No Oil in Sight Glass

[CharlesPhillips]

Hi I have a Suzuki Bandit 400 VS 1995 model and a week or so ago, I had the forks re-chromed. I took ages for them to fix it, so when I got it back, I was doing a pre-check and noticed no oil through the sight glass.

I put nearly in 2Litres of 10w 40 oil in, which usually tints the sight glass a darker colour so you can see the level. But for some reason this time nothing appeared. Seems like there's no oil in it. I put a piece of wire down the hole where you pour the oil in and there is ample oil, which is slightly above the sight glass.

Just wondered if anyone has the same issue? And what if you put to much oil your bike can I destroy the engine, mine doesn't smoke and actually starts better than it ever did before.

Thanks,

[dobbslc]

Drain out the extra oil it won't do the engine any good, also did it originally have the correct oil level?
If it seems to have gone "up" since you last used it it could be petrol leaking through the fuel tap and carb float valves then down into the sump VERY BAD! Petrol is not a good lubricant!
If you think that is what's happened then change the oil and fix the leaks.

[CharlesPhillips]

Drain out the extra oil it won't do the engine any good, also did it originally have the correct oil level?
If it seems to have gone "up" since you last used it it could be petrol leaking through the fuel tap and carb float valves then down into the sump VERY BAD! Petrol is not a good lubricant!
If you think that is what's happened then change the oil and fix the leaks.

Thanks for the reply, from what I can see in the sight glass it looks empty. There isn't a darker part on the sight glass showing the oil level. When I stick a piece of wire down into the engine as a dip stick, it seems slightly over the sight glass.

Could the oil have been sucked up into the engine or something?

[dobbslc]

Try leaning the bike to the side with some help and see if the level drops below the top of the glass,
If it does you might have a fuel leak.

[CharlesPhillips]

Try leaning the bike to the side with some help and see if the level drops below the top of the glass,
If it does you might have a fuel leak.

OK thanks, I started my bike up tonight and let it run for a few minutes, then put it on it's side stand. I noticed the oil looked normal again and went up to about half on the sight glass. So when upright it goes slightly over the sight glass.

So what are the signs of a fuel leak in the oil?

But funny enough the bike starts better than it ever did with slightly more oil in it. Used to struggle getting it started if I left it for a day or two without riding it.