Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Oily Mess

I put the Freak Kit on a while back including the pod filters. The tube that used to go from the left side of the engine to the airbox now goes to a little filter to vent the crankcase. I'm wondering, does everyone with the freak kit get that constant low level oil leak? I'm thinking of just putting a drain tube down where the airbox used to drain to let it drip straight to the ground rather than on the engine.

Sounds like excess piston blow by into the crankcase? I would be getting on top of that, the cause that is. It's common when doing a valve freshen on an old engine, the blow by goes in the opposite direction (leaking valve seals) with new piston rings and old tired valves. A comprehensive cylinder pressure test will reveal or dispel your worries and you can do it yourself.

I deal with it as well. I also used to get a little residue in the bottom of my airbox, so I don't really worry about with the crankcase breather hose. I don't always have the small mess to clean up, depends how hard I ride that day. I did used to get the mess more frequently when I had the hose angled down somewhat. Now I have the hose even to the top of the motor, maybe even angled up a little,and I still get the mess, but very minor and only sometimes. Ryk's advice is solid. My bike has 55,000 miles, and has never had a valve adjustment, which could have bearing on my blow-by issues. But nominal blow-by is common.

I'm also hard on my bike. You can't help but want to be a little hooligan, because there so much fun to ride when there tuned right. So, considering that I test the rev limiter out on a fairly regular basis, I consider the blow-by to be normal.

So I'm dealing with this right now myself. I have a breather filter coming up under the seat and for the past couple years, it's been slowly saturating the filter and the it drips down onto the swingarm and exhaust and makes a mess. I thought I would fix it by drilling a few small holes (like 3/16") in the tube inside the clutch cover. It did not help. Now I have a new centrifugal breather and the seal that goes into the aluminum tube and I plan on doing the replacement work on Saturday. Apparently, that seal that goes in the aluminum tube will wear out and oil will leak in around it and push up the tube and out. They also redesigned the mating tube from the centrifugal breather and the breather tube so it makes mating with the seal easier. I guess it was what, like 2005 or so when they got rid of the centrifugal style breather and went to the labyrinth style breather that is made into the lower half of the case. Anyway, long story short, the seal is probably getting worn out inside there, Larry and should be replaced. Especially with those miles. The breather itself is likely still good, but like I said, slightly different replacement part compared to the original. Cost for breather, seal, and clutch cover gasket was about 95 bucks.

get a longer hose a couple zip ties and an elbow & you have a free chain luber.

The breather tube on my antiques runs out to the end of the rear fender,well later models anyway. The older ones it goes on the chain.