Went riding yesterday with a friend. She started her bike (400EX/DRY SUMP ENGINE) to warm it up, while we were all putting on our gear. We got to fooling around with something else, and it had been several minutes, so I walked over and killed the engine on her bike because I was afraid it would overheat. When she finally went back to start up the bike, there was a HUGE POOL OF OIL BENEATH THE BIKE. What had happened, was THE OIL RETURN LINE ON THE TOP OF THE OIL TANK HAD COME OFF!!

At first we thought it had just been knocked off or something. So, we figured all we would have to do is fix it and add more oil. Well, even with the oil that was lost, THERE WAS STILL NO ROOM FOR ANY MORE OIL. The oil tank was still full to the brim. What had happened was, the oil tank had been overfilled, and there was no room for the pressure of the oil returning from the engine, so THE PRESSURE HAD BLOWN THE HOSE OFF ITS FITTING.

I guess God was looking out for her that day, because if I hadn't turned her engine off, and if we hadn't been fooling around with whatever, we probably would have just jumped on the bikes and ridden off and could have run the engine dry!!!

HOW DID IT HAPPEN??? When the bike sits for a long time, the oil drains from the oil tank back into the engine. Somebody checked the oil level, without starting the bike first (which would have pumped the oil back into the oil tank). The level looked low, so they added more oil, and combined with the oil already in the engine, it was way to much. GOOD LESSON FOR ANYONE WITH A DRY SUMP ENGINE!!! WARM YOUR ENGINE UP FOR SEVERAL MINUTES, BEFORE CHECKING YOUR OIL. JUST LIKE YOUR OWNERS MANUAL SAYS!!!

 

Thanks for that tip always wondering why the oil level fluctuated like that .

 

I didn't know this about a dry sump engine. good tip. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]