What are the signs of a faulty oil pump?

[5twins]

Also, when you check timing, you need to do so at full advance. It can be OK at idle but still advance too far. You need a timing light to check this. This is a problem with these bikes. As the advance unit wears, the timing starts advancing more than it should.

Do you have a tach? If so and it is working then so is the oil pump. If it worries you so much, take the right cover off, take the oil pump apart and check it. But honestly, I think you'd be wasting your time. The pumps rarely fail. I think your problems have other causes.

 

[vagabond]

I adjusted the timing with a timing gun a few days back on idle at around 1250 RPM. With a gun, is it acceptable to do it at idle or do I need to open it to around 2000 RPM?

Do you need a special tool to hook the compression gauge up to the tach cable connector area? I'll check the tach tonight, then oil compression, then if none of that reveals anything the oil pump.

Another possible culprit is an oil passage blockage. Do you think a bit of seafoam running on idle for 10-15 min, then swap out the oil again, might help address this?

 

[5twins]

You don't hook the compression gauge to the tach cable, it gets screwed into the spark plug hole. Then you kick or crank the engine over and the gauge measures the compression generated in the cylinder.

You need to check timing at both idle and full advance. For full advance, you need to rev the bike to about 3500 RPM. The advance unit is made to advance the timing a set amount, about 25°. As the unit gets worn, that set amount of advance grows. That's why you need to check the timing at both extremes (idle and full advance). It can be good at idle but if the amount of advance has grown due to wear, it will advance past the mark and be too much at full advance. If that is the case, you need to change the timing at idle until it reads good at full advance. The full advance is the important setting. That's where your bike spends most of it's time running.

 

[vagabond]

I think I've been confusing compression and oil pressure...unless these are linked. Are there two separate ways of checking oil pressure versus compression?

Thanks for hanging with me here, it's my first time for all of this.

 

[vagabond]

By the way, 5twins, the tachometer is working fine, so the tach cable must be spinning. As to whether anything's getting pumped out of there...I guess the easiest way to check for now is to remove the valve cover while the bike's on, no?

 

[5twins]

Yes, remove a valve cover. Have rags up around the opening because if the pump is pumping, oil is going to splash out all over the place, lol. Yes, you're confusing oil pressure with engine compression. They are 2 separate things, not related.

Here's a pic of inside the right cover. The rod is the tach drive. The big gear it ties into with the little worm gear is on top of the oil pump. The motor drives the big gear (which turns the oil pump) and it turns the tach drive rod. If the tach is working that means the big gear must be turning. It is pinned to the oil pump shaft and works the pump as it spins. I suppose it's possible that the pin has sheared and the pump isn't turning with the gear but as I said, oil pump failures are very rare .....

 

[vagabond]

Nice! Very familiar...I've been staring at it for the last week while finding time to clean out the clutch case cover and get it all back together (appears as if I didn't get the kickstarter screwed in properly either. It's still usable but doesn't return to the upright position and kicks down on electric startup). I didn't examine the oil pump for wear or clearance because I wasn't sure what to look for, but will do so if necessary after checking everything else.

Is there a way to test oil pressure in addition the valve cover splash test? What should I be looking for?

Thanks a ton!

 

[5twins]

I don't know of any other way to check oil pressure short of attaching a gauge somehow and that would require drilling and tapping the hole somewhere for a fitting. It's just not necessary, believe me.

It sounds like you didn't preload the kickstart return spring properly during install. Directions are in the factory shop manual which is on-line here .....

http://www.biker.net/