Oil sight cloudy looking?

Beaner242 wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

Beaner242 wrote: My nephew just mentioned riding in the rain. Which I did get caught in Monday night. For about a mile. Wasn't actually raing at the time but the roads were wet. How would it get into the case from rain though? Have Uni pods no air box.

What is the crank case breather hose connected to?

The breather tube off the case just has a small breather filter clamped to it. No hose running any where. I going to say it was from the rain the other night. It never occurred to me that it would make it into the oil. I was pretty wet by the time I hit the garage so water hitting my air filters and the crank case filter, must have been enough to get in there I guess.

Beaner242 wrote: yes its a wide open shot from the tire to the filter. ill either put a fender on one day, run a hose off the breather or just not ride in the rain at all LOL

Patton wrote:

Stazi wrote: Put the crank case vent on a longer hose and mount it up high under the seat somewhere to protect it from the rain etc.

Or route the longer hose to exit underneath the bike.

And toss the filter, which imo is useless -- like who other than the EPA folks care about whether air is being filtered as it exits the crankcase (which is the purpose of the vent).

Good Fortune!

Cynjut wrote: If you leave the bike on the center stand, any water that gets in will settle at the lowest point in the engine. if that's the clutch basket, the 'whipping' action of the clutch basket will make the oil there emulsify more than the other parts of the engine. Emulsified water/oil is sticky and tends to stay close to where it's been 'made' - regular oil won't mix with it readily.

Your description of how the oil looks sounds perfectly reasonable. Without a fender between the breather and the wheel, you are likely to pick up water and fling it into the crankcase breather. Since the breather 'puffs' (in, then out, then in, then out, then repeat) it will pull the water in, then most of the way out, then more in, then a little less out, etc. It doesn't take a lot of water to emulsify your oil - it could be as little as a few tablespoons, but it's still not good.

Adding a filter adds a barrier between your wheel and the vent, thereby reducing the amount of water that can enter the crankcase. It doesn't prevent it, it just keeps water from pouring into the crankcase. It will still get aspirated into the engine as it comes off the filter, though, so it's not a cure. Note that I'm not talking about 'riding in the rain' - every time you ride through a gutter with some water in it, you're going to throw water onto the back of the engine.

The suggestion that I endorse is to add a new hose and filter to the breather and pull the end up under the tank so that it's out of the "line of fire" of the wheel. Changing the orientation of the host and filter so that they are don't pick up direct water from the tire would also work.