Forum

[jawa-enfield]

I still have not foun the tim (or courage) to dissasemble the engine again to look for a cause of the heavy oil consumption and even oil coming between the spark plug and the head to the outside.

Strange thing- no smoke-

Someone tipped me a clogged breather mechanism could be at fault, but a ('94 inland model) 4 speed bullet doesn't have any?

[Adrian]

No breather mechanism? There should at least be a breather pipe take-off under the left hand side of the cylinder barrel. Indian Bullets kept the "duck bill" breather pipe venting over the gearbox sprocket taken from the Redditch design for a long time, they didn't start messing with more complicated breather systems until the 2000s

A.

[Andy C]

You need to sort the breather without a breather oil could be forced out anywhere as the sump will be under pressure.

Tthe next thing I would look at is the scavenge oil pump, or more specifically the gasket.

Sometimes the holes do not completley line up and restricts the amount of oil scavenged from the sump.

I had this exact problem with my old 612 (HF53 HBU where are you), its a pain to do but might be well worth it, all I did was opened up the holes and all was well.

Think there might be something on our hosts site about this if you dig aorund.

[stinkwheel]

If there is no breather, it will piss oil out of every gasket. I know this because my duckbill hose got folded over once and the bike pretty much emptied itself, mostly round the tappet cover.

[jawa-enfield]

I took the engine apart and cannot find ANYTHING
Can anyone tell me about what is the correct clearance for the omega/accralit piston (are the instructions of the piston correct) and what way the piston rings have to be mounted? ((can the instructions delivered with the piston be wrong??)

Feel like burning the bike, spend a lot of money on it and cannot find the cause..

[Adrian]

Maybe your Bullet would be happier with a good-quality cast-alloy piston like a JP, or one of our hosts' American-made pistons? I suspect they might need a little less piston skirt clearance.

If it really bothers you, don't destroy the bike, sell it to someone who can fix it.

A.

[stinkwheel]

I should say, my 350 uses an inordinate amount of oil, be that with standard, higher compression or even the NOS Accralite piston on it now, it's had two different heads and various breather configurations, I even tried fitting valve stem oil seals. It always has done. My 612 also uses a fair bit although not as much.

Maybe just down to the way I ride them.

I just keep topping it up now using reasonably cheap oil, doesn't seem to bother the bike. It keeps on running. Maybe you just need to stop worrying about it unless it's causing a problem. I'll think nothing of putting 1-200ml of oil into my 350 after a long distance trial (about 140 miles of hard offroad riding).

[Duke of Wybourne.]

I am another who would firmly suggest you engage someone with the appropriate knowledge to help you resolve the issues you are experiencing. You are very unlikely to get it resolved by "online diagnosis" . Where I would start, and it's already been mentioned, is measure with proper calebrated instruments, and then check against the spec. The piston manufacturer will give you the clearance spec, the contact details are available via their website. Also, if it hasn't been already mentioned, it's worth checking that the bore is at 90° right angles to the crank pin. I've witnessed two bad re-bores (off square/cetre) that have caused weird problems. It is always good practice to measure twice before you fit. A single cylinder Enfield power unit is about as simple as you can get, and I would imagine the resolution to your problems will be equally simple. If it's getting to you, leave it for a while and go back to it with a refreshed mind. Two of my long term reliable trouble free high mileage Bullets came from previous owners who "could do nothing with tham".

[Beezabryan]

Can't be bothered to go over 7 pages of angst but, has anyone suggested oil over filling?
My 1992 500 was an oil drinker until I took advantage of advice seen on an enfield site, too long ago to remember which.
Dipstick is now marked at half way between high & low, a level I do not exceed. Top ups are now at much greater intervals. Happiness.
Just my 2d for what it is worth.

[ChrisD]

Jawa-Enfield.
I too had a problem with burning oil, and I too tried the inlet oil seal which did help, also new piston etc. But only now, after decoking the head in a bucket of hot water, did I find what I think is the problem. I was able to push the inlet valve guide out with my finger and there had been essentially no interference fit. Once it was out I found it was the wrong size and wasn’t even an Enfield one. Don’t know where it came from or when but it was years ago the bike went to another engineer (my present one is great).
Regarding tap, I bought an amal tap from Hitchcocks brochure (#36583) – a push-pull tap with a lever reserve some 5 years ago. I found that it could flow 400ml/minute whereas the OEM tap could barely manage 170ml/min.
If you’re riding at 100+kph with a wide open throttle, you need much more than 170ml/min (do the maths) or the float bowl empties.
Cheers, ChrisD
Oh, BTW, having spent a lot of money upgrading my 1996 500cc (high lift cams, twin plugs, steel conrod, roller bearing bigend, 32mm Mk2 carb, twin-plugs, 535cc, I have now decided to revert to 17T sprocket as the 19T was just too much. BUT I had found, when removing the conrod to upgrade to steel, that the conrod was 20thou too long eye-to-eye – i.e. stretching and getting ready to split. And having done all that work, and lightened the flywheels, I found it will handle the revs much better.