Wet sumping on M14CSR

[starfield181]

My new baby was delivered today (65 M14CSR) and looks good. Started the engine and it smoked quite heavily initially but ran quietly and smoothly and ticked over nicely. Started it up a bit later and no smoke. Is it safe to assume that the bike may have wet sumped as its been unused for a while and in transit witha courier for a week or so. Must admit that I had assume that as the oil is in the crankcase that this would be one AMC machine which would not wet sump.?

Thanks

PeterF

[Stuoyb]

They all do that Sir!
The oil is in a tank bolted to the crankcase and is circulated from and returned to the tank.
If you search on the forum you will find this subject covered by our lightweight experts - no doubt they will be along soon!

[Ozmadman]

Lightweights do not wet sump in the true sense of the word like other AMC machines which have an external oil tank. As you know, the oil sits in a tank hidden behind the RH crankcase cover but the type of pump and action is virtually the same as the other bike types. What can happen is that depending on the position the oil pump shaft stops in when the engine stops there can be a bit of which oil bypasses the pump and drops into the sump. You have two drain plugs, the rearmost one will drain the sump and the front one will drain the tank. When you drain the sump you will get a small amount of oil but the majority should come from the front plug ie: the tank. I use SAE 50 engine oil all the time in mine(engine and gearbox) although it has a rest in the winter, apart from a few regular start ups just to warm it up and keep it active, I never get any smoke at all even though it may have stood for a month or more. Keep it on the centre stand and not the side stand if you have one and run it now and again and I reckon you will have no problems, some of that smoke may also have been caused by drainage down the valve guides. Not sure if you know or not but no harm in pushing the point home... keep the oil topped up to just under the oil return hole you can see when looking into the tank, run the engine first to get the oil circulating for few minutes turn if off and then top up the tank if need be. The oil level will initially rise when you first start then engine then as it warms up and circulates it will drop down a bit. The tank only holds 2 and a half pints so keep a close eye on the level. Just as or even more important is the gearbox oil level, it needs to be kept topped up to level with the bottom of the aperture that is covered by the small oval plate with the two screws. Not a brilliant design as all of the gears are at the top of the box but keep it topped up(they are prone to leaks) and you will be fine

[starfield181]

Thanks for that. I have an owners guide and the O'Neill book both of which came with the bike but neither are as explicit about the topping up levels as in your post. You have saved me posting a second question.

Expect there will be a lot more questions. Picture of the bike attached - you can see why I asked my earlier question about front mudguards.

PeterF

[Ozmadman]

That looks a nice tidy bike!!