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Crankcase breather

wwillf01

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I keep getting water in my oil on my cr500 ... It seems to happen in this warm spring weather.. So I just routed it under the seat ... Do you guys put any type of filter on it? The attached picture is after one ride
67d532551bd7648f10ea5bb505db0560.jpg


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n16ht5

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Aug 5, 2013
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I looped my breather tube around the carb a few times and then into a little plastic bottle with holes in the bottom... works decent so far
 

needpowder

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leaky seal?
No wait, that doesn't make any sense. That is odd.
 
Last edited:

wwillf01

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Is your coolant low at all? Possibly a leaky head gasket?
That oil is crazy for one ride. How many gallons? I change mine every two rides (3-4 tanks/6-8 gallons) and it is usually smoked but doesn't look like that. Are you sucking snow somehow? I had this problem on a yz 250 one time and it turned out to be bad gas. I felt pretty dumb as i kept taking the engine apart, cleaning, then using the same jerry can to fill it up. Water got in my gas can during a rainstorm. Guess you always start with the simple stuff right? I cut my breather a bit shorter but other than that havn't done anything to it.
Good luck!

Zero coolant loss.. Same thing is happening to the 450r carbed I ride with... Just started spring so the snow is pretty far from the Tss intake... It is corn snow ... Gas cans are rotax and stored on their sides so they would leak gas if there were not air tight.. I just switched gas caps and I will try the catch bottle..


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CATSLEDMAN1

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Nov 27, 2007
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Hmmmmm

thats almost always coolant leaking in the crankcase, 1/2 oz anti will milk your tranny oil. Not alarming, but might need checking out. Vent ? not so likely on 2 stroke, I've ridden lots of submurged spring enduro's, and tranny milk was always overheating two stroke in tight mud. not underwater vent hose.
 

wwillf01

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I will keep an eye on it ... The top end was done 10 hours ago.. I have a snowmobile type overflow Bottle and have not noticed anything ... The weird part is my riding partner is getting the same issue but on a 4 banger..


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Rush44

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Nov 26, 2007
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It's the result of temperature differential between the top half of the motor and bottom half. Doesn't matter if it's 2 stroke or 4 stroke... if the sump can't expel condensated moisture through evaporation you end up with milk oil. Then the milky oil foams up, expands, and then gets pressurized out the crankcase breather.

Covering the sump helps some, but you really have to get full engine coverage like the SXS Snowshield or something like the Powersports Tech Engine Jacket. I'm going to try one of the PST solutions for next season... I like the coverage and how you can adjust the amount of engine exposed during the ride.

http://www.powersportstech.com/pst-engine-jackets.html
 

wwillf01

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It's the result of temperature differential between the top half of the motor and bottom half. Doesn't matter if it's 2 stroke or 4 stroke... if the sump can't expel condensated moisture through evaporation you end up with milk oil. Then the milky oil foams up, expands, and then gets pressurized out the crankcase breather.

Covering the sump helps some, but you really have to get full engine coverage like the SXS Snowshield or something like the Powersports Tech Engine Jacket. I'm going to try one of the PST solutions for next season... I like the coverage and how you can adjust the amount of engine exposed during the ride.

http://www.powersportstech.com/pst-engine-jackets.html

Now why would this not happen when it was colder and in powder.... The engine was working way harder than in the spring corn which in turn had more evaporation? I am not being difficult just trying to understand... It's hard to get my engine above 90 in the powder


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P
May 26, 2020
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wwillf01 - what did you end up doing to solve this issue? I'm running into the same problem I think - bike ran great in DEEP snow for a bit, then started to sputter pretty good. I rode back to the trailer and shut 'er off then noticed what looked like crank case oil dripping. After getting home and clearing things out a bit I saw that the crank case breather had spooged a bunch of milky oil on my skid plate. Seems like Rush44 has a pretty logical explanation and I've heard of this before. My engine temps were good but most likely the case was colder and condensing, then the breather tube plugged up for a bit before blowing it off... I'm curious what you solution is, as this was years ago and you're still riding 2 strokes!
 
T
Jan 26, 2019
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Pemberton BC
wwillf01 - what did you end up doing to solve this issue? I'm running into the same problem I think - bike ran great in DEEP snow for a bit, then started to sputter pretty good. I rode back to the trailer and shut 'er off then noticed what looked like crank case oil dripping. After getting home and clearing things out a bit I saw that the crank case breather had spooged a bunch of milky oil on my skid plate. Seems like Rush44 has a pretty logical explanation and I've heard of this before. My engine temps were good but most likely the case was colder and condensing, then the breather tube plugged up for a bit before blowing it off... I'm curious what you solution is, as this was years ago and you're still riding 2 strokes!

