Changed the oil on the Tatti Ducati ST4 today... It was a bit black and a bit thin, but I have seen worse. However - the magnet on the sump plug looked like a Christmas tree and there were some small shiny bits of metal in the oil screen (couldn't see anything unusual in the filter though). Is this the famous rocker arm chrome falling off? Or is it likely to be something else? Or am I just being paranoid? Ideas please...
The chroming of the rockers isn't magnetic so you would find it in the strainer rather than on the sump plug. Can you post a picture? I recently helped a mate out with his Hyper and the sump was covered in "chips" about 3/4" long, like flattened needles. We think it's the gears are being eaten away (the most likely cause) so need to split the engine down to find out. Big money unfortunately :frown: This is what his looked like - not his actual plug, but similar debris from the gear teeth...
I always wipe the plug off on white absorbant paper to have a good look at what's there. Have you still got the 'bits'?
I did my oil change a few days ago...............just got a black dust type residue on the magnet, and some tiny ally flakes on the screen......... I suspect some is left over from when the previous owner had the bike and some t*t of a mechanic used an airline to blow out the tacho drive hole in the casting when the drive gears had clearly mashed up (in fact they were worse than that)........ .......when I forst changed the oil, I found that the gasket that runs centrally along the bottom of the crankcase has got quite an upstand, so I reckon quite a lot of debris gets caught up on the left side despite tipping the bike right over to the right when draining the oil.... But also when I first changed the oil, I also had lumps like that stuck to the magnet.......obviously bits of the tacho drive gear in the case of my bike. AL
Unfortunately didn't think to take photos before I cleaned the plug... The bits weren't as big as those in post #2 (and my oil wasn't as thick or as black either). It's got about 35000 (fairly hard) miles on it, if that helps...
Be it gears or rocker plate its not good news, I would be investigating further, the problem is where else have the bits got to? 35000 miles is quite high without major work, before this was it serviced regularly?
if you clean those shavings on a bit of paper with brake cleaner, what's the base colour ? I mean it could help if you let us know base material (brass like, discoloured iron colour etc) ?
Ditched it all... sorry... From what I remember they were shiny silver colour - definitely not brass, not black, and not that blue/brown burnt colour...
Isn't that oil gallery plug shavings ? I know they are normally aluminium, but even steel replacement can come out (which would explain why it is magnetic and attached to your drainplug)
I think it depends on how much debris you had on the magnetic plug. When I did my last oil change there were a few metallic offerings attached to the plug ( nothing like the posting in 2 ). I think these are simply the result of hitting a few false neutrals in the gearbox. The good news is, the plug is capturing the debris & preventing it circulating in the oil circuit. If there was'nt too much debris I would'nt be too concerned, especially with 35k on the clock.
Well... It seems to be running OK... so maybe it's nothing to worry about. I can't decide if it's making more of a clatter than it used to - it's always sounded like a bucket full of rusty spanners !
might be worth pulling the alternator case off to check the small bearing race for the end of the crank shaft. theres no oil feed to that one just splash
Have you ever seem the violence that goes on inside an internal combustion engine. I would say a small Christmas tree of swarf is to be expected. I don't think I have even done an oil change and not found stuff like that. Its the lumps of metal you should worry about
not happened to me in 100,000 miles with my multistrada.....till the sprag gave up certainly not natural thats for sure......unless you are particularly crap at changing gear
