Hi, I recently went to look at this bike, located in Reading, a friend was interested in it. Bike started OK. After stopping the engine, we noticed fluid leaking past the dipstick hole. This was unscrewed, oil / petrol poured out.
We left. Later the owner made contact saying that one of the two petrol taps was flowing fuel into a carb, even when turned off. Even if it was the float should have sealed it off. So the needle must also have failed.
My point to this story, is that the engine was ran,with the oil severely diluted with petrol for maybe a minute. No idea if this has caused damage.
The bike was advertised here, by the original owner who was thinking of selling it due to illness. ( the advert can still be found in āMarketplaceā The bike is now part of his deceased estate.
If it goes back on Ebay again with the current owner, I have no idea if he will pass on the information about the sump being flooded with petrol.
This is just a heads up, if you see the bike advertised in Reading. It has an American police siren fitted, along with flashing red lights (look like spotlights)
Buyer beware.
Maybe a moderator may want to copy and paste, or move this into the Marketplace section. Someone looking to buy, may not see it here?
some one was asking about buying a machine that had only been run for a minute with petrol in the oil
I told them to leave it and walk away
people tell porkies
her tis
That was me.
Just occurred to me, that nothing had vented out of the breather tube, it was bone dry. I would have thought that it would have thrown some fluid out?
When you first posted about this, I assumed you were talking about a 1400 Eldorado!
I think it is unlikely to have caused significant damage, but there are plenty of loop frame bikes out there and I would give this onea very wide birth unless it is dirt cheap.
Maybe it is the rare loop 2 stroke version?
Hi everyone, firstly I am not having a go here. As I would likely share the same concerns in reverse - as is noted above buyer beware is a good mantra- However I feel I should confirm that I was / am the seller of the said motorbike. I can also confirm that it was my brothers bike (Kevin) who was also a member here for some time. I took over his account when he died, and admin allowed me to keep his user name. But when he died a little while back he left me the bike. As can be seen I am a member now and after getting the bike up and running again, the new wiring loom installation was completed and I had been using the bike and had taken it to a couple of local shows the āWoodcoteā Transport show being the last. I am happy with the bike now and I was showing the bike for sale (Kevin had put it up for sale on here before) I was horrified the other evening when I/we found fuel in the sump - it was certainly dramatic - but I know it had not been like it long as the tank had been sat on the bench a month before with fuel in it with no leaks, I have since found one petcock had started to leak with a duff three hole seal and as the bike had not been used for a while fuel had passed under low pressure past the carb into the sump. Thank fully we only ran the bike for the short period before we noticed. It was also luckily not the weather for a test ride.
I took the bike off sale straight away pending investigation and remedy and as a result of further investigation I have now fitted a new petcock that has just arrived from Stein Dinse to replace the leaking one. (I appreciate that might sound drastic but I stripped the old one down and lost the spring as it came a part ) I have also checked the float and needle to make sure it is sealing. I have since run the engine with new oil and all appears well, but I will get a mechanic to check it over and then put some miles on it to make sure all is well. Once I am happy that all is good I will see then if it goes back on sale and for how much.
One thing it did high light was some notes from Kevin a couple of years ago that this was in fact a converted civilian model brought from America (I did not know this was a non-genuine Police model) and I will now look to convert it back to civilian. So there will likely be a good condition fully working B&M friction siren for sale shortly with cable and lever, I know these are rare and not cheap but if you want one drop me a line. (UK) I hope this clarifies what happened and that no shenanigans was meant by me. I was more shocked than the two of you I can tell you. Best wishes Ian
Sorry for the loss of your brother.
Regarding the bike, over 50 years or more lifetime some crap or abuse will have been done to all bikes for whatever reason accidental or not or through ignorance- yours will not be the first. To be fair many of us are guilty. It may not be good but often not terminal. Buyers should be checking anyway. If you need to get any more bits, try āGutsibitsā in the midlands. Postage is cheaper than Stein dinse!
Sorry for the loss of your brother Kev: for perspective, I own an 850GT, and had exactly the same problem, although mine sent a fountain of oil and fuel out the breather as well. I drained the sump, refilled with clean oil, and have been all over the place since without any issues. I took advice from the Loop Frame group, and was advised not to expect any issues, and I havenāt. I am old enough to remember when it was common practice to add fuel (it was cheaper then) to the engine oil, to ease winter startingā¦ I did replace both taps with modern OMG to prevent a recurrence. So, to summarise, I wouldnāt be at all concerned. It would probably have been an issue had the engine run for long periods with severely diluted oil, but for a few minutes? No.
Good result for you, and a relief