newbie breather mod question: do i need to worry?

[sinikl]

So I bought an 06 xb9sx that is a bit of a bitsa and immediately fouled its plugs. In the course of removing the airbox bottom to get at the plugs, I discovered it had a breather re-route mod done, with both PCVs teed to a hose letting out at a fake-K&N-style breather fitting just dangling above/alongside the swingarm oil tank side.

Folx (sorry, can't remember usernames, and I don't think it matters for this thread fwiw) recommended ditching the breather filter and just letting it vent "road draft tube" style.
At the time I thought, "OK, sure, but i'll tackle that later, I just want to ride, and how much is going to end up in that filter anyway? Probably a negligible amount?"

Well, I did a decently long and spirited ride a few weeks ago (that ended in the kickstand failing) and noticed that the dangly breather filter had spit what is probably about 2 tablespoons or more of oil/water soup on the side of the swingarm) in the course of about an hour's ride.

A road draft tube would have been dangling and just silently spewing.... so i'm worried about this amount of leakage.

I guess I could have done a leakdown or compression test when I had the airbox bottom off, but I didn't. I believed the bike was in good general health based on the PO/seller account, and it feels 'healthy' to me... but I have no idea what a healthy xb9 should feel like.

Since then I've gone thru and read "draining a catch can" threads, and people talking about how, if your catch can needs to be drained a lot, you have a bigger (blowby?) problem and I'm wondering if my puking is excessive.

--> The Right Thing To Do is probably to comp/leakdown test it
--> that said, is that amount of oil/water soup a cause for concern? I'm pretty lazy, if I'm honest, and if you say that sounds tolerable, i'll throw an oil change at it and monitor oil loss. Does that sound OK to you?

I am fully admitting I'm doing a Lazy Thing here. Yell at me in this thread

[Cooter]

You are correct on all counts. You're just asking for permission to be lazy.

If it is a literal 2 tablespoons of gunk, that's a very big problem and the amount of vapor blow-by that would cause that much liquid after a short ride would be so massive, it would be a bigger problem than a re-build and would shoot highly pressurized air out of that hose very, very obviously.
But seeing as how that literal amount of oil wouldn't stick to the side of a swingarm, without coating the whole side of the bike, I'm guessing it's an exaggeration. Tape a small water bottle on the end of the hose (don't forget to let it vent as well) and see actually how much gunk is coming out after a ride and note the mileage.

Another guess from me would be that it does indeed have some amount of blowby, but the root cause is sitting for a long time, not getting warmed up, and possibly a dip in the breather line that coalesces the vapors and you just rode it hard enough to dump 1000 miles of gunk out of the hose.

FYI, even Harbor Freight sells compression gauges very cheaply.

[TPEHAK]

If outlet tube of the breather barely puffs there is no blowby. No leakdown test needed, just put your palm in front of breather outlet tube and feel it.

[sinikl]

Cooter and TPEHAK I like your line of thought in that
-i am probably exaggerating the amount (i looked at the puke trail and guessed)
-there was very probably a buncha cack in the line just waiting to be vented
-i am probably panicking over nothing
-i should just test the damn thing and (hey I said this) I'm LAZY

I will test and find out. As I admonish people at work all the time (software, not engines, but it's the same stuff in the end) "why guess when you could know?"
TBH i'm a bit afraid of threading things into the rear cyl plug hole (it's really down in there innit) and also kicking myself for not doing this in the first place.

this bike was supposed to be the "hit the button and go ride it" bike as opposed to my scooters (built engines in containers, waiting to be put in a bike that's been set outside for 8 years) and my RD350 (proabably needs a crank rebuild, full stop) that would get me interested in doing deeper mech work after taking a break from anything moto for a few years. turns out this is the bike i'm turning a wrench on, but i'm not mad at it.

thx for the replies, i'll follow up!

[user_deleted]

you have a moderate amount of internal engine wear. how do i know? from reading your prior stream of posts. your cityX is both 12 years old.....and it has NOT been treated gently or wrenched on by knowledgeable conscientious folks.
secondly it was for sale for a period of time and during that time was repeatedly started and stopped with little to no "run time" between the two....the result fouled plugs. standard fare for bikes being shopped. this practice built up a ton of condensation and "goop" inside the small crankcase cavity and breather system.
the accepted procedure to determine the health of this motor is to take it for another moderately long ride....see if the breather system has cleared itself out....and if not perform both a simple compression test and cylinder "leak-down" test. both in combination will reveal the health of your motor.

[sinikl]

thx lunaticfringe, this makes me feel less bad . The bike had sat for awhile then been ridden as you describe.... and the puke was not pure oil but milky mud (water in it for sure).

I will oil change, ride again as currently configured and watch for puke, then test.

[sinikl]

oh, and i'll probably lose the oil breather thing, and go to a road draft system if it comes up good.

[Cooter]

There’s really nothing wrong with a catch can. Its just unnecessary. For now keep it on until it stops pumping oily condensation over your swing arm.

[sinikl]

I learned a few things today.
- took it for a moderate ride with some good runs thru the gears, no puke from the breather
- panicked when I saw I had bought a mobil 1 m1-103A filter. Forums say I need an M1-103. Well heck, back to the parts store to find another filter that cross references.... hey, this FRAM, which I don't like FRAM, looks exactly the same [goes to mobil's site... find out "old part number m1-103 is now m1-103A" ... oh for heaven's sake ]
- it takes a LONG time to drain a funnel full of 20w50 thru a 3/8 hose in 34 degree weather. If you want to know how long, fill up the funnel while kneeling next to the bike. You won't be going anywhere until the funnel drains out, so you'll know how long [the bike has 2/3 quart in it at the moment because i gave up for the night and went to find a bigger funnel with a bigger tube]

[user_deleted]

all XB models take the same oil filter. they are EXACTLY the same as 2007 and up toyota yaris/scion with 1.5L motor.
wix---bosch---k&n----napa---factory OEM all excellent. advise staying away from "house-brand" chinese junk filters.
cross ref list below
simply keep your oil indoors OR fill kitchen sink with several inches of hot water and let the quart containers sit in it for 20 minutes prior to filling. lose the funnel/hose method and simply buy a long-snout job. buck and a half @ crap-mart.

here ya go:
ACDelco # PF1233
Amsoil SDF10
Bosch # 3311
Champion # C138
Fram # PH4967
HD # 63806-004
K&N # hp-1003, KN-177
Mighty # m4477
Napa # 1394
Mobil 1 # M1-103
Motorcraft # FL836
Penzoil # pz39
Purolator # L14476
STP # S4967
Valvoline # vo40
Wal-Mart Super Tech # ST4967
Wix # 51394

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