Gas and Oil mixture in the Air intake

[ngrodriguez]

I bought this 1982 XS 1100 back in october. It sat for the winter and started it back up in April, shortly after I started to ride it there was oil and gas mixture leaking out of the air intake case. Anybody know what my problem might be.

[bikerphil]

Stuck float(s) maybe, try tapping the carb bowls with a screwdriver handle, that might unstick them. If no luck, probably time for a carb cleaning/rebuild.

[petejw]

Welcome to the forum,
Check your needle and seats on the carbs, but
also check ur oil level,
sounds like its over full with oil and petrol, and
squirting into the air box via the breather hose, you'll
also want to clean that, as well as putting fresh oil and a filter on.

[CatatonicBug]

Did you change the oil before you started it back up in April? Always a good idea to change the oil at the start of the season. Of course, you're in SoCal, so the "Season" is all year... Since you just bought the bike, you have no idea what the PO did to it (even if he TOLD you what he did to it), so you need to change the engine oil, AND the middle and final drive oils. A common problem is that new XSives often put too much oil in the engine, because they filled it on the side stand instead of the center stand. That will quickly lead to oil spilling out through the breather hose, into the airbox.

A newly oiled air filter may also leak oil for a while, so check that too.

The fuel in the airbox comes from something getting stuck in the carbs. Either the floats or a float needle can get jammed and not close completely, allowing fuel to keep flowing and it backs up into the airbox. However, sometimes it backs up and flows forward, into the cylinder, past the piston rings, and down into the oil. Fuel mixed in the oil is a bad thing. It can kill bearings and cause engine failure! It may even be the cause for you having too much "oil" in the crank case, causing the oil to get blown up into the airbox.

HTH

[BlindogSmokin]

fuel in the Crank case

The root problem here leads back to carbs, but you need to deal with the oil first.

Don't run the engine like this, damage to the bearings is likely.

First drain the oil, and change the oil filter. When this happened to me, I took the advice of only adding 3 qt of oil to start with.

Next deal with the carbs.

No need to repeat what so many of the other members have said about that. Find the carb threads and do what they say.

2 tips that I have learned that are not always covered.

First
On the later model carbs the needle seat has a retaining clip that holds the seat into the carb. These type have an O ring around the seat. Replace it. You can do everything that is recomended, but if that O ring leaks, its equal to leaking needle valves. As mentioned that can lead to fuel leaking into a cylinder and into the crank case.

Second
Polish the needle seats. Corroded brass leaves a rough texture which can cause drag on the needles. Often this causes an intermitent leak of the needle seat. I use a Q tip with automotive rubbing compound to polish the brass. Once the brass is polished, if there are any imperfections in the seat, they will be easily seen. I had one that had a nick in the seat that could not be seen until it was polished, afterwards the scratch could be seen as a dark area where the polish didn't take the corrosion off. If you find one like that, replace it.