After sitting in my garage for 2 months I went to start my 'dale.
It wouldn't turn over. Come to find out the cylinder had partially
filled with motor oil, causing it to hydrolock. How could the oil
have gotten in there? Valve guide seals? Anyone ever heard of this
happening? It was running great when I parked it.

--Lee

 

I've heard if its turned up on it's back end it will do that?

 

Well anyone that knows anything about engines knows that is not possible. If the guides were bad you could get some oil in the cyl but not enough to stop it from starting. The only way to get that much in the cyl is to dump it through the airbox. It just is not possible.

 

The cylinder can fill with oil. I have seen it come in the shop here once.I also had a customer call me about
this happening. The check ball at the inlet of the oil pump is what keeps the oil in the frame from draining
down into the crankcase when the engine is shut off.The check valve has something under it or is bad its
self letting the oil from the frame fill the crankcase.when this happens the case gets full and oil goes past
the rings and on up to the top of the piston.Hydra lock it wont turn over.

 

Guru,
Thank you for the information. That makes sense. I'll check into it.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]hey cannibal,

Tell southbay moto and the other people it's happened to its not possible?

 

had this oil filled clyinder problem just this week.In the past I've had a small amount of oil get in the chamber and in the pipe which led to a lot of smoke when I started the machine but it cleared up and didn't return for several weeks.This time it was locked up tight.Lucky for me I was talking to a racer friend who says he stands his on it's ***,rotates the engine backwards,and lets the oil run out the pipe.He then lets it down ,starts it,lets it burn out the oil,then goes racing, and does very well at it!He says he thinks it's seals,I'd like to think it was that check ball idea but I can't locate that part in the Cannondale parts book I have.........Anyone able to locate that or offer any more thoughts? By the way,I chose to pull yet another spark plug just to make sure thats what was the problem and cranked out the oil that way.I will try his method if I'm caught away from home "locked up"

 

I think the valve is in the oil pump with the filter housing on it.You could probably install a shutoff valve at the return line(back of motor the one that is so hard to change filter)just have to be sure to turn it back on!

 

page 98 engine service manual,check ball,two check *****(of course!)......that might be easier to fix than going into that return line you mentioned at the rear of the engine,just by the way.touching the bottom of that header pipe that likes to get red hot and worry me sometimes.thanks guys for the quick comeback with ideas...just another plus you get from the Cannondale family.

 

Started engine up several times during the week and had no smoke or oil,fine.....This morning,(Saturday)thought I'd warm her up and check the oil etc. in preparation for tomorrow's pokerrun.She was packed full of oil again and took two spark plug changes to clear it up.I'll always have this in the back of my mind till I pull the engine next week for stud,valve cover and motor mount updates.Anybody do anymore research on this problem?And did you get good results?