My '01 Ultra with stage one kit is blowing oil out of the blow by vent into the air cleaner and dripping on all the pretty chrome. My Zuki 1500 didn't leak a drop in 5 years. There has to be a way to re-route the breather lines to clean her up.
Any Ideas? Thanks
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You shouldnt need to reroute the hose. If you overfill the oil it will vent out there or maybe you have another problem. Get a service manual if nobody here has a solution.
A well known problem on tube framed Buells like my X1, there are several ways to cure the problem, but it is well known that the worst thing to have inside the air filter is the dirty oil and air from the crankcase. Plus re-routing the pipes is known to be an easy way to boost power by 1-2 BHP.
Some of the cures...
Catch can.Mounted somewhere out of sight;
Bypass vents that join together the breathers allowing drainback..
Your '01 has head breathers, correct? (Ain't that up on the Twinkie motors.) You might have a problem with the umbrella valves being wasted. Something else to check on is your oil level. If it is too high, you'll have blow-by. I've heard of several guys dropping the oil level by 1/2 quart and curing the problem. I run my '87 Sloptail Evo that way and it spits less out the breather tube. My bike isn't a head breather, though. Somethin' else mentioned was to re-route the breather hose(s). I run mine through a CrankVent (on the bike when I bought it) and then onto the ground, just like in the bad ol' days.
__________________ Chrome sucks.
Barges are for chopping. Otherwise, they might as well be Gold Wings!
Ride it! Beat it! Break it! Fix it! Ride it some more!
I wished I could find my old copy of American Iron Magazine, but in march of 04 Donny Petersens article explained the causes of blow by and remidies. The basics of the article stated that the pressure of the pistons moving up cylinders creates a air and oil mixture that has to be vented. In theory, the oil should be seperated from the air before the air is allowed to escape through the breather, but HD is famous for not getting all oil out of the air. The result is that the oil that is in the air hits the breather, accumulates, and then starts to drip when the accumulation gets too much. There are a number of remidies including drilling extra air escape holes, but I wouldn't start to drill holes untill I personally knew someone who succesfully cured their problem.
That said, I've got an 01 Ultra, and started to have the same problems this year. First I started to carry a rag and wipe the inside of the breather every gas fill up. Later I velcroed a small sponge on the inside of the breather that collects the oil, and I clean it once a week or so. Not very sophisticated but it works for me.
As I said in the earlier post, I ain't all that up on Twinkie motors. Are all of 'em head breathers? If your Twinkie is a head breather, has a few miles on it, and starts blowing oil, definitely check into replacing the umbrella valves. They do wear out, not only from use, but from age as well.
__________________ Chrome sucks.
Barges are for chopping. Otherwise, they might as well be Gold Wings!
Ride it! Beat it! Break it! Fix it! Ride it some more!
Well I have an acceptable (for me) solution. I found a piece of flex pipe that is used to run water from an angle stop under a sink to the faucet. Just happened to have one in tool box and it was the right size and diameter. It is flexible and chromelike, The ribs on it kinda blend in with the black and shiney fins . I ran it from the hose end right down along the motor and under the frame. so far I have seen no drips on the floor but it is a little gunky along the frame rail ,so I know its working and doesn't look as hokey as a rubber hose.
Thanks to all who have replied.
Lar
I had oil blow by on my 02 Road King. The dealer installed the newest version of the Stage 1 kit and it fixed the problem. I had the older version of the Stage 1 kit installed when I purchased the bike new.
Hope this helps.....
Oil Blow by
Chrome sucks.
