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Rode the bike with not enough oil...

3K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  flyboyk 
#1 ·
I had an accident on the track and must admit my insane stupidity.. :thewife:

the accident broke the left engine cover and the bike lost oil. i had it fixed with the mechanic at the track. well, i thought that he also refueled the oil but he did not. (it was in italy so it was difficult to communicate) unfortunately i had 2 slow stints before it came to my mind to check oil level. max 30-40 kilometers. i am not exactly sure on how much i needed to refill but it was about 1-1,5 liters. afaik the F41000r has 3,5 litres in total so that means my bike ran on 2 litres for 30-50 kilometere track very moderate still i travelled to another track after the accident, which was new to me and i had to learn to now it etc. , but still track use.

at no point the oil pressure lamp went on. there were no strange noises and therer are none now. the coolant temperature was as before. the engine runs as before..for the moment at least

after that i did one more day of real track riding with no problems.

apart from my brutal stupidity, do you think my engine might have long term damage or anything. my gues is if oil pressure is still ok, it should be fine?
 
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#4 ·
I am a dumb and lazy ass, no doubt about that.

its just, you know, obviously i am worried, since the bike ran on 2 liters or a bit less maybe. maybe only 1,5 litres, i do not now exactly how much i had to refill... lets take 1,5 litres inside the engine as worst case.

i guess on a standard car engine this is no problem but on a high performance engine like the F4 i am worried if i have to expect damage of any kind after further 1000-5000km due to that.
 
#6 ·
It is a pressure fed system. As long as there was oil high enough in the sump for the pump to pick it up then you are fine. no oil light means you never lost pressure.

For sure, the reduced oil got hot and well used, but thats OK. Serious racers used to run oil levels as low as possible to reduce windage and pumping losses in the engine. That was a while back when engines were not so advanced as today.

You're fine. Sleep easy.
 
#9 ·
It's an on/off thing based on a grounding signal from the pressure sensor......but seriously, if you damaged the engine it would be letting you know by now, you've ridden it a fair amount after just a few short runs before refilling and then changing the oil.

I certainly wouldn't start tearing the engine apart just to look.
 
#11 ·
It will be fine...just as the others have said.
Were you going to have a problem, it would have manifest itself by now.
 
#19 ·
Bear in mind that at start up your cams are waiting a moment for oil feed.
The other end of the spectrum is overfill.

If you overfill then the oil gets whipped into an aerated froth.
So your vitals are being fed less oil and more air.
Like the boys have said with 2 L of oil and positive pressure you have nothing to worry about.
I'd rather have your situation than overfill

Joe
 
#24 ·
If he had damaged the engine he would have known in very short order.

There is a particular liter sport bike engine in the market for the past 7 years that has crankshaft oil supply through the left engine cover with an oil seal on the crank end.
Frequent oversight by unskilled repair people is replacing the cover after a spill, or for cosmetic reasons (such as chrome plated), and not realize there is a seal to install (part shown on the crankshaft diagram parts list, not the engine cover parts list).

Oil pressure is low and light will flicker at idle. Light will go out at rpm, but most of the oil is spewing into the stator cover and not much getting to the crank and rod plain bearings.

It takes a bit less than 100 miles until the engine noise is bad enough for anyone to know something is terribly wrong. Just a few more before a rod is hanging out the cases if the rider tries to limp home.

If this MV had a damaged engine from low oil it would be very obvious by now.

As Donsy said, that white metal (soft) bearing material doesn't last long at all without the protective film of oil. MV or any other brand.

I'd buy it.
 
#26 ·
It is probably fine, the followers and camshaft lobes would be my worry depending on how they are lubricated from these 3 methods.
In direct-acting cylindrical followers, the cam lobes are lubricated by following three methods
• a simple oil-trough splash,
• a radial drilling intersecting the cam base circle,
• an oil spray coming from a drilled passage along the entire length of the cylinder head
 
#27 ·
cam/bucket lubing......

the oil goes to the top end through the stupid external line on the front of the motor

from there it goes to the exhaust cam at #2 cam bearing saddle and then across to

the intake cam

the cams are hollow and drilled only at the cam bearings

there is no spray bar or trough....... random splash only

some friends tried to blow a 427 Chevy up years ago.....drained the oil.....all of it and

drove the car for 1/2 hour revving the snot out of it......

it kept running......they drained the coolant......it seized in less than a minute

remember Andy Granatelli's STP test?

added STP, ran the motor, drained the oil and drove all the way across the USA


:popcorn:
 
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