Quick question about oil stain.

[Oldslow]

Sometimes I will get a few drops of oil out the bottom tube after a long ride. Is that indicative of anything?

[Scooter Bob]

Some say it's because the oil level is a bit on the high side of the glass.

 

But I get that anytime I pound the superslab all day long.

 

Just my , Scooter Bob

[eusa1]

drop your oil level to half sight glass or a little less.

your drips will dry up.

mike

[Marcarl]

YEP,,, it means that the tube is open and working,,,, and,,,,,,,,,, that you can see,,,,,, and,,,,,,, that there was oil somewhere before

[V7Goose]

To a great extent, that is completely normal. Two of those drain tubes connect to the air plenums above the carbs where the crankcase breather also vents. Over time, some of those oil fumes collect on the inside walls of the plenums and work their way down to the drain hoses. During long high-speed runs, there is a high amount of crankcase "breathing" going on, so a bit more oil residue from those tubes is not surprising. When I'm on the highway for several days, the tip of my kick stand always gets a bit grodey from the same thing.

 

If your oil level is above the sight window, this problem will be much worse because the extra splashing in the engine produces a lot more oil particles in the breather. Another thing to understand is that those drain hoses have check valves in them so they cannot suck dirty air, and those keep all the oil film in the hoses from completely draining. This simply means the drips can continue (slowly) for quite some time, even after the cause for the excess oil in the breather is fixed.

 

On a related note - the reason the #1 carburetor is always nasty and grodey with dirty oil film is because those air plenum darins were designed by a fool. When the bike is on the side stand, the drain is NOT the lowest point on the plenum! So after the bike is parked, any residual oil collected on the inside walls of the plenum works its way down and pools around the top of the #1 carburetor instead of going out the drain, and it eventually works its way out under that rubber boot and makes a mess of things.

Goose