Oil in my airbox???

[Forgiven1]

Hi all,

Today while I was riding my Tao TBR7 started leaking oil. So much that the engine quickly started to loose power and I was forced to stop and get my truck to bring the bike home. I could see that it was coming from a cracked hose between the airbox and the engine.






Looking down inside the airbox I found what seems like a ton of oil.






What I am wondering is if that broken hose is the problem or if the hose broke because of a problem?

That hose attaches to a valve off the crank case.








The bottom of the air filter did not seem to be overly soaked with oil at least. Any help is appreciated.

[Red Hawk]

Did the bike ever get layed over on its side?

[Lit Hawk]

Take the hose to auto store and find a pcv valve that is same size. Put it in your crank case so it lets oil out but not in, you can blow in it to find the correct direction. Make sure you also pickup a hose that fits the opposite end of pcv valve and zip tie it over your chain. Make sure you silicone the hole in airbox also.
Here’s a link that might help
http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=21879
If you were riding in wet conditions you’ll want to make sure water not getting in your airbox and going into crankcase through hose That was my problem. I installed pcv valve rerouted hose over chain and silicones my air box. No problems since
http://www.chinariders.net/showthrea...t=22509&page=2

[pete]

to get that much oil in the air box it is being blown out of the motor..

1... over fill with oil...
2... rocker case breather blocked "if it has one"
3... rings not sealing.. blow by pressurising the crank case..
4... splash plate at the breather inlet come lose/off.... "if it has one inside the motor"

I will assume the bike has not been on it's side for any length of time..in fact
lying on it's side should not let that much oil out anyway.. It would need to be up side down so the oil can sit at the breather out let... on it's side the oil level would not reach the breather...after all there is only a liter or so of oil in the things..



..

[JerryHawk250]

This is just my theory but could be a combination of things. Overfill of oil combined with a dirty air filter which turns the air box into a vacuum and sucks up more oil which oils the filter and completely clogs the filter which explains the lost of power.

Or as Pete stated your getting blow by that's pressurizing the crank case. I would do a compression test and/or leak down test.

[Forgiven1]

Super thanks for all the responses gang!!

As far as the bike being on its side. Never for long but definitely yes. Like a week ago I was trying to stand in place while on the foot pegs and I fell over and broke the clutch handle off. When I did the ground was unlevel so the result was the handle bars running slightly down hill. It was only for a moment but I guess that could be what happened.

I am pretty sure my bike already has a PCV valve installed on it. Looking at my 3rd picture on the right side near the crank case I was thinking that elbow was one?? Maybe not?? If it is a PCV maybe its a junk one?

[Megadan]

I can identify one big reason why so much oil ended up in that air box, and it is a rather simple one. I went ahead and borrowed your picture to highlight the design flaw. The breather hose comes off that fitting and is essentially downhill from it to the airbox. This provides no chance for any condensed oil vapor to run off back into the motor. Combine that design flaw with any of the other issues mentioned above and you end up with a swimming pool at the bottom of the airbox.

[Weldangrind]

Agreed. I'd choose to use a filter, rather than a PCV. I'd then route the hose up for a bit, before turning to point at the ground, behind the swingarm.

[timcosby]

Originally Posted by pete

to get that much oil in the air box it is being blown out of the motor..

1... over fill with oil...
2... rocker case breather blocked "if it has one"
3... rings not sealing.. blow by pressurising the crank case..
4... splash plate at the breather inlet come lose/off.... "if it has one inside the motor"

I will assume the bike has not been on it's side for any length of time..in fact
lying on it's side should not let that much oil out anyway.. It would need to be up side down so the oil can sit at the breather out let... on it's side the oil level would not reach the breather...after all there is only a liter or so of oil in the things..



..

they never put the splash plate on these bikes. if you look the post is there as well as the post with the hole for the screw is there. they just didnt think they needed it but it does. the splash plate makes the air with the oil vapor swirl and change directions and the oil ends up on the sides of the box instead of going directly at the air filter and soaking it.

[timcosby]

all those rubber hose only last about a year before they are cracked and in need of replacement but it does look like you may have overfill the engine to have that much in there.

[Forgiven1]

Ok, here is what I decided to try. I cleaned all of that out really well, and changed the oil, ran it checked the fill etc. I don't think it was overfill that caused this as I checked regularly, but if the dipstick is wrong then it could be. Anyway I routed a line up hill toward the seat and then put the filter. Air can travel both ways through it, but I'm not sure if liquid can. There is a little foam pad inside there and some plastic shapes. With the engine running that hose has a suction and does not blow out, so I think as long as I can keep falling where the bike is upside down I should be good.

[timcosby]

you might want to run down the road and back with and without the air filter and see if there is any power loss. that will tell you if the filter got to wet with oil.