HELP- oil from vent tube?!

[erwinvw]

Just rode the bike for 1st time this week. Everything was ok.

Parked it when done, just had a buddy drop by to see the bike.

When I wheeled it out of the shed I find a trail of oil dripping.

I found that it was dripping from some overflow/vent tube that exits on the top of the swing arm behind the rear shock...



Bike runs fine, oil level is not down noticibly, but makes me nervous to see oil on the ground. No time to check it right now cause I'm off to work in 30 minutes......

Does this tube go to the airbox?

it's a 2000, with 41k on it with all maintenance done to the letter and then some. Is this going to cost me$$$$$$.

Erwin

[2004Tiger]

My 2004 Tiger has a vent tube termination near the right side of the swingarm pivot. The origination of this tube is the overflow orifice of the radiator expansion tank. Its purpose is to relieve coolant in case of over expansion due to overheating. Did you overheat?



In my model it is common to see the two tubes connected to the expansion tank, the relief tube and the overflow tube, reversed from the factory. Mine were. I was continually loosing coolant because of this and loss of coolant of course degraded the cooling function and resulted in overheating during normal operation. After proper connection and a coolant refill the temp gauge stays low while riding and rises to mid-gauge during idle, when the fan starts up to limit further temperature rise.

[erwinvw]

Nope.  Bike never heats up.

Also it is clearly oil and not rad fluid. I'll have to pull the tank and stuff to see where the tube comes from. The only thing I can guess is the airbox, but unsure how the bike got oil in there to begin with. ?? I dont ride a whole lot and have had no problems with it. ....

[erwinvw]

pulled the tank and airbox on the bike today. the vent tube comes from the right side of the airbox and exits down the swingarm.

i still dont understand how oil is getting sucked into the airbox and it must be coming from the crankcase ventilation tube.

i cleaned the k/n filter as i had it apart anyway.

would a plugged or really dirty filter cause any kind of vacuum in there?

[Jim S]

Unless you're losing a substantial amount of oil I wouldn't worry too much. Could just be evapouration caused by heat?



My Africa Twin Hondas used to have a pipe with a bung in it that exited under the swingarm. Part of the service was to remove the bung and drain any fluids, which was oil as well. This was the airbox breather. I suppose it's just the way it is mate.

[iansoady]

You haven't overfilled the oil have you? The reason the breather goes to the airbox is to recirculate any fumes rather than letting them go to atmosphere, and it the level's a bit high you could get oil as well as vapour in there.



Another thought - is this one of the engines which if dropped on the LHS oil goes into the airbox?

[erwinvw]

No its not overfilled and never dropped. I do think that over time, say the last 5000km that the gases liquified again in the airbox if they were not burned off and accumulated to this point where I stood it up and a few tablespoons of oil came out.



It;s the only thing I can think of.

[erwinvw]

My dealer tells me this might be the issue..



With regards to the oil in the air box issue, it could be a couple of

different things. #1 OVER FILLED CRANKCASE OIL LEVEL   #2 LEAKING BREATHER

DISC SEAL OR DEFECTIVE BREATHER DISC .







Does anyone know what #2 is(breather disc?)

[iansoady]

I assume he may be referring to a non-return valve but I'm not aware there's one fitted to the Tiger and am not near my manual at the moment.

[NortonCharlie]

What year us your Tiger?  If it is a 955 you shouldn't have a vent tube coming out of your airbox.  The early 955 Tigers had a tube coming out od the right side of the airbox and this is supposed to be hooked to the fuel pressure regulator on the right hand side of the tank.  If disconnected this tube would allow dirty air to be sucked into the clean side of the airbox.  I believe ther is a total of 3 vent/drain tubes on the bike.  2 from the fuel tank (1 for overfilling and 1 vent with a tipover valve) and one from the coolant overflow tank.  I have had oil come out of my coolant overflow hose that had gotten sucked into the hose from the open end (to much chain lube I guess) In fact it had gotten some gunk all the way back into my radiator.  



If yours is an earlier model none of this may apply.  There another source of oil in the airbox on the 955 and that is through the breather hose that runs from the bottom of the airbox to the left front of the engine.  If you get oil in the airbox this is where it will drain back.  The seal in this cover can go bad and you can get oil blowing through this if you overfill or have alot of blowby.  The early 955's held more oil than the ones after the middle of 02.  Triumph accomplished this by making the dipstick longer probably because when filled up with the old dipstick it would blow oil through the breather into the airbox.

[erwinvw]

Its a 2000 model. the tube is a drain tube and exits from the right side down to the swing arm,,, the other, is correctly hooked up to the fuel regulator thingy...



rode for about an hour last sunday and no oil dripping out afterwards.. got me stumped.. anyway the oil level is ok and my trouble light is noton so I;ll keep an eye on it...

[Jrod]

Back from the dead.

I've noticed the same problem on my 2001.  I thought at first I had a leak at the rear brake line as I was seeing oil/brake fluid on the swingarm.  I pulled the side cover to see if the rear brake reservoir was low and was suprised to find it still full.  I pumped the rear brake lever to build some pressure and could not get it to leak anywhere.  I kept looking and found a vent hose that terminates near the swingarm and I feel this is where the fluid is coming from.

Has anyone else had this problem, or more importantly found out what is causing the leak?

Thanks!

[Jrod]

Anyone?

[Stretch]

There is no vent hose there on my 2005, sorry.

[Jrod]

I'm surprised no one else has chimed in - I know I'm not the only one with a 2001...