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Bellagio engine oil level

I fill mine with 3 1/2 litres (with new filter) this brings it to top mark with the stick NOT screwed in as specified in both owners and workshop manual.

Well that confirms that bit then, but not wishing to be a "Drongo" but, Is this measurment taken with "Bike Upright"
or on the sidestand? (Just to see if we are understanding the translation in the manual)

The rest is now perfectly clear isn't it. Either be prepared to plug the draintube and drain it off once a week
(like i do) or add a small catch can (a small plastic bottle will do) zip tied to the frame near the swing arm maybe, until the motor settles in more.

Keep it topped up using the info here as a guide, then "ride it llike you stole it" :evil: for a few weeks.

I'm going to get my sump plate fitted a.s.a.p. after it arrives in England though, as i like to give mine "The Beanz" quite a lot and this should help the motor deal with the increased oil throw at high rpm "like-it -says-on-the-box"
 
All the above is with the bike vertical.

You can check this yourself: drain your (hot) oil into a suitable container, measure what comes out: should be 3 litres (maybe just a smidgeon less). Either put that back or put in a new 3 litre batch, sit the dipstick in the hole without screwing it in and see what you find.

Factory dipstick is a bugger to read being black plastic.... also a bugger to wipe clean being + shaped in section. I found i needed to pull it out and lay it on a piece of paper towel to be sure of the level.

Factory Maintenance manual is quite clear:
Check with bike vertical and both wheels on the ground. (in any case it's hard to do an oil change in the middle of a jump)
Check with oil hot -after a 10 mile ride, under such conditions "oil is fluid" (must be bloody cold if it's ever solid!)
Remove, clean then re-insert the dipstick into its tube ...but do not screw it.
Max, Min....... bla bla bla

Specifications in the front of the book say sump capacity is 3 litres. I found this leaves things short of the mark on the dipstick if you've just changed the filter...in which case add another 500ml. 3 litres is just right for the 5000km oil change without a filter.
 
pete roper said:
Is your bike performing poorly? Is it making horrible noises or sitting in a lake of oil every time you stop? I don't think so. But you are a mechanical novice and have made the mistake of being very gentle with the bike from new. This probably won't be much of an issue in the long term but it WILL hinder the bedding in process and until the motor is fully bedded in it WILL tend to use a bit of oil and/or pump a bit out.

It is not performing poorly at all. Its an instane amount of joy to ride it.I do not know weahter I was too gentle with it during the run in. I did not rev it high at all but i did open the throttle up a few times while climbing some pretty steep hills. As for sitting in a lake of oil every time I stop it kinda does that. Just that the "lake" is usaually about 15 cm in diameter when parkeed after a 100km long ride.

pete roper said:
If it was mine I'd simply run the drain hose from the airbox into a catch tank and drain off the odd few ml of oil from time to time. It may well sort itself out in another few 1000Km. Who knows?

Well i just ran it through the heel guard so that i can run with the pipe open and it wont spit the oil onto my back wheel. That way it does not build up in the airbox a lot but it is still enough to create a small lake evert time when parked up.

pete roper said:
Check the oil regularly. Keep it 1/2 way between the full and add marks and go ride the bloody thing rather than constantly worrying about it. If it's going to blow up it'll do so in the warranty period and as long as it has been correctly serviced it'll be fixed. My belief though is that you're making a mountain out of a molehil....

Well i do ride it a lot and enjoy it.I did 5000km in under two months which is not very little taking in account the fact that i am working full time at the moment. I keep checking the oil and up untill now i was hoping it would settle at some level but it has dropped to the min mark already and i am not willing to go lower than that so i will start topping it up to again from now on. I would not be worried about it but my mechanic told me he is not sure what is up with the bike and that the other similar one he serviced did not ever spill a drop of oil (not even during run in), basically it was so little of it that it did not even fill the drain pipe capacity in between the service periods, He told me he will have to discuss the problem (or find out if there is any) with some mechanic in prague that supposedly has a lot more experience with bellagios. Again this is just a second piece of this bike in this country so he can not really be blamed for not having much experience with it.
 
