Hi all, I have just done an oil change and noticed some small flakes of brass in the bottom of the old oil, I have never seen anything in the oil before, The bike is 2013 with about 12k, I am assuming it will be crank or big end bearings but the bike sounds fine has anyone got any tips other than sell the bike
Gear dogs shearing produce that brass metallic flake. If there’s any sign of it on an NS, you split those cases immediately.
Are you sure it’s brass. Big end ,Main or a bushing. Have you drained and cut the filter open, to see what’s been caught?
Hi, I am pretty sure it is brass, it is not magnetic and gold, I have cut the filter open and found nothing in it which was a relief as i was expecting quite a bit, I will try and get some pics I don't suppose there is much in the engine that is brass
Long shot but do you have a copper washer on your drain plug ? Was your catch can definitely clean before you dropped the oil ? Unfortunately my experience of flakes in the oil matches NS400R line of thought.
Hi, I use a Dowty seal for the drain plug, I have also fitted a magnet into the drain plug this had a very small bit of metal on it, I did use a syringe with a tube to remove remaining oil from inside the bottom of the engine and I have not done this before, so maybe the bits have been there for some time. there was nothing in the filter so I have a bit of hope, I am going to refill with oil then ride in the spring drop the oil and recheck, the pics shows the small flakes of brass in the bottom of a jar
That’s an option. The counter is that if it is a gear dog issue, the failure when it comes tends to be catastrophic which could end badly for you. Don’t mean to scare you, but I’d be pulling the engine and investigating.
am I right thinking the gear dogs are steel, just wondering how do I get brass from this, I would have expected some steel on the magnet, It is a big job to strip down and with the small amount of brass I need to have a good idea where it has come from before stripping,
They’re an alloy casting. No idea what material the coppery flake they give off when a dog shears is. Just conveying my experience. In my case I had no idea a dog had sheared. The gearbox worked faultlessly. I pulled the NS motor out to replace crankshaft seals that had failed. On reassembly I thought I’d check dog condition in the box at which point I found a missing one. The dog was at the bottom of the box and had thankfully not jammed the box nor had the other 2 dogs sheared yet. Once one dog goes, the other follow shortly after. A mate spat second gear out the back of the cases exiting a roundabout!
I'd be doing the same mate. If after that you're still concerned you could use Motul oil analysis? That's only £30-40 I think. I wouldn't worry until you were getting a lot of contamination or you're having running/noise issues.
The images you posted are nothing like what my minds eye was picturing. I was imagining, flat much larger elongated pieces. I’d probably now do as your implying as regards to running her up and dropping the oil for further examination. I’d also sacrifice a black T shirt to filter it through to separate any contaminates.
Going off the subject a bit, I have stripped the bike to do the winter service, swing arm out all good, all re lubed, l then took out the steering head for re lube and found the nut was loose, this is the first time I have checked, I have now found it needs special grease for lube, so I have ordered some Shell Gadus S3 T220 it is a polyurea base as opposed to the normal lithium
The shell is an EP2 grease but with a polyurea base as recommend by the Honda service manual, not the standard EP2 Lithium base grease, I am not sure if the bases mix so I just ordered some
If you still have the oil, send a sample for used oil analysis rather than guessing, make sure the oil is shaken & well mixed
I have kept the filter and a little of the oil that I got out of the bottom of the drain tray, mainly so I have the particles, I will have to look into having it tested,
