Hitchcocks Forum

Hi everyone,
Came back home a couple weeks ago after an 800 mile tour around Belgium on my 2000 model 500 Bullet. I did not burn a drop of oil. How so! Engine has done around 6,000 miles.
regards,
Alan

Enfield engines do tend to suffer from condensation. Is there water in the bottom of your oil tank? There very often is on these engines. This would explain why the level hasn't gone down.

Stuff and nonsense. Forget Enfields, from whichever continent, ALL engines generate condensation. the emulsion/mayo seen in oil tanks or in rocker boxes is a sure sign of condensation and is always found in engines which do lots of short runs without evr coming up to, and running at, full working temperature. If the tour of Belgium was done with decent mileage (should that be kilometerage?) each day then the emulsion will not appear. If you have a car which does mostly school runs and/or trips to your local supermarket then you should try looking in the rocker box.....then you will see real emulsion. Why didn't the Enfield burn any oil? Well why should it? It has done 6000 miles and unless it has been treated exceedingly badly then oil consumption should be nil or at worst minimal. At the risk of repeating myself, my 1958 Model 50 Norton does not burn any oil even with 83000 miles on the clock since it was last rebuilt in 1976/77. A well put together motor should not burn oil. It may breathe some out due to crank case pressure but that is a different matter. My Commando with Combat engine does that BUT it does not leak or burn any oil. Well done Rado53 on your Belgian tour I hope you enjoyed it, and it proves that Enfields are perhaps not as unreliable or "oily" as some would have us all believe.

Generally you expect to use a bit of oil over that distance even in a very tight and dry machine but if you were going along gently and not labouring it I suppose a nil burn is conceivable. Mine generally uses about 1/2 a pint every 500 miles on a fast run and a bit less at lower speeds. I use straight mineral 50 grade though so that might account for some of the usage.

One explanation is; You topped up the oil before you started, but there was quite a bit already left in the sump, in effect you overfilled the tank. You then did the trip and checked after returning after stopping the engine where all the oil was back in the tank even though the engine had burned a small amount, but it looked none had been burned. Even brand new quality car engines are designed to have some oil consumption, so it very unlikely that the Bullet engine would not have used absolutley none at all...quite a bit is always sucked down the inlet valve guide. Also an engine with only 6000 miles would be likely to still have light machining marks remaining on the bore. The oil sits in these tiny grooves as they cannot be removed by the scraper ring, it is a very small amount of oil but it is is burnt off every time the engine fires....and it all adds up.

Well that told me! However, the Enfield is the only bike I ever had that actually has a little water (not emulsion) in the tank when I change the oil(and it doesn't get many short runs). I know all internal combustion engines generate condensation but I maintain that REs are more prone than most.

I tried to resist correcting my post above but it is so bad I've just got to: CORRECTION: "Even modern quality car engines are designed to have some oil consumption, so it very unlikely that the Bullet engine would have not consumed any".....AND...."The oil sits in these tiny grooves as it cannot be removed by the scraper ring" ....slightly better I think.....just!

My old 2005 500 work Bullet is very economic with Oil I never have too top it up between Oil changes I start with it full to just under top line of dip stick and after around 1500 Miles is just below halfway. What condition Barrel & Piston is in after 20.000 Miles I don't know as I have never had the head off from new but its still going well so I don't touch it. Some seem very good on oil I can only guess its all down too initial running in and the original quality and accuracy of original parts as specs do tend to vary from one component batch to next. For comparison too others If I put my used engine oil in a two litre pop bottle after doing a oil change and leave it on the shelf it ends up with about half inch of water in bottom by the time I take it for recycling.

Gosh rado, there's a coincidence!!
Four weeks ago I did a similar trip - Durham-Hull-Rotterdam-Amsterdam-Antwerp-Ghent-Bruges-Zeebrugge... on my 350 Classic. I did a similar mileage to you, in three days. To come onto the point of oil-levels etc., I changed the oil and filter just prior to the trip (20/50) and when I checked it on getting home, there was absolutely no change in the oil level.

The bike has done approx 5000kms in the last year and I've changed the oil and filter every 1500 miles or so. There only appears to be slight traces of condensation at the top of the dipstick. It appears that your experiences are similar to mine.

ps.. I should have also added that I have NEVER had to top up my oil level between these oil-changes.