Slime in the breather rake

[KA1J]

Last night I decided to clean up the airbox on the XJ11 and gave it a good scrubbing. I unscrewed the two sections & unscrewed the white plastic "rake" inside the airbox that attaches to the crankcase breather tube & has a nipple that goes into each intake boot. For the heck of it I ran hot tap water through the large breather tube opening in the rake & expected to see 4 outflows with each the same height.

Instead I found a couple of the outputs weren't flowing but a little bit & one was higher than the rest. There was some whitish/yellow spoo coming out of one of the holes. I saw bunches of this slimy stuff in the sink & gave a good shake to the rake into the sink & bunches of this stuff flung out. It took 5 minutes of flushing with hot water & flinging to finally get all of it. It had to be from the crankcase & must have filled the bottom of the rake & the hot water loosened it.

I just bought this bike late last fall so I have little history to go along with it. What was that stuff & what would cause that stuff to be in there?

Idears?

[natemoen]

It's the cranks breather so I am guessing its a oil water mix. Could be some bacteria as well that fed on the oil.

[KA1J]

It's the cranks breather so I am guessing its a oil water mix. Could be some bacteria as well that fed on the oil.

There's some amazing bacteria out there that can eat & live in unimaginable ways so maybe... I felt the stuff and it was not terribly slick, definitely not gritty but wasn't like whipped cream made from oil. No strong odor, just the crankcase kind of oily odor, not unusually strong at all.

It was really impressive how much of this spoo came out of that "rake", almost like it was full to the top of this stuff and had I not out of curiosity felt impelled to flush it out with hot water from the tap, I'd never have known all that was in there. It had to be a real barrier to crankcase respiration.

That's one of the nice things about a winter break, I can go over this bike and do so much to making it right, checking out in detail all the little things I find that may not be in great shape.

[crazy steve]

That's from the bike being ridden on short hops and never getting really fully warmed up. Oil vapor plus condensation equals whitish goo.

I had a car that would get that goo on the last 6" of the dipstick in the winter, as that part didn't get as warm as the rest of the motor.

[KA1J]

That's from the bike being ridden on short hops and never getting really fully warmed up. Oil vapor plus condensation equals whitish goo.

I had a car that would get that goo on the last 6" of the dipstick in the winter, as that part didn't get as warm as the rest of the motor.

Ah.

I remember a car that had a head gasket leak with water getting into the oil & it made a whitish bubbly goo. The stuff coming from within the rake was really pure with no bubbly. I never considered an airhead to have an issue with water in the oil but what you said makes sense.

I remember hearing that mufflers suffer from short trips that don't get the muffler fully hot in that condensation within them causes rusting. Guess this is the same principle but with the vapors from the engine being trapped in the "rake".

Thanks for the info!

[DGXSER]

I've had the exact same thign happen before, from idling it up in the garage but not riding in cold weather. Blew a glob of white stuff out the tube like it was prom night or something. Never happened in warm weather or since I finished tuning and only ride in the winter.

[cywelchjr]

I've had the exact same thign happen before, from idling it up in the garage but not riding in cold weather. Blew a glob of white stuff out the tube like it was prom night or something. Never happened in warm weather or since I finished tuning and only ride in the winter.

So, when you going to admit your probably not going to sell they bike? Although I know you might be required to keep it on the market for the sake of peace in the family.

[DGXSER]

After 20 years of living with the same SWMBO (married to her also.) I've learned that it is easiest to say nothing at all, just let things happen, or not happen.

[draketrumpet]

Good old forum

It's always nice when you've been away from the forum for a while and you come back and realize almost every answer you've ever wanted is here. Now I don't have to ask questions about that white goop or start a new thread with these pictures I took:




As you can probably guess, I found this stuff while working on my starter. Now I'll have to go up through the rest of the airways and get it out. Guess a winter full of 2 mile rides will do this to a bike. Questions:

1. Am I going to need to change my oil too since this stuff is in the crankcase?
2. Is there anywhere else I need to look closely at and do something for after a winter of short rides where the bike never fully warmed?

TIA guys. Great to be around.

[natemoen]

Really you wouldn't even need to go through and clean all the stuff out. As for the oil just go Cy the old addage, three months or three thousand miles, if either apply change it, it not take it out for a good long ride to get it nice and hot and get ride of the moisture.

[KA1J]

I gotta tell you I was stunned how much of that spoo was inside the "rake" it seemed like it would never stop coming out. All of the tubes were plugged so the crankcase ventilation was horrible & considering the normal pressure buildup & then the pressure from so much gas in the oil because of a bad octopus & float bowl valves, I'm amazed the seals didn't blow or worse.

Maybe 7-10 tablespoons of the stuff came outta there..

[draketrumpet]

Really you wouldn't even need to go through and clean all the stuff out. As for the oil just go Cy the old addage, three months or three thousand miles, if either apply change it, it not take it out for a good long ride to get it nice and hot and get ride of the moisture.

Oh goodness, I don't even remember the last time I went more than 10 miles at a time...no wonder there is so much crud. I know what I am doing this evening

[cywelchjr]

Oh goodness, I don't even remember the last time I went more than 10 miles at a time...no wonder there is so much crud. I know what I am doing this evening

Dude, you need to take it out for a good run every once in a while. I try to go out for at least a 50 to 75 miler at least once a month all year round. Do more than that during the nice parts of the year, but I feel its important to get it out and get the oil good and hot at least one a month to get the crud boiled out of it. I've got a pretty standard minimum run I do every month if I'm not able to get out and do something more ambitious.

[petejw]

hi draketrumpet
thats one rusty looking starter motor,
did u pull that out of the engine like that?
or has it been sitting outside?

id definately be changing ur oil.

[draketrumpet]

hi draketrumpet
thats one rusty looking starter motor,
did u pull that out of the engine like that?
or has it been sitting outside?

id definately be changing ur oil.

Haha, no that is not rust, but yes I pulled it out of the engine like that. With the starter, you may recall, that most of it is just under a plastic cover, and only the end with the gears are in the engine.

What you see as rust is Oklahoma dirt...it's everywhere.