Sorry. I'm not trying to be grumpy but 13 hours on a plane always tends to make me terse :lol: .

Really I wouldn't panic about it right now. Keep oil up to it and ride.It may well improve over the next 10,000Km.

Pete
 
Its an insane amount of joy to ride it.

Andre, you could not have described the Bellagio experience better! They are fun to ride and touch the soul.

At 5000 km, you should be considering a mid-service oil change anyway. It still may be a little early to change over to a fully synthetic oil (I'd do that at 10 or 15,000 km), try another oil instead of the Shell, (maybe the Agip or similar). Measure what you drain out and replace it with a measured 3 litres. Check your dipstick with the bike vertical so you know where it should be. Get your mechanic to measure whats left when you get to 10,000 km. Maybe check the dipstick every 1000km in-between just to make sure. If you can run the drain hose into a bottle and collect the dribbles you will have something to show the mechanic in 2 months time.

As Pete said, don't worry too much, ride it hard (but safely) and savour the joy.
 
I'll second that! They are a beautiful bike and go like the clappers when fully on song. I've just been taking the oil drip problem in my stride and i think it's just a passing phase as she gets fully bedded in. Let me know when you get Petes sump plate turn up, as i'm hoping that mine will arrive shortly after.

Take care and all the best.
Dave
 
Finebau said:
I'll second that! They are a beautiful bike and go like the clappers when fully on song. I've just been taking the oil drip problem in my stride and i think it's just a passing phase as she gets fully bedded in. Let me know when you get Petes sump plate turn up, as i'm hoping that mine will arrive shortly after.

Take care and all the best.
Dave

I think he sent both out at the same time. Considering the fact that it is sent from Australia and you are in the UK and I am in central Europe you will probably get it faster.
 
Installed Pete`s plate today. Had to modify it a little in order to fit. The UFI filter seemed too big for the hole so i had to cut a little bit from the big hole. I also had to extend the hole for the oil gauge quite a lot in order to be able to screw the gauge in. Hope this will not significantly damage the plate`s functionality. Following is the pic of the plate after rough cutting (before polishing) so that it is possible to see where i made the cuts (the rough parts).

fetch.php


As you can see the gauge hole had to be extended significantly and the oil filter hole had to be extended a little bit (you can see the cut left of the top of the oil gauge hole on the pic. I also cut a little into the opposite side of the big hole. Disregard that ... that was a mistake :p.

You can download the original of the pic here:
http://wiki.ab.sk/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=guzzi:bellagio:acc:others:imag0171.jpg

I burned my hand on a pipe after finishing the job so I did not have time to properly test its functionality yet. Hand will take a few days to heal. I also put the fully synthetic Agip 10w60 oil in instead of the Shell VSX 15w50 that was in there bofore.
 
damn, sorry to read about the burn but at least you've fixed the plate.. ;) I think the fully synth oil will be a lot better too - let us know how it goes
 
After the first ~100-200 miles, you need to take the sucker to the rev limiter occasionally to properly break them in. The rings will get the bores faster, and if only done occasionally is completely harmless and should be done during break in. We used to throw ajax in the carbs while revving the engine to seat the new rings on old nortons, then change the oil..... Its a bit easier now
 
By the way for anyone interrested. The manual is wrong regarding the information about how to use the oil gauge. I checked it yesterday with the sump off and the edge of the sump equals to about 3 milimeters under the max mark when the gauge is screwed in. That means filling up to max when just sitting on the thread would result in a significant overfill.
 
well that answers some of the oil level issues :?

guzzi jon said:
After the first ~100-200 miles, you need to take the sucker to the rev limiter occasionally to properly break them in. The rings will get the bores faster, and if only done occasionally is completely harmless and should be done during break in. We used to throw ajax in the carbs while revving the engine to seat the new rings on old nortons, then change the oil..... Its a bit easier now

I agree - when running it in decent loads need to be put on at least the engine and brakes though not constantly - rather variably. & a good way to do that is through twisty hills with lots of gear changes up and down - & what could be more fun! :lol:
 
:mrgreen: Dangerous assumptions and conclusions there. Who said that the oil level had to match the sump capacity??? It's an oil tight assembly so if you fill up over the seam a bit it doesn't matter.

