Keeping oil out of the cylinder. Possible fix.

[georover1]

Being the owner of an early Tiger I often worry about engine failure (i know its a slim chance) by oil leaking into cylinder 1 through the vent hose and into the airbox and then into the combustion chamber if the bike is droped on its left side and left there for a bit of time. I have read about the fix of putting a longer breather hose routed from one side of the motor to the other and then back again. But I was toying with the idea of eliminating the breather hose going to the air box all-together by using a separate crankcase filter like  a K&N or  similar and of course plugging the hole in the airbox. Is there any reason this would not work? Are the little crankcase breather/filters not large enough to allow proper venting?  

Any input  would be helpful.

[apache]

Ive done the exact thing on other bikes including my Ducati Elefant. I used a K&N type mini filter with a 3/8 or so fitting on one end. I ran the line up under the tank so the length of tubing that accumiliated any oil residual would run back into the engine. I never had any problems. Now that you mention it when I take my Tiger apart again for service Im gonna do the same thing to it to eliminate the issue. Last long ride I went on was to Monanche meadows in the Sierras. at after about 250 miles of riding and some 2 hrs of dirt trailing I crashed the bike in sand. I never scrambled so fast trying to get the bike back up as it layed on the side there sputtering and I was feeling quite spent. Thoughts ran thru my head of killing the engine and I visioned walking some 70 miles to find help. Much of my riding and exploring is solo, gotta admit it put a scare in me.

[jp4evr]

I know we're all going to be interested in your fix.  Seems that re-routing lines and adding aftermarket filters (fuel too) is a common thread on tigers.  



I'd like to see the configuration you come up with.  My only question would be where do you put the filter to keep it high enough that a water crossing does not compromize it.  The water would likely have to be quite deep, but you never know what you'll come up against in the back country.

[apache]

I was thinking about the post I did regarding the crank breather. Kinda brings some questions for me.#1, the breather on my 97 is far to the right side if sitting on the bike. It would seem if dropped on the right then the oil would run into the airbox definatly. If dropped on the left the 4 quarts of oil would not be enough to run out the breather side? Just a thought. So if a piece of line was again weaved in a "S" type configuration then the oil would never get into the airbox unless the bike was somewhat upsidedown which is quite possible. This is where a remote breather assembly would be good as it would allow the oil simply to run out, pick the bike up and wait a few minutes and the oil would run back into the motor. Regarding location up under the seat probably would be best as its the highest point. I cant imagine the stock airbow being real waterproof if submerged and if it was the inlets are easily filled with water anyhow.

 With all this in mind I have to ask who has submerged their bike deep enough to flood the alternator? it would seem that alone would lead to expensive repairs, mine was done by the prior owner and was told the alt was around $800. BTY, I have added a aftermarket fuel petcock and clear type filter for the fuel and have had no issues with starvation. Reason was my stock petcock didnt shut off.

[Mudhen]

The big breather issue was with the fuel injected 885s...so our bikes *should* be immune from it, Apache.  I've dropped mine on the right, left, and upside down and haven't had a noticeable issue yet.



 [-o<



Of course, every other fluid drains out everywhere when it goes over, so anything is possible I guess.

[apache]

What makes the FI models different? The hole in mine is real small also if I remember right, something like 1/8" opening. Cant imagine much getting out even if it wanted to.