Can anyone tell me what this is....

[Vincey B]

The black nut to the right of the oil level window, ive checked in the manual but it doesnt say, the sump nut is underneath so its obviously not that, but im guessing they painted it black for a reason!

The bike is an ER5 2003 model.

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks

[phantomtek]

Undo it and find out

At a wild guess I would say an engine protection bar mount. Just a guess though.

[cagiva gezzer]

If it's the same height as the oil level is meant to be, i'd guess it's a plug that allows you to be sloppy when filling up your oil. i.e., pour it in the filler until it comes out of this hole. When it does come out you've got enough oil.
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"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[stinkwheel]

It is a blanking plug to allow a mechanic to screw in an adaptor for an oil pressure guage (see picture).

[phantomtek]

I know, hence the (which you conveniently left out)

[tonyyzf]

[quote=Can I also add that undoing a random bolt going into your lower crankcase to find out what it does is a REALLY stupid idea. What do you do if you find it is the bolt that holds the gear clusters together? (there is such a bolt on a honda C90). https://www.onceuponalife.com/forums/images/smilies/slap.gif Stupid boy![/quote]

[Vincey B]

I think the suggestion that it is an overspill for the oil is the most plausible, as I did have a little poke at it and its just a nut that comes off and oil leaks out so im guessing (and hoping) that this is what it does.

As you can see the oil window has completely clouded up, its been like this since I bought the bike, any idea how to fix it or what caused it?

Thanks for all your help.

[stinkwheel]

[phantomtek]

[Finglonga]

[Vincey B]

ooops missed the most important line in the post!

So lets say that someone did undo that nut and oil came out, would that indicate that there is too much oil in the engine? Or that people shouldnt undo things unless they know what they do....

[phantomtek]

Stinkwheels post!!!

[Stalk]

could it be the nut that retains the oil pressure relief valve? (stops your engine having too much oil pressure)
I once undid the wrong bolt and that was what it was, sifting my hands through the waste oil bucket to find the compolents to reassemble was not nice!

[Vincey B]

Sorry im not being very clear, now that we know its a plug for an oil pressure guage, if I wanted to undo it and plug in my oil pressure guage in and oil came out would that indicate that the engine had too much oil in?

[Guest]

No.

When they make an engine they need to put holes in it for the oil to travel round. Sometimes these holes only need to be in the middle of the engine, but it's very difficult to drill a hole starting halfway through a lump of metal.

So they drill them all the way through and then fit a bung into the bit of the hole that's not needed. A lucky aside of this is that it leaves a nice handy place to connect up an oil pressure gauge to check the pressure is ok. As said, if it also contains a pressure relief valve then you've got little springs and ball bearings in there that will fly out onto the floor of your work area - Ping Fuckit is the technical term for this.

It's nothing to do with the level. In some cases if you took the plug out you'd only get a drip of oil as most of it would have drained back into the sump.

But if you then started the engine the oil would be pumped round by the oil pump. Instead of being pushed down the narrow little holes it's supposed to go through it would see the nice big hole you've uncovered in the side of your engine, and liberally coat you, your tool box and the wall of your garage in Mr Castrol's finest.

Meanwhile, your engine is revving away without the thin film of oil between all the bits to stop them touching, quickly resulting in another 'my bike engine's making funny scraping noises' thread. try rubbing your hands together at 5000 times a minute to get some idea of the heat generated

[stinkwheel]

But as luck would have it, I am pretty sure the "pingshit" is located on the opposite side of the engine under a rubber cover.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.