Front Sprocket Lateral play

[ericdy]

I've just started riding my M600 again after letting it sit for 3months. Before I left the chain tension normal with about 25mm slack. I have been riding it for a week now and noticed several disturbing things. It began with the low oil lamp lighting up briefly one morning, then turning off. I checked the level in the glass and it was slightly low(2mm below bottom line), but to bring it up to between the lines I had to put in nearly 0.5L(as a side note, is it okay to mix in 5-40fully synthetic car oil with the Shell Advance 4 that was what was put in at the last oil change?). So I started checking the other bits on the bike and noticed that the chain was very slack, much more so than before I let it sit for 3months, approx 35mm of slack it can now touch against the swing arm if you push up. Lastly, I wiggled the front sprocket and noticed some lateral play along the output shaft~2mm, but no vertical or rotational movement. Is this normal or are all these things somehow related? The bike has 7500miles on it. The oil was changed 3000miles ago and there is no smoke coming from the exhaust. Before I left the oil was at the level between the lines. All the adjustment bolts on the rear wheel are tight. There was a lot of what seemed to be chain fling inside the chaincover. There are no puddles or leaks on the ground around the bike, and it is acutally driving better now than before I let is sit for so long. In particular it shifts better than before. The only indication that something was amiss was the oil lamp coming on for 5 seconds or so. Any ideas? Thanks.
Eric

[Scotty]

ooooh car oil in bike , you didnt want to do that, im sure il al be ok ish but if the clutch start slipping later the oil might be the casuse (car motor oil having more slipperyness adatives in it) having said that (big can o worms oil questions) the dsc site had a thread about only useing mobile 1 fully synthetic car motor oil (after running in) changed at 3 k interval

errm oil pressure sensors do break but sounds ok to me from what you say

there is the retaining plate and 2 bolts holding the sprocket on ? if so nothing to worry about

chain fling yeah get loads of that

[Rockhopper]

Lateral play in the front sprocket - quite normal

Chain tension - dont forget that chains have tight spots and loose spots, i guess you set the tension at one of the tight spots by mistake and the 35mm youare now getting as at one of the loose spots.

Oil - dont mix it! Change it and use all the same brand. The light is a pressure light so low oil level will not make it come on (untill its too low to make any difference!!). Check the level with bike upright, not on its side stand (might need a helper or a handy wall)

[ericdy]

Thanks Scotty and Rockhopper. Was worried that maybe a seal or something around the output shaft might have gone and was leading to an oil leak that dropped the pressure and level and caused the chain to go slack. Hopefully running it for a few hundred miles with the car oil mixed in won't be too horrible for it. It was the only thing I could find at 8pm on a Sunday evening and figured it would be better than running low on oil altogether since I needed the bike for a commute first thing in the morning.

[Rockhopper]

A failed seal wouldnt allow enough play to effect the chain tension. A failed breaing on the output shaft could! You'd know about it in other ways though. Can't see that myself so don't worry about it.

The thing with car oil is that they have friction modifiers in which can cause your clutch a bit of trouble.

[Scotty]

yeah nee other
just remembered the sensor packed in on my old 600 once and i ended up putting a bit o car oil in it, it survived nee bother

[ericdy]

I gave the bike to the local shop to change the oil and tighten the chain, things I should do myself, but didn't. The nearest Ducati dealer is 4hrs away in Dublin. Arrgh I was better off doing it myself. Evidently they filled the engine oil, started it then filled it to between the lines with the engine running. Cause now the entire sight glass is covered when I shut it down and stand it up. But it's okay because they solved that problem by not tightening the oil filter enough so it's leaking back to normal slowly. so now I really do have a leak, but it's a good one. will a little extra oil cause any trouble i wonder....other than me slipping on it some day.

[Scotty]

no too much oil = bad

http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/showthread.php?t=12469

took some finding that one , master of the search engine i am becomming

[JMo]

Other than undoing the drain plug and stuffing it back in after a bit of oil has come out (messy), a trick to reducing the oil level back to normal - I used a syringe with a piece of tube attached, and put it into the oil filler hole, pulled out a few ml at a time until the reading was between the marks on the sight glass.

Oh and Scotty - that 'recommendation' on the DSC site - I presume that was for bikes with a dry clutch perhaps?

xxx

[Scotty]

http://ducatisportingclub.com/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=6566#pid53390

errm thats the artical i was on about (does say wet or dry clutch i couldnt remember) its the shazzam! character is the 'expert' though i would have said this artical doesnt show his experteism to what it is in other fields (if that makes sense)

in my opionion thers too much rumor recomendation and marketing to make even an informed decision :confused:

[ericdy]

Okay so I drove about 70miles with the oil sight glass completely filled on my way to Limerick this weekend. Hmmm. No smoke so far, but I think I'll take JMo's suggestion and syringe a bit out. Can't wait to get back to cork, just received a dartflyscreen and want to put it on. Thanks