Oily Shovel

[shed]

Hi,
I have just put my Shovel back together after a winter freshen up, and within a minute after starting it up, oil gushes out of the front inlet push rod tube base. If I jam a rag around the base it stops gushing after a while, but if I run it round the block it splatters oil over the bike.

The jobs I have done over the winter are:- I have had the cone off to fix an oil leak; a few years ago the cone was polished and the small blob of weld on the front of the casting were the oil ways is plugged, was flused off, the weld was poor and oil seeped from it, not much but enought to annoy. So, I had it re-welded, the guy that welded it has told me that he popped it before welding and the plug broke off and is in the casing, after disscussion we left it beliving it was in a "dead leg" of the oil way and would not be an issue.

I have also had the top end off to powder coat the barrels, lapped in the valves cleaned every thing up and reassembled it.

I have had the heads back off to check the alignment of the caskets where the oil ways are, and discovered that the holes in the gasket were 1/4 and the holes in the head and barrels 3/8 so I thought that was the cause of restriction of the returning oil forcing more down the push rod tubes. When I put in correct gaskets it was still the same. I had the lifter blocks chrommed and the tappets appeared tight so I thought this may be restricting the oil flow, so I have had it stripped back off, but it was still the same.

Any ideas where to try next, I am thinking of stripping it back down and checking, but I am quite sure I have assembled it correctly. Having the pinnion bushing replaced in the cone which will allow me to get the slug of alloy out of the passage.

My thoughts are leading to crankcase pressure because its spitting a bit out of the engine breather, and when I take the oil tank cap off its venting into there, I have never come across this before so I dont know if its normal or not, with an internal filter you dont see the oil returning like on an old brit bike.

Cheers Shed

[kevscrivener]

Fuz tells me he's PM'd the guy. Sorted, apparently.

[shed]

I received a PM from Fuz asking me to phone him. After a crack he asked what push rod seals I was using. When I said neoprene, he said that's likely to be the problem and suggested removing the lower ones and replacing them with cork ones, after relieving them a little in way of the oil drain. I was a little sceptical of this because of the amount of oil that was coming out, I have had the bike 18 years and have never had any more than an oil mist out of the push rod seals. It has to be said though that I had just changed over to rubber this time after being advised that they were far superior. I guess it's a case of the devil you know. Anyway I took Fuz's advise and changed them over and hey presto sorted. Cheers mate you saved me a lot of grief I was ready to start stripping it down looking for something more sinister. Done about 100-120 miles on it since, runs of varying length and it's OK. Cheers Shed.

[chilly]

Nice one Fuz.
Just as an addition which may be or maybe not of help to these ole Yankie clunckers.When i put those neoprene seals on my Brit bike pushrod tubes i wipe them lightly with a bit of clear silicone sealant just before fitting,making sure there is no oil on the mating surfaces ,had no problems so far. Dohh!!, maybe i shouldn't have said that

Chill