Cleaning the crankshaft of widecase engine

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Rocla
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Re: Cleaning the crankshaft of widecase engine

Postby Rocla » Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:34 pm

Hello again,

The meccanic who is repearing my Scrambler engine told me two statements I would like you to assess:

A) even if it is theoretically possible to clean the centrifugal oil filter without dismounting the engine (just the cylinder), it is practically impossible.

B) the best way to proceed is to empty the oil while the engine is very hot and the piston on its lowest level (that means the best position to drain the duct inside the cranjshaft).

Do you agree with A and B?

Buster
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Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:56 am
Location: Reading, UK.

Re: Cleaning the crankshaft of widecase engine

Postby Buster » Mon Apr 15, 2019 4:39 pm

From my experience the centrifugal filtering in the crank shaft / flywheels is such that it will be nearly solid. The only way to clean it out properly is a complete stripdown. Trying to remove it insitu as in A will not remove all the residue and will disturb bits that could enter the big end.
in B no matter how hot the oil is and at what position the crank is it will not remove anything from the crank.
Are you sure it needs a stripdown? It all depends on the mileage since it was last stripped down AND has the oil been changed regularly in the past? I presume that is not known.
Buster.

Rocla
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Re: Cleaning the crankshaft of widecase engine

Postby Rocla » Tue Apr 23, 2019 4:06 pm

Anyway, I would like to emphasize on this method: to drain regularly the oil when the engine is very hot and the piston on the lowest position (while in addition the motorbike is inclined on the right size to favor the oil flow) seems to be theoritically the best think to do in order to delay a complete engine dismounting.

What is the opinion of Ducati specialists about that trick?

Bevel bob
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Location: Bromley Kent UK.

Re: Cleaning the crankshaft of widecase engine

Postby Bevel bob » Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:20 pm

The motor does hold onto its old oil. I tip it over to the right side and then prop the back of the bike up to get the oil down into the sump.I also have a magnet on a wire that I work around the sump. If you study some photos of the case inereds you will see that oil can be trapped.

Rocla
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Re: Cleaning the crankshaft of widecase engine

Postby Rocla » Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:35 pm

Ok, I will check on the pictures. Many thanks for your trick

themoudie
Posts: 649
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Location: Scotland

Re: Cleaning the crankshaft of widecase engine

Postby themoudie » Mon May 20, 2019 11:55 pm

Thank you for the insights George and Nigel, it appears to be a wee cracker.

Regards, Bill

Scottish888
Posts: 266
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Re: Cleaning the crankshaft of widecase engine

Postby Scottish888 » Tue Jul 16, 2019 12:35 pm

Not only the crankshaft, you can also clean the alternator rotor. In the process of rebuilding my 250 engine and it took a bit time to clean out all the magnetized particles picked up inside the alternator rotor.
I don't suppose the particles would go anywhere but I did clean out a fair bit, took a while before solvent washes ran clean


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