Wet Sumping? Solution?

[cousinaz]

Hello. I have a 2000 Vintage Sport w/ a 107" TP engine. Upon start-up today, after about 5 months of storage, the following occurred: First, during warm-up, the oil fill cap popped up. I pushed it back in and continued to let the bike warm up. After about 15 seconds, the oil cap popped out and fell on the ground. Looking down, I saw oil on the ground. It was draining from a small tube, attached to a braided line. The line appears to go to a 90 degree fitting, into the back of the case. Are these symptoms of wet sumping? What is my best course of action? Thank you, in advance, for any guidance. Dave

 

[Mr. Wright]

During Long term storage, this will happen. If you ride it at least once a month, you probably won't notice it. Go ahead and run it until it's good and warm, and do an oil and filter change. If you continue to get oil coming out of the vent at the back of the crank case, you can plug it off with a 1/8''pipe plug. This recommendation came directly from S&S.

 

[cousinaz]

Thank you for the incredibly quick response! Following up, do I need to be concerned about how much oil is in the bike, now? I believe it was appropriately full when I parked it. And, not sure, but think about 1/2 cup of oil has come out. I assume more will, upon starting again. Also, does it make sense to you that the oil tank pressured up and popped the filler cap out? Thank you.

 

[Mr. Wright]

The way the oil system works, the oil drains from the tank into the engine through a small ball\ spring valve. Then the oil pump pushes it through the engine, and filter, then on to the tank. Normally this is a small amount of oil, going through at a time. With the engine sumped, the pressure in the crankcase, caused by the pistons, forces the oil out the vent. And the rest of the oil is being rapidly pumped back to the tank. The tank is not vented, so the air expansion will pop the cap off.
If you're not going to do an oil change, the oil level is about an inch and a half below the fill hole.

 

[Mickmorris]

Nice looking bike! I have a 2000 Vintage Sport also that I just got running again. Been down since February. I was actually worried about that happening to mine also. But surprisingly it didn’t. Hope you get it figured out quick!

 

[cousinaz]

Thank you, Mr. Wright. Your description helps my confidence in idling the bike to warm it up and "clearing" the excess oil from the case. Related, the oil and filter only have 50 miles of riding prior to storage. This is why I was not going to immediately perform an oil and filter change. Thank you, again, for sharing your knowledge. In the next week, I will post a conclusion to my problem.

Mick, is the orange bike your Vintage Sport? I like that paint scheme a lot.

Dave

 

[Mickmorris]

Thank you, Mr. Wright. Your description helps my confidence in idling the bike to warm it up and "clearing" the excess oil from the case. Related, the oil and filter only have 50 miles of riding prior to storage. This is why I was not going to immediately perform an oil and filter change. Thank you, again, for sharing your knowledge. In the next week, I will post a conclusion to my problem.

Mick, is the orange bike your Vintage Sport? I like that paint scheme a lot.

Dave

Yes it is Dave. Thx!

 

[Hwy2Hell]

Hi
M

During Long term storage, this will happen. If you ride it at least once a month, you probably won't notice it. Go ahead and run it until it's good and warm, and do an oil and filter change. If you continue to get oil coming out of the vent at the back of the crank case, you can plug it off with a 1/8''pipe plug. This recommendation came directly from S&S.

Hi, my 2002 Bulldog TP motor does this too, so if the vent is plugged, this will force the oil back into the system? What about the pressure in the crankcase will it blow any seals? Thanks

 

[Mickmorris]

Hi
M

Hi, my 2002 Bulldog TP motor does this too, so if the vent is plugged, this will force the oil back into the system? What about the pressure in the crankcase will it blow any seals? Thanks

If you have a TP motor you should have the smart oil pump. It works differently than a regular oil pump by moving oil in reverse basically. I don’t think you would have to worry about blown seals. The smart pump sends the oil to the filter before going to the engine. It also has a stainless steel check valve that prevents sumping to the crankcase.