Forum

[AndyMc]

Hi I changed my oil yesterday on my C5 and as well as the usual filings stuck to the magnet on the main drain hole was a piece of metal. It looks like the end of a circlip broken across at the hole. It is flat ended rather than bulbous and the only one like it I can find in the parts book is on the gearbox main shaft. There are no symptoms when changing gear so I assume the rest of the circlip is still in place. I guess it is a complete split the crank case job to have a look and I'm therefore a bit reluctant to delve in there if there are no symptoms. Has anyone had a similar issue or offer advice. 10k miles on the clock and I've just come back from a 1500 mile trip round scotland. I can remember one day having a slight problem changing from 5th to 4th but it resolved itself. It's now back to its usual self.

[Jamesy]

Problem is AndyMc it will probably prey on your mind forever if you don't open up and investigate.In my humble opinion I would class it serious if it is a broken piston ring.

[hagis]

Tricky one this, do I or don't I, You could give yourself a lot of work stripping the engine down to find nothing wrong, The fact that the engine /gearbox are operating correctly wit no faults would indicate all is ok, might be worth taking off primary drive cover to check clutch and primary drive chain is all intact, Myself I would continue to use machine but would be draining the oil every 200 miles or so to check that the magnetic drain plugs have no more metal debris on, I would do this for the next thousand miles for my own piece of mind.

[Smithy]

Hmm any shards of metal in oil are never a good sign to be honest. I've not experienced this on an Enfield but have replaced gearboxes on BMWs for similar reasons. I'm sorry to say that if it is a shard of metal then something is broken and although you hear tales of bikes doing thousands of miles and then finding out that something inside broke a long time ago I wouldn't risk it. If it is a circlip then it won't be as secure now it is broken and could become displaced with unknown consequences or it could be part of a bearing which is breaking up. Either way were it me I would bite the bullet (no pun intended) and strip the motor.

Ian

[RoSy]

If you think it's the end of a circlip , I assume you mean the end where the eye of the clip is . I would think that the rest of it is safe where it is , they do sit in quite a deep groove . You could try to identify it from the parts book this may give a clue as to where it came from. I would be more concerned if it was part of a wire circlip .

[Biscuit Barrel]

Circlips are made from high carbon spring steel. Very hard stuff. You really don't want a fragment getting between gears meshing in the box. I'd be inclined to investigate pronto.

[JTL]

Hi AndyMc... post a picture of what you found in the oil. It will help identify what part in the engine the metal piece has broken off from... regards Jacob

[AndyMc]

Pics on this forum are a bit beyond me. I've posted on FB. RE GB

[Alan R]

try this-------- https://imgbb.com/ and choose HTML fully linked

[Revband]

Order a new one of the circlip you think it is, you can then compare and be fairly sure it is what you think, if so don't worry about it it was probably cracked by a ham fisted fitter and the rest is doing it's job.