petcocks)

This means that in order for fuel to flow it needs to have a negative preasure applied to it.

When the bike is not running there isn't any vacuum so the petcock shouldn't allow fuel to flow. If it does allow fuel to flow then I would deduce that the petcock is stuck in the open position (internally - and I'm not talking about turning the petcock to prime-on-reserve)

So it is the combination of faults that allow the gas to flood into the cylanders and into the oil. First the petcock has to be stuck and allowing the fuel to flow freely with no vacuum present and second the floats have to stick so that they don't stop the fuel flowing when the bowls are up to level.

The other scenario of course would be the petcock is set to prime (no vacuum required) and is allowing fuel to flow - working properly. The floats stick and the bowls overfill into the cylanders.

I'd like to be corrected if I'm not understanding this properly - this is just how I understood the fuel system.

 

The key point I'm basing my assumptions off of are that I understand that the bike was NOT running when the flooding was occuring...

 

well ill have to wait untill the take gets empty again because I just filled it up then ill clean the petcock more thruoughly.

 

You could just get a gas jug - pull the fuel line and point it into the gas jug. If it flows it needs attention, if it doesn't then something else is going on. What is the petcock set to?

 

Its is set to on i belive. I know that pointing down is on then pointing to the rear of the bike is pres and then up is reserve.