I have bad wet sumping on my B40f....and a very drippy sump plate. I will shortly be installing a BriTie anti sumping valve ( on which I had advice a year ago !!) but I also need to address the sump plate and studs.
Picture should show the offending stud.
My recollection is that this stud is in an open hole into the sump/case, whereas the other three studs are in blind holes. This was a problem prior to the only previous time I changed the oil. When I took the sump plate off one of the studs just unscrewed. When I tried to use nylock nuts, you couldn't undo them without the studs moving. I cleaned up the stud holes the best I could with carb cleaner then used red studlock, checked/adjusted for flatness of the sump plate and filter and installed with a greased paper gasket and nuts with spring washers.
I had hoped that the studlock would also gumup the flow path for oil in the stud with the open hole.......seemingly not.....presuming it's not bypassing the gasket at the plate.
So any advice on how I approach the drippy stud/sump plate.
I could double nut and see how firm the offending stud is....and, if it moves easy, take it out and use lashings of stud lock in a second attempt to fix it in place?
Try a fibre or copper washer in place of the spring washer?
Try plumbers PTFE tape when installing the stud.
A steel/rubber washer and a domed nut might work.
Quote from: JulianS on 04 Apr, 2024, 11:58
Try a fibre or copper washer in place of the spring washer?
Ah! .....on the basis that the spring washer provides a gap?
(Wondering about risk of it shaking free.....but if the BritTie valve solves the wet sumping then it'll be more straight forward trying nut/ washer combinations)
yes I had the same problem. Over the years the threads wear away and you can't tighten them. I paid Malc's Motorcycles in Reading to take out the original studs and make new threads. Of course now it doesn't leak. Malcolm has a workshop in Caversham next to Reading and not only does a great job, charges are very fair. He could have retired by now if he wanted to, so I assume he works on British bikes more for fun than to make money. If you can do the retapping of threads yourself then all the better.
In the past I have used plumbers PFTE tape to great effect as an emergency repair for loose nuts and bolts but it reacts to petrol and goes all gooey so get the tape which is petrol resistant.
It is difficult to get the threads clean for the locking fluid to seal. A thread sealant might work better. Guess Loctite 542 might be usable.
Neither nyloc nuts nor spring washers are especially good at keeping things in place. Generally speaking, best way to keep a nut in place is to tighten it to correct torque. I only use spring washers for electrical connections where the edges of the washer dugs in, giving better contact. On my B40WD I have fitted one of those sump plates with a drain plug. So rarely have to loosen the sump plate. Keeping studs in place with Loctite and using paper washers plus sealant (Hylomar, Wellseal, Yamabond or whatever you prefer). Annealed to be soft, copper washers and plain nuts.
The two B44VS are more problematic as the skid plate only allows to have the standard configuration with greased paper washer. Accepting the fact that old bikes leak.