Forum

[Skip]

As part of the on going saga with 'The Mighty One Too' I have decided that giving the casings etc. a good flush won't do it any harm, esp when inspection of the oil capture pot revealed it was over half full of mayo I've followed the advice from fellow club members here on the board and have flushed out the pipework etc. This leaves just and oil and filter change........ During our investigations into how this wonderful bike works Phil and I decided to remove the oil filter to assess the level of mayo in the system - apart from nearly taking Phil's ear off when the filter cap let go all of a sudden, we then hit a bit of a problem!..... The cap came off, followed by a the spring and a dribble of oil, then nothing... There seems to be a brass plate in there with an 'o' ring in the center, its almost a perfect fit and is stopping us getting the actual filter out. Does anybody have a suggestion as to how we get this bit out?? Thanks in advance. Skip. (I'm so tempted to drill it, fit a self tapper and pull it out with pliers, but want to see if there's another method first!!).

[Frank]

I use one of those magnetic pick up tools. Its strong enough to pull the plate out of the housing.

[Frank]

BTW drill it and you will cause leaks, thats what the plate is there to prevent with its O rings. Then you will have a similar problem fishing out the filter behind it too. A magnet will get that out as well. Dont forget to soak the new filter in oil for 5mins before you put it in.

[John R]

Just an aside; "The Mighty One Too". I call my bike Rocinante, which also gets a name check in that movie.

[Dennis C]

The copper disc should be a sliding fit, if it is stuck on the centre stud, remove the lock nut from the other end then unscrew the stud, not sure how the magnetic tool works with copper though.

[Skip]

Thanks Dennis, I didn't realise I could do that! I'll also soak the filter before fitting (didn't know that one either).

[Frank]

Dennis, are we sure its the ElectraX you are talking about? I'm sure the disc on mine isn't copper but thin steel. Can't think of the lock nut either. The stud just screws into the housing and can only be removed after the filter element is withdrawn. There is no exterior nut.

[Dennis C]

Hi Frank. No Not sure it's an Electra X as OP doesn't say but does state Brass disc.

[Skip]

The bike is an Electra X. The plate in the oil filter housing is made of brass (in my bike anyway). A closer inspection of the exploded parts pages shows that the offending plate is held in place mainly by a an 'o' ring - the removal of which, using a pair of tweezers then left enough free play for it to be waggled out of position, after which the oil filter could be removed.......... Success in part! However, the bike still managed to deposit approx 250ml of oil over the rear right hand side again, including the new rear tyre after only 11 miles....(I would just like to add that I probably contributed to the bike dumping oil on the warm up run as I decided to flush the engine with a propriety engine cleaning agent, in an attempt to shift some of the mayo that appears to have built up.)....Once again I stripped out the oil catchment pot and discovered that while it did contain a small amount of mayo, it was nothing like the amount in there from the last ride!...... I had already purchase a couple of non-return valves locally, and decided enough was enough. I decided to discard the pot, replace the breather pipes with longer items, fitting the valves close to the ends of the pipes at the rear of the bike, behind the number plate..... So far, after a reasonably gentle trundle to work and back this evening all seems reasonably well, there is no evidence of oil exiting the new, longer breather pipes, but a large amount of condensation has built up in the (clear) piece of pipe I've used as the central crank case breather; the nice thing is it hasn't been dumped back into the engine to create more mayo which is what would've happened if I'd retained that daft pot arrangement! Skip

[Frank]

The main problem with the stock breather system is that it's a closed loop where the moisture laiden gases just get re circulated, either being sucked back into he engine via the timing case hose, or supposedly going via the air filter to be burned off. In practice the engine doesn't get hot enough for the moisture to disperse and instead it just builds up to a point where the pipework gets blocked. The art is therefore to break this cycle, and it seems everyone has their own methods.I've kept the catch can, the design of which in itself isn't that bad.I've disconnected the top hose from the air filter box and blanked off the hole in the box. A pipe has been fed from the top of the can to vent by the battery breather hose. I've then diconnected the pipe to the timing case and put a valve in the end so it sucks clean air in. Another pipe has been added to the spare port on the bottom of the can to allow any oil to drain, again by the battery hose. This seems a more controlled method than having it simply blown over the bike or chain.Initially there was a lot of vapour being expelled though the drain hoses but after 2000 miles it has settled down with only an occasional drip after a long run and, crucially, no blocked pipes.