Hitchcocks Forum

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem but when I change the oil in my 2012 EFI Classic Bullet i am never able to get the full amount of oil (2.75ltr accordind to the manual) in. With the engine hot i undo the 2 drain plugs ( and open the filling plug so that there is no air block). I move the bike from side to side and wait until the last drop has tipped out while replacing the oil filter & then the two drain plugs after cleaning the metal filter & magnets. While filling the bike with new Motorex semi synthetic 15W/50 I can never get more than 2 litres in before the level is showng over fill & the window is completely full.
The same thing happened last year and i even had to drain some oil out to get the correct level back. What am I doing wrong? I have run the bike all summer with only 2litres in and the level showing full all the time. It has not dropped at all after 3000km. I can only imagine that there is "something" in the engine preventing the correct amount of oil in, or that the 2.75ltrs is not correct. The bike has been running perfectly for nearly 3 years in all sorts of weather, (including well below freezing), and I am completely satisfied with it apart from the worrying that it will soon seize up because it is running with almost 1litre less oil than is needed?
Ideas please, "nicklov" Helsinki, Finland.

I and others here suspect the amount in the manual is for a new or rebuilt engine with no oil in it.
It is usually .7 of a litre too much at an oil change.
Oil lurks in all sorts of nooks and crannies in an Enfield engine.

2 litres including what was in the replaceable oil filter and chamber is what I get out of mine at oil changes. Remember all the oil ways, the pump, the hydraulic tappets, the rocker box, the gearbox will all have some oil which can easily make up the difference. As long as the oil level is correct in the sight glass you won't run it dry.

2 litres seems to be par for the course on the earlier engines. Mine has the later three drain plugs and I have found that 2.6 litres is about right. The fact that RE put an extra drain plug in suggests to me that it wasn't possible fully to drain the oil out of the earlier two drain plug version. 2 litres in mine wouldn't register in the sight glass, or maybe just about be visible at the lower edge.

I think rattlebattle has got it there. I've not done an oil change myself but have noticed the three drain holes despite the book of words only mentioning one. The sight glass is anything but accurate and too much oil is worse than not enough.

Depending on the state of the oil that comes out one might want to continue using the half litre of old oil or wash it out with a litre of fresh oil (half fill), run it at idle for 10 minutes then drain and discard.

I think the dealer's mechanic took the crankcase cover off to get at the cam at first service. Pretty sure all the oil cam out that way. A bit extreme but the cam backlash might need occasional fettling. Some new cars do not have drain plugs, so the oil is either sucked out through the dipstick hole or the sump has to come off.

jefrs - I don't quite understand why the sight glass is not accurate? If the bike is on level ground on the centre stand then the correct oil level will be displayed between the two guide marks. All liquids eventually find their level no matter how viscous - its how self-builders make sure their floors are level (plastic tube and some coloured water if you want to know!)! What's important is not the quantity which comes out or goes back in afterwards but the right level for the pump pickup and not too much or the breather can't cope with the extra pressure and it will end up looking like it was made in Redditch. If Thiruvottiyur can't get the sight glass level marks right then I'm off to buy a Matchless G3!

Nigelphoto, tis a quirk of the design that the tank behind the sight glass is split in with the top of the ridge above the sight glass.
(Covered in another thread on the forum.)

It's not so much the sight glass per se. The issue is that the design of the crankcase is such that it is compartmentalised, resulting in oil being trapped in various parts of the crankcase, with the sight glass showing only the level in that part. A dipstick would be no better. My last two and current modern l/c bikes all have dipsticks and checking the oil has also posed questions on the relevant fora, mainly because of the arcane rituals specified regarding getting the oil up to temperature. IMHO nothing beats the simple system on my old Triumph; just look in the oil tank! Really, I don't think it's that much of a problem on the UCE; unless there's a leak or it's blowing blue smoke I doubt that it'll use any oil. Mine doesn't. I just fill it with the 2.6 litres specified in the workshop manual (for a "wet" oil change) and leave it at that. 2.6 litres would probably be too much for the older motor because you can't get enough of the old oil out.

Nigel - every time I've followed the instructions, run engine, level ground, wait, etc-etc-etc and the level comes out different each time. They used to send our apprentices to stores for long weights and spirit level bubbles (both of which exist) The bike is so not using or losing oil. Sometimes the level is right at the bottom, sometimes right at the top. I've come to the conclusion that if any oil shows in the sight glass then there's enough in there and that it is, "for indication only". The manual does say fill to between the marks on the sight glass. A diy dip stick (notched stick) marked at known-full might be better. I guess oil gets trapped in the passages.



The 2.75 litres is a generous amount so there will be a generous tolerance (not stated in manual); it is far better to have 2.5 litres than overfill to 3.0 litres. The 2.75 litres appears to be "full" so I guesstimate 2.25-2.75 litres as correct.

The pump is a powerful 9 l/m and will pick up from 1+litres (half fill) for washing-out at idle but /do not/ ride the bike like that.