Yes, guys, I ran the bike out of oil. I've posted about this in other places, and have been absent for quite some time, but now it's time for the full report. Installed the ZipTy Racing oil breather that Tinken speaks so highly of, and others as well. It's a great device. The only thing is, don't allow the breather hose to kink. I allowed mine to kink, unknowingly. Put too sharp a bend in the hose when re-installing after removing the spark plug. Then rode it on the freeway at high speed. Didn't know oil was blowing all over creation until I got to my exit, and saw smoke and boots all wet with oil. Too late. Damage done. I rode the bike some more, after adding more oil. It ran fine, but it smoked like mad. Took it up to Zip Ty after I tore down the top end. Video evidence of all of this on my You Tube channel. Here's a quick video: The bike is all back together now, but not after a $2,400 repair bill. You can't even get a new head for this bike, apparently. I had to get one that was from another bike that was "hardly" ridden, so they say. Whatever. It's all running in tip top shape now. Lesson learned. No more kinks in the hoses. No more sharp bends in the tubing. Funny thing is, I put that oil system on the bike hoping to prevent this sort of thing from happening. It's ironic, really. One stupid move, and the whole thing melts down. I coulda shoulda woulda. Whatever. Got to move forward. I hope this helps anyone else who is using or considering using the Zip Ty Racing oil breather system. Don't let your hose kink. Kinky hoses are NO GOOD.
Actually, the hose that kinked was the one that goes from the top of the head to the oil breather. Pressure build-up pushed oil into the airbox, which is the only place it could go. The it spewed from the airbox all over creation. Whatever. I'm over it. I should take a better video of this situation, and may, but after I calm down a little first. I'm really out of sorts all over again thinking about my stupid move. Okay, done. Thanks for viewing.
Here's another video of the two little cigar shaped oil strainers. They're full of metal and other bits from the top end, as I show in the video. I'm not going to worry about the bottom end. The repair guys didn't seem to think it would be a problem. What a pretty mess.
That sucks. I have a story that might make you feel better. A friend on mine had a 06 kx250f. Changed the oil didn't get the plug tight and lost all the oil on the trail. Sold under full disclosure for a loss and bought another of the same year cause he had so many parts. Supposed to be some pro circuit tricked out wonder with low hours and original tires. Brought bike home and it would jump out of gear on landings and couldn't find neutral. Bent shifting forks, broken gears, damaged drum yada yada,$1800 later has new tranny. Then his son buys new yz250f does the break in changed oil and put filter in backwards. We had a little ride the other day and several people rode it and it kept stalling. He took it back to the house and found the problem. Bike has less than 3hrs on it. He changed the oil 4 times in one day hoping it wasn't damaged. Oil was full of brass and metal all times. Moral of story. S#%+ happens to good people. Hope you enjoy riding it and never have any more problems!
This was very unfortunate. I believe what happened was when you replaced your spark plug, somehow the hose was pulled forward and kinked. This cut off pressure from the top of the head. Pressure then built up in your engine until strong enough to force oil up the drain back tube, through the recycle tank backwards and into the airbox. Must have been a huge smoke bomb... Heads are no longer available so I offered you my stock Te511 head (I usually keep my unmodded parts, but you needed it more than me). I use a TC head now. You have a modded crankshaft now with a Zipty engine which will outlast the standard engine.
Thanks Tinken! Back ordered (even for awhile) and no longer available, are slightly different.... I hope!
As an owner of euro bikes for a good 30 years now , all makes all models road a trail , the good the bad and the dangerous ..This has resulted in my having an OCD twitch that makes me check my boots for oil every 10 mins or so . A Ducati was the last bike where this paid off , it blew the central core out the oil pressure sensor .. Audi fuel rail sensor from a scrap yard got me home .. it didn't work as a sensor .. but it plugged the hole
Which one goes from the head to the breather? Doesn't the breather attach to the head and then you run the hose from the breather to the ZTR tank?
There's a diagram of this somewhere on this site. Pictures are better than words in this respect. But I'll try: Hoses route : 1. from head to top of breather bottle. 2. Then another hose from top of breather bottle to airbox inlet. 3. One more hose from bottom of breather bottle goes down to where the drain plug used to be in the crankcase. What Tinken said is what happened here: "I believe what happened was when you replaced your spark plug, somehow the hose was pulled forward and kinked. This cut off pressure from the top of the head. Pressure then built up in your engine until strong enough to force oil up the drain back tube, through the recycle tank backwards and into the airbox. "
My problem happened in the first 5 minutes of my ride. But now I have that same OCD tick... head is always looking down at boots for second to see if any issues... don't crash whilst looking down....
Did they crack the case? I don't see evidence of that. Did they mod the crankshaft? Danny didn't say they did, and I believe he said they never opened the case. I hope I'm wrong here, and that they actually did work on the crank as well. I know the oil filters were never removed, because they were full of shavings from the initial injury. I cleaned them all and replaced oil. Runs great, by the way.
Yea, I'd like to know this too. I'm lucky Tinken had an extra one about. I was almost 3 months of waiting anyway to get it fixed. I'm still glad I have this bike, because it's very exotic compared to Japanese bikes.
Oh shit. I might look into some braided lines or something. This system seems very fragile. I wonder if there is a way to put a blow-off valve on the original breather outlet (the one we cap off when we do the ZTR kit)?
Braided lines would be awesome. If I'd had those, this problem would not have ever happened, as those lines pretty much won't fold back on themselves causing a kink. If you leave a big enough loop in the rubber hoses, they won't kink, either. But braided are pretty much dummy proof, which is a good thing. Would be quite a bit more expensive, but not $2,500 more expensive.
