1979 xs1100s ignition issue

[BA80]

It needs to be checked sitting level or on that center stand that's not there because of the 4 into 1. All the oils do.

[Rasputin]

Check your middle drive is not empty!!! Many have made the mistake of pulling the wrong drain bolt and over filled their bike.

[dondons1984]

What i drained was just oil all 8 quarts

[motoman]

Sounds like suffocation. Was that just oil, or fuel oil mix?

[dondons1984]

update:::

drained my oil today since I am having shifting issues like the bike was going to die or I was suffocating it. So far I have filled up a 7 quart drain pan and then about another quart in another pan. hmmm, can someone say fracking overfill?

[dondons1984]

I am pretty sure I'm getting good compression. Air shoots out like s mad man with plugs out.

[GLoweVA]

I don't want to sound like chicken little here, but I thought it might be prudent to offer up another possibility.
A worst case senario is that you've got blow by past your piston rings, or a small hole in the piston. This will build up pressure in the crankcase and then blow oil out the vent.
DAMHIK, but when I burnt a hole in my piston 3-4 years ago, I built up so much pressure it blew the cam cover half moon plug right out from under the valve cover. One of my other symptoms prior to that was some oil blowing thru the vent into the air box.
Granted the bike ran like crap on only 3 cylinders and IF I had a compression tester then, I would have found my problem ALOT sooner than I did.

I don't mean to scare you, but it may be just as easy to just check the compression number and see where you're at.

[dondons1984]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to drain the oil today and redo my gas lines so I just run off one petcock. Seems to me the left one is causing me issues. So after draining oil sealing off the petcock and draining oil and putting it back in I am going to turn it over and see if it runs smoother.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Don,

Depends on if you properly drained it before you put in the 3 quarts. If you just pulled the filter bowl then you didn't actually drain all of the oil. There's an oil pan drain bolt just behind the filter cup. You would have left over 2 quarts still in the pan, so with 3 you could now have 5 quarts in there!?

Secondly, I think I remember seeing you post about a leaky petcock. If you have a leaky carb float needle valve, then you can get fuel into your engine while parked, which can cause both an overflow as well as a damaging thining of the oil which can damage bearings!

Need to get a friend to help hold the bike upright so you can use the viewfinder glass to verify your oil level, but you may need to drain it all of it first, and then refill it with the correct amount.

T.C.

[dondons1984]

The po removed the center stand. I put in 3qts of 10/40. Would that cause all the symptoms I am having?

[BA80]

It sounds like the oil in the crank case is over filled and being blown out.

Are you checking the oil while it's sitting on the center stand or the side stand?

Also, on another note. What type of oil are you using?

[dondons1984]

OK so got it running fine finally and went for a ride. It started surging and dying all of a sudden. So I came home let it sit and wow that is a lot of oil that is below the air box. Why did it do that? When I would go to shift it would knock a little but kind of surge so I'm actually going to wait till I know what it is.

[BA80]

http://s154.photobucket.com/

[BA80]

Damn college boys are trying to "improve" it again. I can't get to any of my $hit!

[dondons1984]

Lol I just went to it. All it is of is pictures in my truck when I first got it.