I got condensation like that until I stuffed my skid plate with closed cell foam. Since I did that I can go 8 rides with out changing the oil and still no milkiness.
My ignition is sealed on my kx500 and I get condensation in there. I have to dry it after every decent ride, especially if it is deep.
 
P
May 26, 2020
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8
I got condensation like that until I stuffed my skid plate with closed cell foam. Since I did that I can go 8 rides with out changing the oil and still no milkiness.
My ignition is sealed on my kx500 and I get condensation in there. I have to dry it after every decent ride, especially if it is deep.
Yeah I'm still fine tuning my engine jacket/skid plate configuration. Tribalbc, do you have a photo of the header portion of your 2 stroke? At the moment, I have no coverage on my engine jacket in that region and with snow up to the rads today it was just packing in there. I need to figure out something to help keep the snow out but not fry it on the header. I added a layer of "astro foil" to my skid plate to help insulate, but the main problem is keeping the snow out at the moment.

Also, I can't remember if I asked you this, but did you do anything about your carb vent lines? I've tried the pill bottle trick. It's hard to say how it's working because so much snow get's packed in and around there. I'm wondering if my stutter/hesitation might have been that...
 
T
Jan 26, 2019
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Pemberton BC
Not
Yeah I'm still fine tuning my engine jacket/skid plate configuration. Tribalbc, do you have a photo of the header portion of your 2 stroke? At the moment, I have no coverage on my engine jacket in that region and with snow up to the rads today it was just packing in there. I need to figure out something to help keep the snow out but not fry it on the header. I added a layer of "astro foil" to my skid plate to help insulate, but the main problem is keeping the snow out at the moment.

Also, I can't remember if I asked you this, but did you do anything about your carb vent lines? I've tried the pill bottle trick. It's hard to say how it's working because so much snow get's packed in and around there. I'm wondering if my stutter/hesitation might have been that...


Nothing special here just my closed cell foam to the edge of the skid plate. The 500 makes lots of heat though, it stays clear no problem. I even leave my engine left side open with no problems. I need to loose heat on my motor, not keep it in.

For my carb breathers I do the same as I do for my dirt bike in the summer for deep water crossings. I run my breathers up under my tank to the coil. I do a 1/2 turn with them at the top so the hole faces down.

PXL_20210130_025128977.jpg
 

mrsnow

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Dec 30, 2008
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Just some more input. Your vent hose is more than likely freezing up, which creates crankcase pressure which causes other problems ie. Pushes coolant into the crankcase via water pump seal etc. looped mine over the eng. down to the chain, never had any more problems
 
P

portgrinder

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Nov 26, 2007
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It looks like what you have here is maybe a mix of two stroke and 4 stroke advice.
I assume you are 2 stroke?

Like others have said, elevate your gear case breather as high as you can and put some sort of filter cloth etc on it.

i’ve never seen the condensation thing but that’s just me. I run no skid plate, bare crankcase on 2 strokes and just insulate the cylinder and head. Snow packed everywhere and it’s fine.

The engine issues are likely carb related (separate from your breather). Mine did the exact same thing. Solved it by heating the carb and elevating the carb breather hoses as high/sheltered as possible and covering them in filter cloth.

on a 2 stroke your gear case breather could darn near be plugged solid and cause no issues. Air is not cycling in/out like on a 4 stroke crankcase. Two different things. Milk in the oil will also not make it run bad. To make it run well, focus on the carb.

sorry hope all that rambling helps.
 

wwillf01

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wwillf01 - what did you end up doing to solve this issue? I'm running into the same problem I think - bike ran great in DEEP snow for a bit, then started to sputter pretty good. I rode back to the trailer and shut 'er off then noticed what looked like crank case oil dripping. After getting home and clearing things out a bit I saw that the crank case breather had spooged a bunch of milky oil on my skid plate. Seems like Rush44 has a pretty logical explanation and I've heard of this before. My engine temps were good but most likely the case was colder and condensing, then the breather tube plugged up for a bit before blowing it off... I'm curious what you solution is, as this was years ago and you're still riding 2 strokes!
For me I put a new oil cap on with a new gasket... problem solved... happened on my yz250 and did the same.

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