Oil leak from airbox

[voodoo_chile]

I replaced the left-hand side engine cover on my 2003 Triple a couple days ago and the job seemed to go pretty easy. However, when I took off all the bolts there was some residual oil in there. Is that normal?

Anyway, today I took it out for a couple short rides and another longer one. The short rides I didn't see any leaks, but I had to stop after a few miles of my long ride because the exhaust seemed really white and I could see oil leaking from what seems to be the airbox.

I've read a few posts that a said there could be a bad seal near the alternator. Is that my problem or is there some other explanation for the oil in the engine case near the alternator and the oil from the airbox? Could I have done something wrong when I replaced the engine cover?

Thanks,
Matt

[mjoolnar]

I know this sounds simple, but check the oil level. If there is too much oil, it will definitely be pushed into the air box

[voodoo_chile]

I took another look at it today. The oil level seems fine - if anything it's low. I haven't added oil to the bike in several months.

I found something else odd. The oil was leaking from a burst in the breather hose and not the hose itself. When I took the hose off, I noticed there was a plug in the hose. Why is there a plug in a hose that is supposed to drain the airbox?

This also may be why I haven't seen any leaks to this point. Whatever was going in in there was being blocked by that plug. I must have pushed it just hard enough yesterday to crack the hose.

Any more ideas, thoughts?

Matt

[voodoo_chile]

One more thing...I removed the plug from the airbox hose and started the bike. It ran with the white smoke for about 2 minutes with no oil leaking from the hose. After the smoke stopped, I figured it had ran off all the oil, but then some started to leak from the hose again.

I've read some other forums and this apparently is pretty normal if you get oil in the airbox, but I'm concerned that something got messed up when I replaced the left-hand engine cover. There seems to be a fair amount of oil still coming out. I used a new seal between the engine and cover. Is there another seal I should have replaced too?

[voodoo_chile]

For anyone following my saga, I think I made some progress. I took the tank off and cleaned the airbox out. I was able to start the bike up and run it for about 5 minutes and only one drop came from the hose. I think when my bike was dropped a couple weeks ago (the reason I changed the alternator cover) it must have sucked oil from the crankcase into the airbox. Anyway, I need to take it out for a spin to double-check, but I think this may be solved.

However, nothing ever goes as planned. I ran into an issue when I took off the fuel lines and remove the tank. The supposed self-closing valves on the hoses did not seal. I looked it up and apparently there is a recall on the hose valves. I will take it in when it's convienient.

Since I still don't have the issue totally licked, I would apprciate any input others have.

[SprintRide]

There should also be a seal in the center of the Stator cover for the cetrifugal breather system, if it's not there the engine will pump oil in the airbox at moderate rpm's.

[miker]

Hey Voodoo, in case you haven't discovered what has happened yet.

When the bike goes over on it's side, the oil from the sump gets up into the airbox, then when you start it, it gets into the engine and makes all the smoke.

Mine fell over on soft grass, because I was too dumbass to put a chock under the stand. It took a ride of almost 20 minutes to clear it. Be worth checking the compression though. Sometimes you can get a hydraulic effect which bends a valve, very rare unless you revved the bejesus out if it when it first happened.

Mick

[voodoo_chile]

I'll take the bike out tonight to make sure I can get on it without further leaks. My dealer sent me the engine cover and a new gasket for the perimeter of the cover, but not any other gasket for the breather. From the way my old engine cover looks, it’s built into the stator side already. Hopefully I don’t have to remove this cover again since I probably will have to replace that perimeter gasket once more.

[mjoolnar]

It will definitely take awhile to get all the oil out of the intake system. Keep cleaning the air filter(that is soaking up excess oil off the air filter). Although it sounds like you already have most of the oil out of the system. Good Luck