| Author | Message | ||
     Whodom |
I took my S3 on vacation to the north Georgia mountains last week and had a great time riding the twisties. On Thursday however, I noticed the smell of burning plastic as I returned to our cabin. When I got off the bike, I find that the air cleaner seal (foam rubber piece that seals the front of the "coffin" to the base) had sheared in half for about 4" along the bottom, and this piece was melting onto the exhaust header. It's not a biggie to replace, but my concern is this is the second time I've had to do it. I got the bike just over a year ago, and soon found that this seal had failed in just the same way and was held together with duct tape. When I replaced it, I noticed the "lip" on the air cleaner backplate was fairly sharp, so I rounded the edges with a pocket knife and sandpaper. I thought this had cured the problem, but evidently not. Anyone else ever have this problem? Any substitute for the stock seal that works better? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Yes, I'm aware the best fix would probably be to trash the whole thing and buy a nice carbon fiber unit from Al Lighton, but the budget won't support that right now. | ||
| Knickers |
I haven't had the seal totally fail yet, but mine is coming apart along the bottom so I have to be very careful when putting the breadbox back together. Its ready to go at any time. And a side note: I have a slightly used (500 mile) CF race air cleaner I can let go. Its been sitting in the box since I decided I couldn't live with the reduced knee clearance. PM if you're interested. Kurt | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Is your crank case vent set up stock? Check the bad seal for oil contamination... My bike seal went bad due to oil contamination of the seal, softening and breaking down the material. Maybe it's the oil from the vent and not the back plate causing the failure. I anticipate this shouldn't be a problem when I reassemble with XB rocker covers. Any other vent options outside the air box may resolve the problem... -Mike | ||
| Whodom |
Mike, Yea, my bike has the stock breather system and there's always an oil film in the air box. Sheez, you'd think they use something for the seal that was oil-resistant. Both times it's failed right at the bottom middle, which is the closest spot on the box to the headers. Maybe it's the combination of oil and heat that does it in. It just occurred to me, I had about 6" of seal material left over (you have to cut it to length) after I installed the new seal last year. If I had saved that, I could just splice it in to replace the deteriorated section. Oh well, I'll know next time. OTOH, the more I look at this new XB12X, maybe I'll be getting a new bike before another year is up anyway! | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Ha! That'll fix all your old school buell problems! Little more expensive than the intake upgrade option though... -Mike |
