Commandfo oil pump check

..Slackening one of the rocker feed banjo bolts and see if oil comes out?

For the return, place a drip tray under the bike and loosen the oil filter feed pipe and again, see if oil comes out on turning the engine over.

If OK, retighten and run it up.

The crank can take a while to fill though, so there can be some delay in returning oil.

Regards, 

George 

Noticed in the above.......

'as the return pipe outlets is below the level of the oil'

This does not sound right to me.  Has the plumbing been correctly connected???

Did you prime the engine oil feed pipe by cracking the joint at the junction block and waiting for oil to come out? The engine oil feed pipe on the junction block is the one on the right (nearest to you as your stood looking at the right side of the bike) As per Phills comment, how full is the oil tank? If there is so much oil in the tank that the return is covered, that is far too much oil or the return pipe in the tank is not correct/broken.

A photo of the inside of the neck of the oil tank will help clarify things there. The oil filter, if fitted, takes a minute or so to fill on start up, just kicking it over will take ages. Whizzing it over on the electric start is a waste as well. Confirm the tank is plumbed correctly, confirm the feed pipe is primed, You did fill the crank using a syringe through the rocker feed port didn't you? (procedure outlined in the manual) Once happy with all that, go for a start, when started, look for the oil return in the tank, as said it will take a minute or so with a dry filter.   

What model/year of a Commando is the bike?

If the engine is a late Mk3 why on earth was an alton starter fitted? With a Mk3 engine you are over half the way to fitting the full Mk3 set up for the electric start, and it would be considerably cheaper than fitting the Alton.  What exactly did Norman do? Was it only a Mk3 timing cover fitted? The Mk3 engine has a longer crankshaft (to accomodate the Mk3 starter system) Does the engine have a screwed plug in the timing side crankcase half in the 5 o'clock position? looking at the engine from the right. If it has, it is a Mk3 crankcase. The oil syringe trick won't work on the Mk3 timing case unless you fit the banjo bolt with an extension tube before you fit the timing cover (The extension tube holds the oil non return plunger open so oil can get to the crank) when you remove the extension tube/banjo bolt, the plunger returns and blocks the oil port. Your oil tank sounds like it is ok   What did you mean by 'as the return pipe outlets is below the level of the oil'    

Edit  Just realised that you might have a 750 mk3 engine and not an 850 electric start Mk3 from 1975 so ignore the starter comments above if so 

reduce the oil level in the tank until you can see the oil return pipe with the holes in it showing. Then it is obvious when oil starts returning. ( on a Model 50 engine with canister oil filter, it took several minutes before oil showed on first start up... worrying but fine in the end.)

Remove the oil filter cartridge.  If you end up with oil all over the floor, you'll know oil has already gone through the engine.

Remember that the timing cover nearly fills with oil, then the filter needs to fill so your level will drop when you check straight after it has just stopped running. If you leave the bike for a while the oil runs from the timing case to the sump. What many owner do is fill the oil tank, run the bike then notice the oil level has dropped, or check it the next day and top it up, this leads to over filling of the oil tank.  

When you next start the bike the oil in the sump that drained from the timing side will return to the tank, the timing side being empty will take a little time to fill to its working level, it takes a while for this to happen.