Hi Guys, New to this forum, so not sure if someone has had this issue before!! Anyway, just dumped the oil from my 98 748 and found a small torx bolt (possibly M3) stuck to the magnetic sump plug. This is clearly not ideal, however it shows no signs of distress and just wondered if anyone knew where that might have come from. I had an issue with my clutch seizing recently because the centre bolt loosened. Not sure it is related to that?? Cheers, W
I have never come across a torx bolt that I can remember on any of my own 748's other than in the injectors. It's possible someone has done some engine work in the past and replaced a stock bolt with a torx. In fact most of the bolts are allen bolts of varying sizes and shapes. The only torx bolts I can think of are the ones that bolt to the injector setup, they bolt the two halves if the injector support frames together. Maybe one has got into the airbox and been sucked or fallen into the engine. Very unlikely for this to happen though as normally you have to destroy them to get the injector bodies apart. There are also two, on reflection, in each brass butterfly but they are shorter than the one in your photo. The one in the photo looks more like one from one of the injector supports, one side is countersunk and the other raised as in the photo.
Thanks for the note... I am more and more convinced that the thing has been dropped in there. It's in pristine condition and bears no scars. I thought there might be some torx screws around the electrics, but highly unlikely that anything from there would end up in the engine!! I'm leaving the oil to drip out overnight, so I might see if anyone else has any ideas, then button it all back up again.
thank goodness for magnets . could have been sitting in bottom of your engine for some time, just waiting.
Have you done the Euro millions this week ? With luck like that and no scars would be rude not too ! Definatley thank god for magnets
Wow! Ive had bits of what look like stripped threads on my plug before, but never found a screw! Mad!
Looks like one of the screws off the throttle butterflies.... no idea how it'd get down into the sump though.
It probably got into the sump on the magnet and hasn't been through any engine mashing at all... Its possible that when it was last serviced, the magnetic sump nut was inspected and cleaned before being put down on a workbench near a throttle butterfly screw and attached itself, then reinserted by the mechanic who had previously checked and wiped it. If you consider the route it would have to take from the throttle body to the sump, that is one route it could not have taken without a few witness marks!
Has the bike got an aftermarket oil breather? the read valve is held in by two similar screws on one I have in my bike. Steve
Can't see the throttle screw going anywhere except into the intake valve/cylinder and that would definitely not be good! IIRC some of the crankcase breather valves use a screw like that to hold the reeds in and if it fell out it could end up in the sump...
Here you go; Whilst this looks like a 'corse' breather it's actually a standard old-type ally bodied breather that's been modified to work like the corse version. You can see the 2 scews that hold the reeds in - certainly looks familiar and if that is the culprit then it takes away the doubt that something very bad might have happened...
That is very interesting... I do indeed have an aftermarket unit, so I think I'll have a look at that. Thanks to everyone for their input!! I have only really ever worked on the bike myself, so it is most unlikely that bits have leapt onto the sump plug while it's been sitting on the bench and it was very definitely there when I pulled it from the sump. So I think it's either been there for years, or it came off the breather!! I will try and have a look today.
Well, Dukedesmo... If this was a competition, you would have just won!! I took the breather off and found everything was loose inside. The screws had somehow come away and dropped into the sump. probably worth anyone else who has this make of breather, taking the time to check it is still working! Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Thankfully this time it was a simple fix, but could easily have ended up with me splitting the engine to find the culprit. W
Thanks Steve... Just realised you actually got there first! Big relief when I found the second screw in the sump also. It had seen a bit of action, but all still appears to be well.
Good to see it's sorted, I'd say it's unlikely that small screws like that could end up in anywhere that could do damage (gearbox etc.) but they're better off out than floating around. If I was reusing that breather I'd use longer screws with nuts on the other side, then both Loctite and stake them so the nuts can't unscrew.
