SuzukiSavage.com - Mystery substance in my air box drain

stewmills

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Mystery substance in my air box drain
10/29/14 at 20:50:42

Facts:
- Owned my bike for 2.5 years.
- Purchased with 400 miles, now has ~4000 miles
- Have changed oil about 3 times, recently a couple of months ago
- Stock petcock
- Never had flooding issues or sudden increase in oil volume in engine
- Changed the air filter a couple of months ago and it was pretty clean
- Occasionally washed it with the water hose
- Never drained the airbox drain until today

So when I did drain it, a few table spoons of what appeared to be oil came out. No smell of gasoline whatsoever. Is this to be expected after 2.5 or more years of not draining it and it's just goo that's built up in there? Never had and am not having any issues with the bike, just making sure there's nothing else I need to be checking.

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28760 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #1 - 10/29/14 at 21:15:52 perfectly normal. but you should drain it every oil change.
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Kris01 Serious Thumper Offline Eat, sleep, RIDE! Posts: 3767 Tennessee Gender:	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #2 - 10/29/14 at 21:31:55 The engine does tend to puke oil if you ride around 60-65+ mph. It's normal and just another quirk of this low tech engine.
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stewmills Serious Thumper Offline Imagination is more important than knowledge Posts: 2627 Auburn, AL Gender:	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #3 - 10/30/14 at 06:16:18 Thanks folks! Thought it was okay from reading other posts touching on the subject, just wanted to make sure. It'll be added to my 'check routinely' list.
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Spamy Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 224	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #4 - 10/30/14 at 07:47:25 Many air filters are oiled as well. And although they may not appear to have much oil on them, they will drip some oil.
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HondaLavis Senior Member Offline It's nothing personal; the other one came first. Posts: 451 Plano, TX	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #5 - 10/30/14 at 10:33:50 While the latter is true, the vast majority of your oil is coming from the crankcase breather tube. It's routed towards the airbox so that the engine can process and burn anything in this air rather than spit it into the environment.
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CodyT YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 33	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #6 - 04/30/16 at 14:39:48 I see the hose that goes to the ground from the airbox, that usually drips oil, very slowly after a ride. There is a plug/ cap under the airbox right beside that hose. Is this how you drain the fluid from airbox? If so i can turn it but its not coming off. Thanks!
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #7 - 04/30/16 at 14:47:17 If you have needlenose pliers and curved needlenose you can grab the hose with the straight ones and use the curved ones to force the cap off. That's also a good way to pull ti wraps tight.
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CodyT YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 33	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #8 - 04/30/16 at 15:23:46 thanks! its looks like an oversize valve stem cap. also appears to have a wire around it??
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Dave

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Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain
Reply #9 - 04/30/16 at 15:26:40

CodyT wrote on 04/30/16 at 14:39:48:

I see the hose that goes to the ground from the airbox, that usually drips oil, very slowly after a ride. There is a plug/ cap under the airbox right beside that hose. Is this how you drain the fluid from airbox? If so i can turn it but its not coming off.

Thanks!

No....not sure why the box has two connectors on the bottom - but only one is used for the drain and the other is capped off.

The only one you need to drain is the tube that extends down to the bottom of the bike. Your tube should have a plastic plug in it.....it should not be draining after a ride. If yours is not capped....it can let unfiltered air up into the air box.

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CodyT YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 33	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #10 - 04/30/16 at 16:18:30 what is that cap on the bottom of the airbox then? i was turning it.
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CodyT YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 33	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #11 - 04/30/16 at 16:19:46 my hose (no cap, i guess?) my airbox... wet filter also :/
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CodyT YaBB Newbies Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 33	Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain Reply #12 - 04/30/16 at 16:22:36 im really big on doing my own work and this oil issue came with the bike when i got it. I heard oil was a common issue and hoped to fix it. I notice the uncapped tube would slowly leak after riding, shouldn't there be no oil in the box if its not capped? clogged maybe?
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justin_o_guy2

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What happened?

Posts: 55279
East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.

Re: Mystery substance in my air box drain
Reply #13 - 04/30/16 at 18:28:44

I doubt it's plugged. But, how to know?
Slip a clean hose in it or over it and snug it up. See if you can blow in, or fire it up, see if you can feel anything.
IDK what it Should do,but figuring out if it's plugged should be easy enough.

A piece of weed eater string poked in it...

There's no text book for thinking through some of the little things life throws at us.

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