oil level in a sp11

[jdunner24]

I just bought a sp11 i want to clean it up a little is it alright to drain the oil out and flush it with kerosene or diesel should i run it while the kero or diesel is in it? How high on the site glass should i fill the oil to?

[mapleack]

I've always run my sp22 at half way up the sight glass.

[markcasper]

The oil level should be 3/8" of an inch up in the site tube when its not running for the sp11. I would think if you're filling it half full of oil in that site tube, your not going to have a pump much longer?

In all reality I usually go just about an inch up into the site tube and have never had a problem.

As for diesel or kerosene, I have run diesel in them a few times when it got sap in them, ran for a short time and drained, but the pump failed anyway.

[maple flats]

According to the dealer, that site glass is indeed for oil level. You will see a little line in the glass for min and max levels. Now, this is the most important part. There are two types of reclaimer cans, The older type is filled thru the top, but filling the later type that way will make it so the pump won't work. The later type is identified by a tube with an elbow out from the very top of the bottom half. On the end is a slip off breather cap. Slide that off and add there. If by chance you fill the top it can easily be fixed. There is a plug on the bottom of the lower half. If you remove that plug you will actually drain the top half as there is an internal tube, going from that plug up thru the floor of the upper half. It drains only the top half. If that happened there should be no permanent damage, just the pump would not be able to push the oil out and you would get very little if any vacuum. I found this out the hard way, I topped both off, one worked one didn't. It seems I have 1 of each type.

[Bucket Head]

The oil sight level's are different between the rotary vane and piston pumps. The vane pumps have an actual glass tube and the piston pumps simply have a piece of clear tubing hose-clamped to the tee that has the drain plug attached, at the base of the crank case. There are no "marks" that I know of on the piston pump's oil tube.

As for cleaning the piston pumps out, I would'nt run them with diesel or kerosene. I would'nt run them at all with anything other than the proper oil in them. Take the time to separate the pump from the crank case and manually clean/scrape the many decades worth of sludge and buildup that is in the bottom of the case. That is the only safe way to remove all the sediment thats in there. Besides, I doubt just running them with diesel in them, even if it was safe, would clean out the crank case. A word of caution; DO NOT damage/ruin the crankshaft seal when you go to clean out the sludge. There are no replacement seals available from what I've been told. Just be carefull when separating and reassembling and it will be fine.