Oil in the airbox

[BigyellowGS]

Well.. went out for the first proper ride on the bizta last night. Carbs were a bit out of sync.. in fact since fitting the 2 into 1 system I cant seem to get a good smooth idle and the l/h pot always seems to be rattley (valve clearences are spot on) .. But I figured it was smooth enough at speed so I planned to beg some expertise/guidence at the wee-kend.

BUT.. got home this evening and went out to the garage to give the bike a wash (covered in mud after a couple of lanes yesterday) and found a small patch of oil on the ground just behind the gearbox... hmm.. After investigation it had come from the airbox.
Upon lifting the filter out it had a big oil splat accross the middle and there was 1/2cm of oil in the bottom of the airbox!
Now.. I checked and rechecked the oil level after refilling it.. and it was just on max... it's now about 1/2 way between max/min so it's not ovefull..

Any thoughts what it could be.. and please dont rule out the obvious.. I've been known to have really stupid moments!

If I cant sort it tomorrow afternoon I'm likely to have to wave goodbye to the planned saunter to devon...

 

[John Armstrong]

Breather should vent into the airbox, unless it's been modified AFAIK.

 

[BigyellowGS]

The breather does vent into the airbox.. But it shouldn't be throwing out that much oil.. unless overfull or somethings wrong surely?

 

[John Armstrong]

The breather does vent into the airbox.. But it shouldn't be throwing out that much oil.. unless overfull or somethings wrong surely?

Did the oil look clean or like mayonaise?

 

[BigyellowGS]

the oil was completely clean...

 

[fayeslane]

Check the bolt that holds the lower air cleaner case to the engine. Came out on my R100RS and drowned the paper aircleaner element with oil. Yours may be loose.

 

[BigyellowGS]

fayeslane - Check the bolt that holds the lower air cleaner case to the engine. Came out on my R100RS and drowned the paper aircleaner element with oil. Yours may be loose.

Thanks.. you just hit the nail on the head.. bolt was indeed loose (must have forgotten to tighten it up when I put the airbox back on - see told you I can have stupid moments). So it was gearbox oil in the airbox! which in turn was trickling down the air intakes and clogging up the carbs I guess.. aggrivating the balance issue!
So.. guess what I'm doing tomorrow..

Happy days!

 

[Welshman]

Thanks.. you just hit the nail on the head.. bolt was indeed loose (must have forgotten to tighten it up when I put the airbox back on - see told you I can have stupid moments). So it was gearbox oil in the airbox! which in turn was trickling down the air intakes and clogging up the carbs I guess.. aggrivating the balance issue!
So.. guess what I'm doing tomorrow..

Happy days!

Where is this bolt????

 

[Padmei]

Where is this bolt????

Take the airfilter out & look at the bottom of the airbox. It is the big shiny (hopefully) bolthead sitting on the bottom of the airbox.

 

[BigyellowGS]

There is a bolt that goes directly down in the middle of the airbox bottom that secures the box to the gearbox below.. The hole it screws into actually goes directly though to the gearbox so oil can come up through it.
Although whilst at the wee-kend another issue was spotted on my bike.. The little bolt that holds the speedo cable/earth strap to the engine should be vented (ie have a hole through it) mine didn't.. which probably explained why it was pushing oil out of any other available exit!

J

 

[madmike999]

cool thanks for the heads up , have oil dripping on my left foot, from the pipes running down the airbox to the carbs, will check it out