Fibre in oil

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SherpaT

XS650 Enthusiast
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I just did my first oil change after a little over 500 miles. I had done a top end on the bike Which is a 1975. It had sat seized for many years.A lot of work and It’s running quite well and I’ve been working the bugs out. I didn’t change the front guide which I’m regretting now. Ugh as it was in good shape. The two filters are both clogged with black fiber not chunks as I have seen in other posts related to the guide. I’m wondering if it could be the clutch plates? That is my next think to look at. I was planning on going on a long trip next week and right now I’m a bit down About it for sure! Here’s some pics of the filters. I’m straining the oil now. I’m thinking either the guide is in crooked, or it’s falling apart otherwise clutch plates or it’s somehow some gasket maker in the oil? Thoughts?
 

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Hard to say what it is from pics. If it's running good and not making any noise, I'd clean the filters, fresh oil and put another few hundred miles on it and see how they look then. Seems to me if it were clutch plates, you'd be having clutch problems.
Any metal in all that?
 
That does not look like cam guide plastic to me, either. Did you replace the fiber clutch plates? If the clutch is stock, then I don't think that's it, either. You didn't fill the crankcase with solvent, did you?
:umm:
I'm with Jim. Clean them and run some more.
 
Just checked the clutch fibers and they are within spec. I Tightened up the starter spring while I was in there as well. What would solvent do? I may have flushed some diesel through the crankcase at some point. It’s back together and I’m going to ride it a bit and check again. Hopefully something stupid like a piece of shop towel or something... There’s not really any metal to speak of.
 
There is always an unbelievable amount of nasty sludge in the low spots when you tear down an engine.

It seems stable when in the presence of oil but a solvent might loosen it up.
 
Seems too much fibre to come from a gasket sealant. I guess the fibres are short and fine to have passed through the sump strainer to get caught on the oil filter, is the sump strainer torn? Could it be that someone visited this forum and got the idea of wrapping filter paper, tissue or fine cloth around the sump filter and it came loose and got shredded?

I'd fill the engine with a cheap 20W50 oil and run say 50 - 100 miles then see what comes out. May need another flush after that.

Save a sample of the fibres. Under a microscope paper fibre is quite distinct. Synthetic fibres are smooth and round. I have seen a much smaller amount of fine fibres on a filter before and they came from a fluffy cloth I had wiped the engine parts with. If your fibres look very uniform without any obvious bits of thread then I would suspect tissue paper.

Sorry I am not too much help.
 
What you've found could just be build-up and remnants from the past, now finally getting flushed out. I agree with the other comments - keep running it and do a few more oil changes and filter cleanings. Many of these bikes never got proper care and frequent enough oil changes & filter cleanings. My filters, although not as bad as yours, came out pretty dirty at first. It took several oil changes over the course of several thousand miles before they finally started coming out clean.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. I’m over my initial horror. I am going to run it this weekend and drop the oil again. It definitely looks like paper fibres and sludge though. The sump filter I repaired when I had the engine torn down so yes small fibers got through To the upper screen. I’m planning a 5500 km trip next week! So hopefully it cleans up on the next change.
 
Update, so I changed the oil after another 100 miles and only had a tiny bit of fibre and no metal. I think it must have been a piece of blue shop towel... Idiot! So off I go this week on a cross Canada trip! Thanks for the suggestions and talking me down from pulling the motor!
 
Thanks for the offer! I am technically only doing half the country this time. I'm in Thunder Bay On and planning to head west to BC leaving sometime in the next few days.
 

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