I'll still go by the volume specified in the manual: 3 Litres without a new filter, 3.5 litres with a new filter.

I've done 38,000 km on this regime and only get a smear in the air box. Dipstick is almost irrelevant anyway because my Bella uses no oil between 5000k changes.

If I was over filling I'd expect higher oil use.

toochay
 
delburnman said:
:mrgreen: Dangerous assumptions and conclusions there. Who said that the oil level had to match the sump capacity??? It's an oil tight assembly so if you fill up over the seam a bit it doesn't matter.

I'll still go by the volume specified in the manual: 3 Litres without a new filter, 3.5 litres with a new filter.

I've done 38,000 km on this regime and only get a smear in the air box. Dipstick is almost irrelevant anyway because my Bella uses no oil between 5000k changes.

If I was over filling I'd expect higher oil use.

toochay

Well you must have some kind of wonder bellagio then since both mine and 940v`s (finebau`s) is leaving lakes of oil everywhere we stop and everyone keeps telling us it is normal. So what the hell should we think?

Either way since I have pete`s plate installed, it would make no sense filling up above it.
 
Yes, like anrej's bike mine certainly leaves plenty on the floor, but i must say that it's always after a good thrash where it seems to get worse. That's why i have invested in Pete's windage plate, because i can see a distinct possibility that it could be that high revs and enthusiastic riding rather than overfill that is blowing the oil out through the breathers into the airbox.

If you can publish a better pic of your modifications to the plate (with some dimensions) please andrej, i can get it cut before the sump comes off for the service. thanks
 
Finebau said:
If you can publish a better pic of your modifications to the plate (with some dimensions) please andrej, i can get it cut before the sump comes off for the service. thanks

Regrettably I do not have a better picture of the plate. I did draw it onto a piece of paper to take dimensions later but I forgot it @ the workshop as I was not thinking straight after I burned my hand (which is OK already by the way). You have to cut about 5 millimeters off the big opening (the location of the cut can be seen on the pic if you look close enough) and extend the hole for the dipstick about 2 centimeters wider (or make a second hole about 2 centimeters under the original one). Its no rocket science and you should be able to get it modified in a few minutes provided you have the right tools. I did not that is why my dipstick hole looks like shit. But it is not really important how stuff looks inside the crankcase ... functionality is the only thing that counts there.

You can get the full size picture here:
http://wiki.ab.sk/lib/exe/fetch.php?cac ... ag0171.jpg

I will report on how it works after i have done at least 1000 miles with it so that the info is objective.

BTW Pete please send me a PM with how much the shipping and packaging cost you and I will send you the money asap.
 
Got the sump baffle plate modded to (almost) :) Match andrej's re-cut appertures and fitted it up during the 6k service where in went a new filter and the right amount of Agip 10/60 oil.

It's about a 100 mile ride back from the dealership, and i gave her a good work out to test the results. When i first parked the bike up, the drain hose was "dribbling for england" and soon there was a sizeable pool of fresh clean oil under the bike. I cleaned it up and stuck a drip tray underneath with a layer of clean newspaper over the top to see if there anymore after an overnight drain out. Next morning, there was not a speck of oil on the paper, and since then i've put another 400 miles of mixed but mainly hard use riding on the clock with no more leakage at all!

Just want to say a big thanks to Pete for his advice and prompt service in shipping out the Moto-Aus Tonti style baffle plate, and any of you guys who are unconvinced, believe me, this solution works! B)
 
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