Hitchcocks Forum

Hi. I have just changed the oil on my 2011 EFI and there are about a dozen small white plastic pieces all looking like maggots or large grains of rice.. Maybe teeth from a plastic cog??
Has anyone any idea where these might have come from?
Thanks for any help
CHris

The most likely source is the plastic cog that drives the oil pump. These have been known to lose teeth and are supposed to be changed at around 12,000 miles IIRC. The most likely cause of early demise is the failure to set the meshing of the cam gears; this is supposed to be done at the first service. If it were my bike I'd remove the engine cover (drive side) and have a look. You'll need a gasket if it has not been off before, but if you just lightly grease the gasket when refitting it should be good for reuse.

What Rattle says. The oil pump gear appears to be the only component that could produce this sort of dandruff. Find an Ebay listing for an EFI oil pump and the picture should show you what the part looks like for reference. You need to check this before doing anything else, a defunct oil pump could be very expensive!

REgards, Mark

Thanks Guys. I will get a gear ordered straight away. I'm at 16,000 without replacing it so I might as well just get and and do it.
C

Guys, I couldn't find any reference to changing the oil pump cog in the user manual. Is there a better service manual I should be referring to?
Gasket and Gear on order.
Thanks.
C

This sort of thing ought to be covered in the full workshop manual, as the rider's manual will only cover basic maintenance. Our hosts' paper copies are shown as being out of stock, but they do still have CD versions available. Catalogue no. 597451A A.

I can't find it in the w/shop manual either. Maybe I read it in a forum post, but I definitely remember reading it somewhere. Either way it seems sensible to me to at least inspect the plastic gear periodically. Like I said, they have been known to shed teeth. I can't help thinking that I'd rather have a steel one; blow quietness....

Don't forget to order an oil pump output O ring as well.

Thanks So Much for the advice. I changed the cog for the new one this a.m. Sadly it looks like that wasn't the problem as the old gear looked close to immaculate. I changed it anyway as at 16,000 miles I'm due a replacement as advised in this thread. I have had a look through the workshop manual and can't find any other suspicious plastic inside the engine. Does anyone else have any hunches?
Thanks
Chris
https://goo.gl/photos/CyPUBSvzVYrJNeNKA

How long have you owned the bike?, is it possible a previous owner already changed the offending part but didn't change the oil?.