White Oil? Oil in Filter? My Solution

[stevethediverted]

Like many of us I'd been suffering with water in my oil turning it white. My air filter finally blocked, saturated with oil and the bike refused to do over 3500 revs on my way home from work.
Solution. After talking with my local bike mechanic I tried the following.
1. I blocked off the rockerbox oil-breather completely. As there is a crankcase breather connected to the top by the oilways this should not create problems. This eliminates oil into the airbox.

2. I diverted the crankcase breather, with a new hose, up and under the seat and bought a small crankcase breather filter from e-bay. Less than £7 inc p&p. This fits snuggly under one of the crossmembers under the seat. Diverting the crankcase breather stops condensed water flowing down from the air box into the crankcase. I now get a nice puddle of water under the bike via the airbox drain tube.

3. I sealed off both oil breather inlets to the airbox and fitted a new K&N airfilter.

I've now done about 200 miles as a test on both town roads and motorway with no ill effects. The bike is running smoothly with a smidgen of extra power, no oil loss yet. The oil in the level window is clean despite the deluge of drought we've been enjoying lately.
I will stress that this is experimental at the moment, but does appear to have solved the oil problems that I was suffering with.
Steve R

[cam7777]

I have no doubt that you have done the right thing.

I am sure your engine will be fine now

[CD]

A common source of water in oil is the clutch mechanism oil seal and/or lots of short runs.

TBH, I would want to know how water is getting into the airbox.

[Sean]

Jul 25, 2012 9:54:02 GMT CD said:

A common source of water in oil is the clutch mechanism oil seal and/or lots of short runs.

TBH, I would want to know how water is getting into the airbox.

The airbox gets hot from below and after a run condensation forms in the inlet tube which drips down and collects in the airfilter.

When you start it from cold it pulls through into the airbox and collects there.

6 weeks of very wet weather and your airbox could get soaking without a bit of TLC...

plus sucking up a bit of engine oil with a blocked up crank case breather and the water tends to hang a round longer.

keep it clear and all should be well.

[CD]

I used my 600 in some serious wet weather, snow and ice down in South Wales**. I never had an oil emulsion problem, though I did mostly long runs and the odd shopping trip.

** It was flippin cold that winter!!!

[showaddydadito]

Long runs boil the water out of the oil, and for long enough for most of the steam to escape via breather pipes.

If the occurence of emulsion is not so much so often that you feel the need to cure at source, you can just relieve the symptoms if you are able to park the bike undercover. When you come home with the engine hot take out the oil filler plug. This allows the hot water to evaporate out of the system.

In a Nanny state I would add "Remember to replace the plug before the next journey", but we're dealing with grown-ups here, so I won't.

[stevethediverted]

Thanks for all your comments guys.
I use this bike for my daily run to and from work in all weathers except real sub-zero temperatures. A fair weather rider! This makes 38 miles a day on both town roads and motorway.
Luckily I live on the coast so don't get get the extremes of Wales but do get plenty of rain, wind and sometimes sun!
I'm pleased to say that since posting "my solution" I've now done over 1000 miles with this set up and there have been no problems or worries with it. My oil loss today amounts to about 2mm in the sight glass with no top ups whereas before I was topping up twice a week.
Overall I'd say that I've solved the problem and although I'm still watching out for trouble I think that anybody else suffering with emulsifying or blocked filters might try this.
Happy riding.
Steve R

[CD]

Undo the clutch cable at the clutch end and check the operating shaft for bearing slack. It runs on needle rollers that always load the same few rollers over the same short area of bearing surface so they soon wear out and any slack soon ruins the oil seal. There shouldnt be any free play.