| Author | Message | ||
     Dave_02_1200 |
Today I looked at the hose routing diagram and saw that the oil tank vent hose is routed under the bike and is attached to the timing cover. Why? What is the reason for that arrangement? Also, could oil tank pressure have anything to do with the "self leveling" that happens when I put in enough to touch the line on the dipstick. Just to see for myself, I have cut the breather line by the oil tank and rerouted it to a vented catch bottle. Tomorrow I plan to top up the oil and go for a nice long ride to see if the oil level changes. Lastly, what have you done with your oil tank vent? | ||
| Buellistic |
Dave: Looks like you are going to find out tomorrow ... Be sure to POST UP what you Discover ... Hope you have the engine at operating temperature when you top off the engine oil ... | ||
| Spiderman |
Think of it this way... The tops of your pistons have a way to displace air through the valves right. But what about under the pistons? if you didn't have the vent hose from the cam cover to the tank you would have a negative pressure restricting oil flow. The vent hose allows the built up air caused by the underside of the pistons a way to get 'behind' the oil. SO 1. Re-attach the Oil vent line back to stock. 2. Only top off your oil when the bike is warm... | ||
| Dave_02_1200 |
Well, here are my findings; 1. There is a fairly strong pulse of air/oil mist that comes out of the vent line from the timing cover. During my ride it threw out enough oil out of the hose to make quite a mess (1 -2 ounces estimated). 2. Oil also comes out the vent line from the oil tank. It filled my catch bottle twice in less than 15 miles. 3. There is oil dripping off the bottom of the bike (Probably just overspill from the aforementioned leaks. So far it seems that there might be two separate issues here: 1. venting the crankcases, 2. venting the oil tank. It does seem possible that the oil that went from the oil tank into the catch bottle that was attached to the vent fitting might have done so during braking when oil could have sloshed up to the level of the vent fitting and pushed out by the positive pressure in the oil tank resulting from the volume of oil being returned to the oil tank. Could there be a need for additional air volume in the oil tank to allow venting without spillage? As far as venting the timing cover, maybe a PCV valve on the case might relieve some of the pressure in the cases. So far I have many more questions than answers and I would appreciate any insights that might help me understand what is happening here. | ||
| Jramsey |
Timing plug is 3/8 NPT, Buellistic and others install a PCV and vent to a catch can. | ||
| Dave_02_1200 |
Well....I reconnected the breather but I put a clear hose between the oil tank and the opaque OEM vent hose that is still attached to the timing cover so I could see what was going on. Findings: With the motor running at idle there is a vacuum in the oil tank (verified with a piece of clear plastic wrap over the filler hole) With the motor running at 2500RPM or more, there is positive pressure in the oil tank. With the motor running, if I roll the bike forward and stop abruptly, the clear vent tube fills completely with oil so it seems I was correct about oil sloshing around during hard braking and spilling out the open vent. Looks like I will simply under-fill the oil tank and increase oil capacity by adding an oil cooler and a Dyna oil filter as others have done. Cool experiment. It confirms the sage advice and wisdom of the solutions recommended by Buellistic and others here. Thanks | ||
| Buellistic |
OIL SYSTEM Class 101: The OIL PUMP RETURNS more oil to the oil tank than it can sucks out ... The oil pressure in the oil tank helps feed the feed side to the engine ... The small pressure equalizer line from from the oil tank to the cam cavity will allow a little oil if over filled(there has to be a AIR SPACE), but not much and not very fast ... And as Jramsey says and you also can put a large PVC Valve breather in the cam cavity above the oil tank equalizer fitting for constant high RPM rev'ing ... If "i" missed anything, let me KNOW !!! (Message edited by buellistic on July 11, 2010) | ||
| Kalali |
I'm just wondering if there is anything folks like us (with Tubers) should do as a result of this learning. Personally I don't have any issues (that I know of) with the oil delivery system in my X1. Thanks. |
