Removing oil over-fill - how?

sproggy

sproggy

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Due to some impatience when I serviced the bike a couple of weeks ago I've over-filled the engine oil (level is just above top of window when cold) - I didn't wait long enough for it to drain down from the rocker box. Although I did the valve clearances, balanced the throttles etc and the bike runs very smoothly up to around 4000rpm, over that there's a lot of vibration that wasn't there before.

I can't help but suspect that excess oil is being thrown around in the engine, and since I'm doing a track day next week I don't want to experience oil-related problems such as venting to throttle bodies, air filter etc.

Does anyone have a CONTROLLED method of removing a small amount of engine oil? I realise that I could just undo the drain plug and let a little out but of course Sod's law says I'll drop the plug and the whole lot will escape all over the garage floor..... :eek:

Also, is there anything that's likely to have suffered from over-fill? Of course I'll check the air filter, but anything else? There's no oil apparent when throttle body balance stub rubbers are removed.
 
When i fill bikes with the correct measured amount as per the workshop manual ( rather than looking through the window) , it comes just above the sight glass - i.e. it looks overfilled - but it isn't .
 
Removing the filter and emptying that will (should?) not cause any more to pour out.

However, if you are about to do a track day, why not treat the current fill as a flush and just change it all, it's cheaper than a new engine :yikes

Iain
 
If you undo the plug underneath the airbox you may find most of your excess oil in there. I did the same as you and asked a bmw mechanic if it was a problem, he said he had never come across a boxer that had had any type of mechanical promblem due to over filling with oil. :)
 
I like Steptoe's answer the best :thumb Steptoe, that is just over the top of the window when cold - not when hot?

Removing the oil filter is a good idea, though. Iain, if I was going to flush the engine I wouldn't use expensive semi-synthetic!

I'll check the air filter drain, though - that's easy to do. But it sounds as if I have nothing to worry about with regard to oil level.......which means I'll have to look elsewhere for the cause of high speed vibration. It's definitely engine - does it in any gear, not just at a fixed road speed. I did change my Brisk plugs for NGK's - maybe I should put the Brisk ones back in and see if that improves it.
 
Just a thought ....when you did the valves are you sure you used the 0.15 feeler gauge on the inlet and the 0.30 on the exhaust and not the other way round ? It wouldn't be the first time this has been done and it will vibrate like a good un if you have .
 
Gecko said:
....when you did the valves are you sure you used the 0.15 feeler gauge on the inlet and the 0.30 on the exhaust and not the other way round ?
Click to expand...

Yes. And not all needed adjusting.
 
lukate said:
If you undo the plug underneath the airbox you may find most of your excess oil in there. I did the same as you and asked a bmw mechanic if it was a problem, he said he had never come across a boxer that had had any type of mechanical promblem due to over filling with oil. :)
Click to expand...
I was told you can blow the seal on the clutch if you over fill it.
 
john plane said:
I was told you can blow the seal on the clutch if you over fill it.
Click to expand...

Is that some old eskimo joke about blowing seals?

Since the clutch and the engine oil never come into contact with each other (if they do you've got other problems....) I don't understand which seal you're referring to. Not sure who told you that but I wouldn't believe anything else they say until they get their medication revised :bounce1
 
Bin Ridin said:
Tip the bike to the right and look at how far over the top of the windae the oil level actually is.
Click to expand...

"A bit" is about as close as I can get without getting a protractor out to measure the angle of lean of the bike. Maybe a quarter of an inch but that's a guess. Seemed a bit less vibratory on the way home today, though.
 
I totally agree with Bin Ridin.

I dropped the bike once and when I lifted it back up I thought that it had lost some oil as the light on the dash was warning me about it and the window showed no oil in it.

If I had thought about it for a minute, I should have realised that there was so little fluid on the ground...so where the hell could it have gone? You just don't think straight after dropping your bike for the first time.

Anyway, a kind biker pulled over and let me fill up on some of his oil that he went back to house to get for me.

When I got home, I let the bike cool for 5 mins a per the instructions and there was far too much oil in it. The oil must have run into all the nooks and crannies when I dropped it..... and ran back out of them as I rode it home.

Rang my mate who is an absolute guru about all things mechanical and he told me it would be fine. Rode it around to his house just to confirm and he just laughed at me. Within a few days the oil was back in range and the bike is none the worse for it.
 
Ditto Steptoe, Recently had my 'bike serviced at Allen Jefferies, and when the 'bike was returned, the oil level was exactly as he has described.

Worry ye not..........
 
Bin Ridin said:
A quarter of an inch is too small to worry about. Forget it and ride it like you stole it.
Click to expand...
I agree, just cane it, it'll soon burn off :thumb
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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