| Author | Message | ||
     Xbimmer |
'06 Uly, 60K, bought new 05/06, religiously and accurately maintained. Been having FI problems of late and decided to start my 60K servicing with an oil change yesterday just to accomplish something positive. Chose to use up the rest of my Syn3 that's been sitting in my oil box for two years and save the price of new Mobil 1 for now, since I'm over budget on the Uly lately. After doing the filter fill and swingarm fill with the first 2qts, fired it up, everything good. Go to top it off... OK, 2.5qts in there now, nothing on the stick. 2oz more, nothing. 2 more, still nothing. 4 more, just on the tip! I can look into the tank and see lots in there, and with the engine idling it flows well enough from the return pipe, I guess. Point is it's NEVER behaved like that. 2.5 qts would put it right halfway from the tip to the "add" mark on the stick when cold, which for my bike translates to 2-3X's up when hot. When running it shows full, shut it down and immediately it falls off the stick again. It's acting like some +'08's but this is NOT how my '06 has ever reacted. Any ideas out there, please? | ||
| Froggy |
Take it for a ride and check again. Perhaps you drained a bit more oil than normal? | ||
| Keith_mahoney |
Maybe there is a check valve in the line that returns oil to the swingarm tank and it has a piece of grit stuck in it. But yeah that's normal operation for my 08. I just check it running now. | ||
| Xbimmer |
Take it for a ride and check again. Already tried that. I also measured what I'd drained and it was right at 2.5qts. This was an immediate change and I've got no clue how or why... | ||
| Choyashi |
The oil level on my 08 is all over the scale! Only time I'm sure it has 2 and a half quarts is right after an oil and filter change. But then, I owned one of the infamous Bandit 1200 mystery oil eaters. Every day on the Bandit website, it was... "My dealer gave me new pistons and rings" or "My dealer won't admit there is a problem". As long as my ULY isn't pouring out clouds of blue smoke, I'll be happy to put a couple of ounces in every few days. (Message edited by choyashi on September 30, 2009) (Message edited by choyashi on September 30, 2009) | ||
| Xbimmer |
Thanks for the input guys, and I feel for those with problems with checking oil level on the +'08's, but once again my '06 has never had this occur. SOP for three years and 60K for 3-5K oil changes: 1. Warm it up. 2. Drain the swingarm. 3. Pull the filter. 4. Clean and inspect all the stuff. Learned about 10K ago to ensure the oil filter adapter is tight in the case, mine came out with the filter... 5. Pre-fill the filter and install, snug the drain plug with a new o-ring and sealant. 6. Fill with new oil as described above. So suddenly, with no diversion from routine, I can't fill the swingarm enough to read on the stick without putting in at least 3qts (by my guess). No external leaks, no smoke, WTH did my swingarm suddenly expand??? Gonna drain it again and check exactly how much I've filled, but something is telling me this might lead to something that might cost some bucks... I don't know why, but that's why I asked for advice here. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Try this: After you drain it, hit the starter button and see if you can pump the oil from the engine into the empty swing arm. More oil should start pumping from the engine oil line to the swing arm, because there's oil in the lines that never drains out during an oil change unless you crank that starter a few times. If you don't want the engine to start when you do this then you'll have to pull the fuel injection wire or maybe a fuse. If you don't see oil showing up then you got a problem. That would mean that oil isn't making a full circuit from the engine to the swing arm. Remember that if you pump all the oil out of the engine as outlined above, then when you go to start your engine following the oil change it will take some time for that oil pressure lite to go out, not just a couple of seconds but closer to 30 to 50 seconds. No problem if you are using synthetic oil all the time as it clings to the metal. And then it will probably take more than 2.5 quarts since normally you wouldn't pump the engine clean of oil during an oil change. Also be sure to pre-fill the oil filter completely before install and that will help. I did this procedure one time, probably 10,000 miles ago and it scared me that the oil light took awhile to go out when I started the engine. My bike runs like a top and doesn't use oil, so no worries. | ||
| Bartimus |
There is a check valve between the swingarm and the engine. This valve is a spring loaded ball, that when worn, will typically bleed oil back into the engine. That is why they tell you to check the oil level as soon as possible after you shut it off. If this check valve fails, as soon as you shut the bike off, the oil drains back into the engine. This is where your oil is going, back into the engine. I'm not sure where this check valve is located on the XB engines, but it shouldn't be hard to find. Look in the factory manual under lubrication... | ||
| Od_cleaver |
Xbimmer, The check valve (spring and ball) Bartimus mentioned is located behind the oil filter adapter. You said that the adapter came out with the oil filter once. Is the check valve still in place? Per the manual, a bad check valve would show up as low oil pressure. The manual doesn't say what a missing check valve would do. | ||
