| Author | Message | ||
     Tpoppa |
If the oil is overfilled on an XB, what problems could be caused? How 'overfilled' would it have to be, before it is a concern? | ||
| Cataract2 |
Probably would just spit more so into the airbox. Otherwise, I can't see much more happening. Unless you reeeeally overfilled it. | ||
| Ponytail |
You never want to run an engine that is overfilled with oil. It builds up pressure and you will start to blow seals. It's hard on the oil pump, and you can actually cause a zero oil pressure condition in the engine. You have crank case breathers for a reason. If you take away the crank case "breathing room" with oil, bad things happen. How much over-filled is too much? To be safe, drain some out, and then you don't have to worry about it. It's pretty easy to syphon oil out of these things from the top. Just do it, then there isn't a question. If it's only a half a quart or so and you've replaced the oil filter, start the bike up and run it for a minute or two and check the oil level again. Remember, the oil filter can hold about 1/2 quart, so your oil level in the oil tank will drop after you've run the bike for the first time after replacing the filter. | ||
| Surveyor |
What's the problem.....?... open the drain plug and let some out into a container. | ||
| Firewhirl |
1/4-1/2 qt is not a problem, do it all the time. No difference in the throttle body with the added oil. I would not go beyond 1/2 qt. Guess you can add 1 full qt and let's us know how it turns out.   | ||
| Tpoppa |
I changed my oil yesterday. I rode for about 25 minutes and checked it warm--it was about 3 mm over the top 'full ring' on the dipstick. I don't think that is enough to worry about, it just made me wonder 'how much is too much.' | ||
| Fullpower |
ponytail, i would like to describe an opposing view. went for a sunday ride with wife, she leading on her ducati monster, me keeping pace on XB12. headed out of town, we crested the hill, and i look over to the left, and see TWO ZTL brake disks pointing straight up. two buells are pulling synchronized low speed wheelies in the scenic overlook parking lot. i motioned wife to turn back, so i could check out the crew. so there's 4 bikes, video cam set up, the ARCTIC ATTACK stunt crew is shooting footage for their next video. we pull up and watch these guys ballet dancing on their bikes for an hour. after an extended low speed rear wheel dance, including several 180 degree turns, and even a few full parking lot NO-HANDED wheelies, a couple of riders came over to check out my chain drive XB set-up. we talked bikes,roads, mods, etc for a while. another bud joined the discuss, and asked one of the stunters if he had oil starvation problems. his response was " yeah we used to have the lifters start clattering pretty bad after a few minutes of running vertical, but now we just overfill the swingarm, fill it up all the way to the top. we fill it up hot, works just fine" | ||
| Firewhirl |
some facts some of you folks on badweb are forgetting. The XB has a dry sump system. I have seen alot of things said about having extra oil that would only apply to wet sump systems. Here are some quick facts on dry sump systems: In a wet sump, the oil pump sucks oil from the bottom of the oil pan through a tube, and then pumps it to the rest of the engine. In a dry sump, extra oil is stored in a tank outside the engine rather than in the oil pan. There are at least two oil pumps in a dry sump -- one pulls oil from the sump and sends it to the tank, and the other takes oil from the tank and sends it to lubricate the engine. The minimum amount of oil possible remains in the engine. Dry sump systems have several important advantages over wet sumps: Because a dry sump does not need to have an oil pan big enough to hold the oil under the engine, the main mass of the engine can be placed lower in the vehicle. This helps lower the center of gravity. The oil capacity of a dry sump can be as big as you want. The tank holding the oil can be placed anywhere on the vehicle. In a wet sump, turning, braking and acceleration can cause the oil to pool on one side of the engine. This sloshing can dip the crankshaft into the oil as it turns or uncover the pump's pick-up tube. Excess oil around the crankshaft in a wet sump can get on the shaft and cut horsepower. Some people claim improvements of as much as 15 horsepower by switching to a dry sump. The disadvantage of the dry sump is the increased weight, complexity and cost from the extra pump and the tank -- but that's a small price to pay for such big benefits! (Message edited by firewhirl on September 29, 2005) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Ummm... so where is the 2nd oil pump on an XB then? | ||
| Gowindward |
There are two impeller sets in the pump housing. #10 is the return pump, and #11 is the supply pump  | ||
| Tpoppa |
So...In a dry sump system, what is the risk to overfilling the oil tank? | ||
