so i have a 09 nightster with no engine mods just aftermarket pipes. i put on one of these air cleaners. . . . . . and since ive put it on ive noticed smoke coming from the air cleaner when stopped or idling. its not an insane amount of smoke but noticeable. it smells like fuel. the bike is new with only 250 miles on it. the air cleaner wasnt a direct fit so i drilled new holes on the backing plate. am i destroying m bike? anyone know why this is going on ?

 

If you used a mounting bracket (stock or aftermarket) that still directs the crank case vents into the air cleaner then you are ok. Crank case ventilation is the constant recirculation of air through the crank case. It helps remove moisture which otherwise would cause sludge to form which is that nasty stuff that comes out of the drain when you change the oil. The crank case vent extends the life of the oil and engine. The set up is one of the oldest emission control devices and is supposed to burn off through the exhaust but with some of the less expensive air cleaners (like mine too) doesn't always get it all into the carb and instead of reburning it we are letting it in the air so the smoke you see coming out of this system is really moisture. It can smell like oil and gas both because the moisture passes areas that have both oil and gas.

 

thank you for the help mreed! ok im not certain i understand but i think so. this pic isnt my bike but a pic i fount online that will help. so where the red arrow is, is where i would need to run a rubber hose through the filter? or just run it back to the same opening on the other side of the AC?

 

oops here is the pic.....

 

no need to worry cuz it happened to me. had the same issue except when i started up my bike to warm it up, it stalled out on me and then i saw the puff of smoke coming out of my air cleaner and i got the short shots, fuel pak n the screaming eagle big breather kit installed. the guy at harley told me it was excess fuel gasses built up.......nothing to worry bout though

 

Yes, you definitely need to run a vent hose. It doesn't necessarily need to go to the carb, but it needs to be there to vent the crankcase. I have mine on my Road King running down right below the frame.

 

Yeah one like that will work. In that pic, the two shiney bolts just behind the air cleaner on either side is where your crank case vents are. As long as you don't block those two holes off completely in the heads you can do whatever you want to with it and be perfectly safe but small amounts of oil WILL naturally come out of those holes and since they are open holes in the motor you MUST put some kind of filter on them, be it your air cleaner (like in the pic) or individual filters or T them together with a single filter like the $20 air cleaner mount kits on ebay provide.

Alot of people run their oil low to keep it from misting out of the breather holes but there are so many ways in so many price levels to take care of it that I feel it would be insurance to direct the mist of oil that comes out where you want it to than to run your oil on the low mark all of the time (for obvious resaons).

 

thank you guys for all your help! i ordered a crank case breather kit so i should be able to cure the problem.

 

Hey guys I am new to this site and can't figure out how to post stuff or start a new thread and your problem sounds similar to mine.

The bike I have is a Yamaha Virago 750 1984.

I bought the bike about a month ago, rebuild the engine because the piston rings were bad and white smoke was coming out of the exhaust. Put in a bran new battery, new spark plugs (checked them they fire very well), new oil.

Now the bad the bike fires right up sometimes it takes 2-3 tries but it starts up. Sounds good throttle is good steady at 1.1-1.5 rpm the bike will idle at that no fluctuations in the rpms at all or I will ride it same thing works fine. The problem is after the engine warms up so anywhere from 10-15min it just looses the rpms and cuts out and then it will not start for 10-15min or if it does it runs for 2-3 seconds and it dies down again. so I thought it was the air filter took that off and run it without it it ran fine but it died again when it got warm but thats when I noticed that the white smoke was coming out of the frame where the air intake hose attaches to. Also I don't know if its common for the housing of the air intake to get hot?

 

You might have better luck with your issue here http://viragotech.com/