Strange Oil Leak ?? Help !!

[Mark_H]

Help guys I have discovered a very strange oil leak and it has got me completely stumped.

Yesterday whilst out on a ride I noticed a pool of Engine Oil in my skidplate and as it was not too much I continued as normal, rode back home and then today decided to sort it out.

Upon starting the bike this morning I find Engine Oil is running down the front Frame member and collecting in the Skid Plate and quite a reasonable amount too - so I think there must be some kind of leak up in the tank area, possibly a pipe connection.

With plastics off and radiator moved out of the way I discover strange things are going on. The Oil is not coming out of the Oil Tank or any of its associated pipework, all are tight and the right side of the frame is dry, whereas the left side is oily.

There are traces of oil around the Air Filter housing and inspection reveals oil appears to have been coming out of the Airbox and running down the frame member. I suspect the crankcase breather is spewing oil into the box, but upon inspection it is quite clean and clear both ends, there is absolutely no sign of any oil in the breather hose, it is completely dry. I can feel the air flow when I run the engine and definitely no oil coming out.

Now the strange part, I notice that the Airbox drain and the short length of clear plastic hose has filled up with engine oil, but it is red in colour and brand new, as if it had never been in an engine. This pipe was most definitely clean and clear two days ago.

I am two oil changes and nearly 5000 km down the road with this bike, the last one being about 700 km ago. I believe Husky used the red stuff from new, but both my last changes have been using Castrol Edge which is golden coloured oil, definitely not red.

Inspection of the inside of the airbox in the immediate vicinity of the filter, close to breather entry reveals it is also covered in red coloured oil.
Problem is, the oil running down the frame was definitely the same brown gold colour as my engine oil is now, ie it came from the engine somehow.

Even stranger, the oil leak has now stopped. I ran the bike just as I had this morning, except with the radiator dropped out of the way so I can see what is going on, but there is now nothing happening.

Yesterdays run involved long downhill road sections with the throttle closed for over a minute at a time, I know this can lead to issues but my breather has no sign of oil in it whatsoever.

My bike has the Cannisterectomy but the Purge Valve and pipe to the throttle body remains in place, only the Cannister Pipework was removed.

So my issue is twofold...Where has the new red oil come from and secondly where was my engine oil leaking from ??

Over to you guys for help please ??

 

[Gibster]

That clear tube is the clean air side. Did you over oil your K&N air filter?

 

[Mark_H]

That clear tube is the clean air side. Did you over oil your K&N air filter?

No I didn't over oil anything, the K&N came slightly pre-oiled and I left it that way.
My question is how did the small tube suddenly become full of new red oil when the bike has not had any red oil in it for ages and how did the brown gold engine oil get up there if it didn't go via the breather tube which it definitely did not.

 

[hasenpfeffer]

I don't know about the red stuff. You sure it's oil? Maybe coolant?

The golden oil could be leaking from the oil screen that screws into the frame oil tank. The oil pipe connects to a fitting that actually screws into the frame on the left side. This fitting has been found loose and leaking in a few cases. Just need to sinch it up. The parts catalog shows the fitting and screen breakout with the oil pipe.

 

[DanD]

The red oil in the tube is most definitely K&N filter oil. Drain the tube. The filter has probably lost as much oil as it is going to. The oil problem should stop now that the excess oil has been sucked out.

 

[drzcharlie]

Blow back from the crankcase has saturated the crankcase filter, would be my guess. I had that happen to my bike and in my case it was from slightly overfilling the oil reservoir.

 

[Mark_H]

Blow back from the crankcase has saturated the crankcase filter, would be my guess. I had that happen to my bike and in my case it was from slightly overfilling the oil reservoir.

Where is the crankcase filter?

Further inspection of the Red Oil reveals that DanD is correct, it is thinner than engine oil and has come from the new K&N but strangely it did not 'leak' any more red oil when out of the bike and set on a piece of paper overnight just to see. So that 'red herring' is put to bed thanks.

 

[dmw_az]

That's why MAF-equipped cars have trouble with K&N filters. That oily residue gets all over the elements and causes them to run poorly.

 

[drzcharlie]

Where is the crankcase filter?

Further inspection of the Red Oil reveals that DanD is correct, it is thinner than engine oil and has come from the new K&N but strangely it did not 'leak' any more red oil when out of the bike and set on a piece of paper overnight just to see. So that 'red herring' is put to bed thanks.

It is under the air box lid, front right side of the bike. You will see a hose running into the air box in that area from the bottom. When I did the pod mod I installed a small paper filter near the old air box filter tray so that I can loosen the hose and clean the new crankcase filter.

Location of the new filter. I had to photo upside down so sorry about that.

 

[Mark_H]

It is under the air box lid, front right side of the bike. You will see a hose running into the air box in that area from the bottom. When I did the pod mod I installed a small paper filter near the old air box filter tray so that I can loosen the hose and clean the new crankcase filter.

Ok, this was my first guess but as I stated the breather hose running from the right hand side casing up to the air box has no sign of oil in it, totally dry at both ends.
Therefore the oil did not come from the crankcase breather, which is why I am so puzzled as to how it got up there in the first place.