| Helibuell |
Soon after I got my Ulysses 2008, with less than 1,000 miles, the oil light came on. I immediately shut down the engine and pulled over. I looked in the swingarm, oil was pouring out like a tsunami! I was 500 feet from home. I started the engine, drove back home and called the dealer to come with a trailer and get it. According to the technician, an oil line to the swingarm somehow shrank and clogged completely. Apparently, I'm the only Buell owner to whom it ever happened.  Marc | ||
| Xbimmer |
The check valve should still be there unless it's worn or damaged, it's rubber or something like that. When the adapter came out I examined it closely and the rubber did have an impression in it from the contact with the adapter, so maybe it's gone bad. Or maybe something's stuck in it, although it's directly in the path of freshly filtered oil. Pressure would seem good since the light goes out immediately and there is oil flowing from the return pipe into the swingarm. I'll try some things this w/e and report back... Thanks all. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Helibuell, Maybe your bike was an April 1st build and they punked the bike with a heat shrink tube in place of the normal oil line. Never buy an April Fools Day build bike. | ||
| Jphish |
Xbimmer - My 08 has been like that from day 1. Appears to be one of the mysteries of Buelldom. But your 06' ? Why all of a sudden the change? Apparently some internal component shifted from where it was to where it is. I can never get a consistent reading on mine. So last oil change I took it for a 30 min ride to make sure it was at full operating temp and immediately dumped the oil & removed filter. Let it drain for 20 mins. I then preloaded the filter with 4oz and put in 76 more oz to hit the 2.5 qt mark. Fired up and rode for 30 mins - checked level within 10 sec of shut down. It's right at the 2nd XX. If I wait even 30 sec longer, it barely shows on dipstick. I figure the check valve allows just enough to leak by, to cause the erratic readings. The good news is: It only takes about 4 oz to go from XX, to the very bottom of the dipstick. So I don't bother/worry about oil level until it no longer registers on the stick at all. Never had to add more than 4 oz on an 800 mile day. 4 oz is only 5% of the crankcase capacity. It's an annoyance... but not proven to be a problem. Welcome to the 08' Uly club. | ||
| Jphish |
Xbimmer - just reread your post. Did you check it after you added the first 2.5 qts when it was HOT ? Mine, even if warm, will barely register on the stick, much less be @ the XX. Thats why I rode it for 30 mins to make sure it was at full operating temp, and fan came on at shut down. Even then you have to check it IMMEDIATLY. I know you're a pretty experienced, inaugural 06 year Uly owner, but sounds like you may have jumped into 08' 'issues' territory. Don't know about the 06's, but the 08's will puke anymore than 2oz over the 2.5 qts, right into the airbox. My stock airfilter morphed into an oil soaked K&N , when I filled it the first time to the dipstick "FULL" mark. AFGO with the Uly. j | ||
| Armymedic |
The only thing I miss about my V-strom is the nice little window to check the oil level. | ||
| Davo |
Xbimmer, Have you checked the primary/tranny oil level recently? | ||
| Xbimmer |
Did you check it after you added the first 2.5 qts when it was HOT ? Yeah, I let it idle for awhile until either the fan comes on or it comes on when I shut it off. Then I top it off to the 2XX's mark. My '06 has always been an oil puker, the most satisfactory level is the cold halfway-from-tip-to-add-mark level, which is where it sits when cold with 2.5qts. 2XX'x when hot. Today I was in there again to replace my ETS. I also pushed two 90deg barb fittings into the breather hoses and put two 3" pieces of hose on them pointing to the front, under the intake horn. Hopefully that will keep splooge off the AIS, until I decide about a catch can arrangement. | ||
| Xbimmer |
Have you checked the primary/tranny oil level recently? Tomorrow... hope I don't find what you're hinting at, although that's something I could handle easily enough. | ||
| Davo |
I don't think the oil is there but I would check just to make sure. My guess is that it might be in the crank case and the pump is not scavenging it out. I have had problems with thin oil in XR750 engines if I let the oil drain for several hours before a refill. Of course they do not have spin on filters. Did you fill the filter when you replaced the filter? | ||
| Xbimmer |
Well I drained all my oil yesterday and measured it back, and found out...   I screwed up, somehow... I only collected 2qts give or take. Dumped it all back in (after adding 4oz to a new filter) and added 12oz more and got a close to full stick reading, since the oil was still warm. Ran it and I'm back at 2XX as normal. I don't know how that could have happened since I initially emptied two new bottles and over half of a third, and I'm going to keep an eye on it anyway, but I goofed up somewhere I guess. Thanks to all who tried to help me out, next time I'll check things out a little better before whining.  |
