water in the breather?
 

hi, i have a k3s, i was changing the oil and filter last nite and thought id cheek the air filter, i removed the gause in the breather hole and there was gunky watery s**t in there (the bike has been running fine) i rung the mesh out and wiped out the air box, im just wondering is this normal? as ive never come across this in all my time tinkering with cars.

thanks rhys

Re: water in the breather!?
 

I think what you are referring to is an emulsion of oil/condensation that looks like mayonaise. Perfectly normal and found in cars too. Usual cause is lots of short journeys where the engine never really gets up to full temperature for very long and the bike is stored in damp conditions. Give it a full days ride out somewhere.

Of course it could mean that your head gasket has failed and the coolant is mixing with the oil but then you would see the mayonaise on the sight glass too and your coolant level would be dropping. Most unlikely.

Re: water in the breather!?
 

I had this after I dropped the bike on some Ice at the beginning of the year , washed it out under the tap and shook the water out of the sponge , it never came back .

Re: water in the breather?
 

ha, ha!! nail head etc etc i to droped my bike on that ice that must of been wot done it thanks badger

rocket thanks for reply this had crossed my mind but like you say there would be mayo in the sight glass but the oil was fine when i drained it off.
the bike gets used everyday to and from work 30-40 mins each way 40 mile round trip so gets a good warm up

Re: water in the breather?
 

The rear pipe under the "Sponge" is from the coolant , I had the airbox removed the other day to balance my throttle bodies and noticed the coolant spitting up from the open pipe . When I saw the emulsion in the Sponge I realised it was from when I dumped the bike on the deck , it was down for about 10 seconds and was enough for the coolant to leak into the sponge ..... it just stops the throttle bodies inhaling the coolant in this eventuality .

Re: water in the breather?
 

So the expansion tank overflow goes straight into the airbox? This is very odd.

Some water/emulsion in the catch tank is no big deal though.

Re: water in the breather?
 

No mate , I should imagine there is a smaller overflow style pipe that is a little bit below that , then that would head for the deck under the bike somewhere . I do think it`s a bit strange to have those breather pipes in there , probably something to do with keeping the air supply to it a bit on the clean side if anything ...... somebody will supply an answer at some point as I am quite hungover and .........................................meh!!!!!! I`m going back to bed .