What is a "wet-sump" motor?

Question

I'm currently having my father's 1965 Honda CL77 Scrambler being restored by a restoration specialist. I don't know much about motorcycles and I'm learning as I go. One of the restoration guides I have for this bike says it is a wet-sump engine. What does that mean, and is this technology common in just older bikes or modern bikes as well?

Answer 1

In english, that means you're putting your oil straight into the motor (like a lawnmower engine) instead of having an oil tank that the oil is pumped or gravity fed from.

Answer 2

It just mean the engine oil is stored at the bottom of the engine, as in a lawn mower. Some bikes have wet sumps and some have a dry sump. A dry sump means the oil is stored in a detached compartment , not in the engine.

Answer 3

There are 2 ways to hold engine oil a "dry sump" and a "wet sump".

A dry sump holds the oil in a container that isn't attached to the engine and utilizes a pump that is powered by the engine to pressurize the oil thru the engine. The advantage is the internal engine parts like the crankshaft doesn't slosh around in the oil as it is immediately collected and returned to the tank, and oil is more closely controlled and cornering loads don't impact the pumps ability to provide a constant supply of pressurized oil to the engine. The downside to this system is they are expensive and utilize more parts that when they have a problem it typically means a large leak and in some cases complete loss of oil pressure resulting in nearly total engine failure.

A wet sump typically is a oil pan at the bottom of the engine. Within the oil pan is a mechanical pump that runs off of the engine and it provides the pressurized oil thru the engine. As all of your moving parts receives this oil, the oil drains back to the oil pan typically via gravity thru drain holes. Because the oil is draining down it tends to be whacked by all of the moving parts of the engine, this tends to place drag on the engine sapping power and foams the oil. In addition during high cornering loads the oil in the oil pan can be pushed to the side of the pan and/or engine block uncovering the oil pump pickup resulting low oil or no oil pressure to the moving parts.....very bad and expensive. The positive side of a wet sump is they are simple and cheap, oil pans can have baffles welded into them to help hold the oil in place during cornering and away from moving parts.

Answer 4

Basically, a wet sump engine is one that the motor oil is stored in the engine case, vs. a dry sump that has a separate oil tank.

Answer 5

A wet sump is a lubricating oil management design for four-stroke piston internal combustion engines which uses a built-in reservoir for oil, as opposed to an external or secondary reservoir used in a dry sump design.

Answer 6

Wet Sump: Oil is stored in the crank case, like in 99% of cars

Dry Sump: Oil is stored in an external resivoir. Buells are dry sump, and the oil is stored in the swing arm (believe it or not)

Answer 7

best buddy, Are you a similar individual in charge for all those warning labels on each and every thing too .... do no longer positioned sharp bring about eye .... do no longer run with scissors ...... happy to confirm your avitar is finding properly .....