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Roderick
Posted on Sunday, September 15, 2013 - 08:38 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

I have an oil catch can on my S1 and all these times the most I ever drained out of it is a few drops of oily water after a few months of nearly daily runs, for work and all else.

However, today the bike sputtered a few times and I thought it was just bad throttle control on my part. Then it ran smooth as normal until home. I was suspicious anyway so while it was idling, I listened and felt for anything unusual. Nothing. Then I drained the can and got a few seconds worth of tan-ish color frothy/foamy liquid and faintly smelled of fuel and oil.

I got caught in the rain a couple times last few days going to/from work. I have a Force intake. Could this frothy/foamy liquid came from the rain via the intake and the can's own exposed filter? I checked/drained this can once a month and the most I ever seen is just fingertips drops of oily water. Now all of a sudden...

Roderick
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Natexlh1000
Posted on Monday, September 16, 2013 - 07:29 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Yeah probably just the rain.
(Or you have a coolant leak!)
LOL
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Upthemaiden
Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - 02:36 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

I don't know why water wouldn't get passed through the engine with the gas/air. The only way for it to go from the filter into the oil is if it leaked into the cylinder after you shut the bike off and it got down past the piston rings, or if the piston rings/valves are bad and it's leaking out while the engine is running. I'd double check to make sure all of your oil isn't turning that color, in which case something is leaking in(but if you've got an air cooled motor you obviously don't need to worry about a coolant leak.

My yz426 currently spits out a good bit of that same tan liquid after every ride and from what I've gather from researching online it's usually a bad piston ring that causes pressure to leak past the pistons and blows extra oil up around the camshafts, and it ends up leaking out of the breather, so even without water getting in the motor it it still ends up coming out a slightly different color than normal oil.

Keep an eye on it(and your oil level) to see if it's still doing it or if it was an isolated incident. If it is still doing it, maybe try separating the breather hoses so you have one hose per cylinder to see if it's only one cylinder doing it or both. If it's the problem I'm having on my YZ I'd assume the extra pressure from one bad piston ring would still blow oil up through both breather hoses, but it's still somewhere to start.

Hopefully someone who knows more about the Buell top ends can chime in, I've fortunately never had to pull one apart, but in my experiences I'm not sure how a little bit of water in the filter could get into your oil while the bike is running, I would think it would just screw with your air/fuel mixture and make the bike stumble a bit, but if it runs perfectly fine now that the filter is dry and the rest of your oil is clean, you might be fine.
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Preybird1
Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - 05:51 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

That sounds normal! And if it's raining it will condensate more than usual. But i have gotten a little out of mine to a few ounces of that same colored liquid. If you have Xb rocker-box kit on the bike you will see more liquid as the path to the catch can is a whole lot easier to flow through. With the umbrella valves in place it only breaths a little and it is meant to stop the oil from going out the umbrella valves. This is all normal from what i have seen over the years with my X1. And on really hot days you can even see an oily vapor coming off the catch can vent filter! it depends on how hard you race the motor also. If it just cruising it will just be a little fluid. If your at 80% rpm you will see substantially more liquids. but as long as the catch can is not full it won't cause run-ability issues. I was surprised that the original design didn't have a pcv valve installed like the xb set up is.
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Roderick
Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - 06:52 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

The rain caught me right before I left work when the bike was parked, then while on the way home, and a couple times over the work week. The catch can was not full when I drained it and saw all that foamy liquid. There was about a second's worth of a stream, then it was just drip...drip...drip...for a few more seconds.

No rain yesterday and I ran nearly 100 miles around town, stop and go, then freeway, and nothing happened. I topped off the oil a bit, no more than the usual, and before I added, the oil in the main tank looks perfectly normal. Hopefully, it was just a one-time event and I can write this off as a learning event about rain and bikes.

Roderick
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Buellrobot
Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 02:21 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

I was a little concerned by the color of my caught "oil" – it's sometimes very frothy/tan fluid. Seems like some gasoline or something might be spraying off the header and mixing in? Or could it be just water from the forcewinder? (I do ride in rain, but haven't correlated this behavior w/ rain, per se)



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Kilroy
Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 05:27 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

thats what it looks like - mix of oil, water and air all shaken together. Hence why we also call it "splooge"
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Steveford
Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 05:42 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Cooler temperatures will increase the splooge production as well.
It's useful for filling ballons with to throw at texting car drivers.
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Roderick
Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 05:46 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Did not have THAT much...But the color was the same.

Roderick
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Natexlh1000
Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 08:09 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Bear in mind that even if there was no rain and no humidity in the intake air, water is still a byproduct of burning a hydrocarbon.
That baby snot will always be horked out, just less of it.
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Gianni312
Posted on Friday, September 20, 2013 - 07:47 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

How much splooge is considered normal? I recently had entire top end redone ( pistons, rings, seals, valves, valve guides). After 120 miles of highway riding never going above 4k rpm. I have about just as much as Buellrobot. Is that normal or is there something wrong? Everyone just says its normal around here but I have a hard time believing it.
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Rick_a
Posted on Friday, September 20, 2013 - 09:23 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Depends on the RPM and atmospheric conditions. Lots of sustained high rpm use and high humidity equals lots of splooge. Low RPM in town cruising and dry conditions and there is very little.
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Gianni312
Posted on Friday, September 20, 2013 - 09:28 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

OK thanks.
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Rick_a
Posted on Saturday, September 21, 2013 - 10:48 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

One more thing...if the bike isn't brought up to temp often (short rides), the first time it gets fully up to temp it'll expel it all at once.
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