| Gowindward |
There is also a breather tube line that runs to the swing arm tank from the side of the crank case. I'm not sure of it's use????? I'm guessing that the unused volume in the oil tank allows some crank case breathing and over filling does not allow that to function completely and worst case blows oil out of the filler hole. (Message edited by gowindward on September 29, 2005) | ||
| Cataract2 |
Go, it gets rid of extra vapors. Anyways, with the discription about the dry sump system, I won't worry about overfilling anymore. Thanks to Fire for that one. | ||
| Chadhargis |
With a dry sump engine, it shouldn't be a big deal if you overfill it a bit. Now...let the oil get to low....... | ||
| Reepicheep |
Cool! Thanks for posting that! | ||
| Blake |
If you overfill and the oil level submerges the breather vent, it will cause oil to drain back down into the crankcase which upon startup can be problematic. Don't overfill your oil. It ain't a tough rule to follow. | ||
| Gowindward |
The internal tube on the right is the return oil line and the left tube is the breather line so Blake   | ||
| Hkwan |
Hmmm... very informative. Now, I have seen couple of XB'er including myself experiencing this - the oil level remains right at the Low line on the dip stick no matter how often I top up the oil to the top full line on the dip stick. I do check when the bike is hot. I know it doesn't burn any oil for sure. Also, if it does, the oil level won't just stay at the "low" line, it will continue to burn all the way to beyond the "low" level. I wonder what cause the oil to go from "full" to "low" and what is keeping the oil to stay at "low" and not go any further. | ||
| Blake |
That seems to be a not too uncommon scenario for all Buells, mine included. I thus keep the oil more towards the low mark which is where it ends up when I refill with the prescribed quantity after draining it. Possibly the dipsticks are not all that accurate and the excess is getting blown out the breather? Or? Heck, I dunno. | ||
| Blake |
Please post all future threads like this in the applicable Knowledge Vault topic (Lubrication). We'll be moving this one there soon. Thanks, Blake  172689 | ||
| Tpoppa |
Blake, If I post this topic in XBoard how many people see it? 100? 1000? More? I get alot of answers/opinions quickly. If I post this in the KV under Lubrication how many people see it? 10? Less? Looking in KV Lubrication, I see that only 3 threads have had any activity since 9/7. It seem that fewer people 'in the know' will even know the question is there. | ||
| Brad_buell |
I keep my oil toward the low mark, as well. I have the same problem. | ||
| Hkwan |
Well, oil at the "low" mark might not be a problem. I brought it up to see if everyone is seeing the same thing, that's all. | ||
| Fullpower |
i'll say it again, watched two guys riding wheelies for an hour, on two XB's , both filled to the top of the swingarm with oil, they paused long enough to do a few extended stoppies, and did some feet up circular burnouts too, but mostly rode around with their ZTL 5 feet in the air for an hour. they were trailing neither smoke nor oil. just LOTS of rubber. | ||
| Hkwan |
My concern is only how it got from "full" mark to the "low" mark and stop there and not go any lower everytime, that's all. | ||
| Mxer83 |
I find the oil level very finicky to check. seems I am either too high or on the low side of ok on the dipstick. any tricks to checking the level right?I have owned dozens of bikes and the xbs seems to be touchy on this ,any input appreciated | ||
| Cyclonecharlie |
Be consistent when and how you check it. It's not as bad on the XB's as the tuber's. Not all Buell's drain back at the same rate, So you need to check oil ASAP after stopping and on the side stand.......Charlie | ||
| Midknyte |
When I was a wee lass, I learned the hard way that you can't check the oil level on a lawnmower while it is running... But what about our bikes (the XB's)? Can we check the stick while it is still running & in a warm state? | ||
| Cyclonecharlie |
Your Buell and that old lawnmower still have alot in common,but if you wanna,have at it. Just have alot of rags handy....Charlie | ||
| Midknyte |
Nah, I'll take your word on it. | ||
| Blake |
Tpoppa, I flat out do not believe your characterization of the threads posted to the KV, especially sine the last couple weeks where we have been asking folks to please post tech and info type threads to the applicable KV topic. You see, if folks will cooperate all such topics will soon be showing up in the KV where then all interested parties will see them and respond. If you use the "New Messages" search feature to browse the board the new KV posts will show up just the same as for any other topic. Please help us get the place better organized and more useful for those seeking information. Is that really too much to ask? Is it? I don't think so. |
