I have been a very staunch supporter of Cannondale in this forum, I dont think I have ever said anything bad about the dale before, that is until now. I knowthis had been covered in this forum before but I dont think anyone followed up with Cannondale to see what the issue was or how it was resolved.

I was riding this weekend at the dunes near Walden Colorado. Usually I would ride for 2-3 hours at a time, stoping and dragging and riding the dunes and jumping and all the normal dune stuff. You know ride 10 minutes watch your buddy and ride some more. When Igot back to camp the first time I had oil Puking out of my air filter. All over the radiator and down the front shocks. I was shocked!!! I checked the oil after it had cooled and filled it back up to the middle of the narrow tip on the dipstick. I rode for another round and cam back and the same thing, oil in the air box and all ove the front end. So i found another guy with a speed and another guy with a Blaze. THey said they had the same problem and one of the guys had his engine replaced, aparently the first round of engines had a valve and seal problem and with the ECU500 it causes this problem. SO WHAT I AM ASKING IS, should i geta new engine fo this? SHould i have the dealer put on the new computer? should i do nothing? I dont know what to do, but this quad is STILL under warantee and this is NOT normal or a good thing. ONe of the guys I talked to said eventually it will blow my engine, and it could be at any time. I have serial number #24 so it is an early cannibal. PLEASE HELP ME!! I want to keep this quad, but I cant have it puking oil like this.

Thanks for your time

Graham

I have a newer cannibal and a ecu1000 and had this happen to me when i was ripping on the quad hard. its from the oil expanding in the engine. So there was too much in the engine. fill it a 1/3 of the way up. Pm me if you get any newer info. It hasnt hapened to me since.

I am not a rep but I have a few tips.Remove the air cleaner and clean it.Remove the hoses on the inside of the frame spar near right footpeg drain any oil from that chamber.On the valve cover right sde remove breather hose check to see that there isnt glue blocking the hole.The 500 comp. has nothing to do with a problem like this.The steps i gave you takes care of most problems your dealer and cannondale will surely take care of you if this doesnt solve your problem.It stinks that this probably ruined your weekend but dont worry cannondale DOES take care of there customers.If your dealer doesnt help you email me and I will try to helpyou some more.

Thanks guys, ill perform the tips you suggested tomorrow evening. Mxracer98, are you saying that you only run about 3/4 of a quart of oil in your dale? Will that void your warranty? so how do you check the oil level with the dipstick? Have you been doing this for long? with no problems. Cannondale 27 do you agree with Mxracer98? sorry for all the questions, but this really freaked me out. Cannondale27 if I do what you say and there is no oil in the tubes is everything ok?
OK no more questions, thanks for your help
graham

Trout- pm 4strokemadman. He is a cannon engineer. That can not be a good thing. I hope that cannon takes care of you on this matter.

Sounds like an oil overfill problem.

Mine's done it once when it was brand new, and I know for a fact it was overfilled that time (my bad)...

I know this will sound elementary but make sure you know the proper procedure for checking the oil. If you allow the bike to cool, oil will drain back into the crankcase which lowers the oil level in the spar, which causes you to overfill the quad.

To accurately check the oil, warm up the quad, tear around on it for several minutes - check it quickly after shutting it off. Refer to the owners manual for further detail, if you don't have one, it's downloadable from the web.

My 400EX and really any other dry sump quad are the same way.

The ECM and valve seals have nothing to do with an oil overflow problem. There's nothing the ECM can do to cause (or prevent) oil overflow, it simply tells the injectors when to open and close and tells the spark plug when to fire. The valve seal's function is to keep excess oil from leaking down the valve stem and entering the combustion chamber.

Probably be wise to warm the quad up, drain the oil from all 3 drain points, and refil - keeping in mind that the capacity is 1.7 qts and you will not get all of that out, so it should take less than 1.7 qts to refil. Also, when you check the oil (after warming up the quad or when out riding) be sure to check the oil with the dipstick *Screwed in*

Kyle at R&s told me that. they do that to their race quads. they fill it about a 1/3 of the way up the dip stick(by that i mean in corresponsedence to the line). I had mine a half of the way up under the line and never had a problem. Until red bud where I beat it bad. then it puked. I cleaned everything. Havent had a problem since. Kyle said that you cant not run enough oil in the engine. No I dont think it'll void warranty.

I dont believe oil is expanding in the motor.Oil level is very important like the rest of the guys said.When i fill mine after a complete oil change I use 1and1\2quarts run the motor and turn it off after amin or so check oil at stick comes out a bit below line on the stick be sure to screw stick all way in.About the oil in those lines.Whether or not there is oil inthe lines or chamber now isnt important the problem is if the chamber is full the breather system doesnt seem to be able to catch up.The system works like this crancase pressure is routed fromcase via starter clutch cover to upper barb in frame chamber lower barb goes up to valve cover to air filter.It all works great unless oil is added to the picture.Ifyou roll the quad and oil fills that chamber you will also get your problem.No other ATV uses a system quite like this I think they may have done it like this for emission reasons.

Well I spoke with my dealer today, he said that oil comming out of the airbox is NO GOOD and that I need a new motor, so ill keep you all posted, I have a call into Cannondale as well, so Ill let everyone know what developes, I am sure that this will be taken care of and Cannondale will do what they always do.

hey guys, I just talked to Justin Ostrich at Cannondale and he said that they had some banjo bolt that only had one hole instead of two which caused uncontrollable oil pressure resulting in the oil getting into the air box, along with some consumers putting too much oil in their machine. I asked him about filling the oil only 1/3 full to the line and he said that that is pretty rediculous!! Now my question. Why would anyone from a dealership selling a product tell consumers to do something that would probably ruin the motor for one and void any kind of warranty that they have. I just don't understand. If the machine says to fill the oil to the "full line" you fill it to the line. When you change the oil in your car, do you only fill it up 1/3 of the way full and go racing it around town in hopes that nothing will go wrong??!! Please, someone help me understand all of this. It seems obsurd to do anything else. Jared