Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I finally got a few minutes last Saturday to work on my 92 Seca 2. It's not running and it had sat for a while before I got it, so I at least wanted to drain the remaining gas from the carbs and gas tank. To do this I had to remove the air filter.

Upon inspection of the air filter I noticed it was wet with oil. The air filter was completely black. I'm not sure if that is oil or that is how it's made. When I removed the air filter housing (whatever it's called) there was a hose that connects to the bottom that was filled with oil. My dad was with me and he mentioned some air filters are called "oil bath air filters" or something. I can't remember the exact term he used. Looking in my OM and Haynes I don't see anything about that. Could this indicate a major problem?

Aftermarket air filters sometimes use a thin coat of oil on them. But I dont think this is your problem. The hose going into the airbox is a vent hose coming from the valve cover I assume. It should not be full of oil. That would indicate that there is way too much oil getting to your top end. Not sure what would cause this.

I would check the oil level first though.

If the air filter is full of motor oil replace it. It can't be cleaned.

I would maybe take the hose off the airbox side and turn the engine over to see if there is still oil leaking out of the hose, indicating a potential problem. Who knows maybe the bike was just tipped over or something and got oil in it.

Have you drained the gas out of the carbs yet? any oil in the carbs?

fireguzzi, this hose was directly under the air filter box. I saw the 2 breather/vent hoses coming from the valve cover. It wasn't clear to me what this other hose was. But it was overflowing with oil, and the engine hasn't run in about 6 months. The gas in the carbs looked good, no oil.

The PO had dropped the bike just before he stopped riding it.

It may be that the oil just came from it tipping over. If the filter is oily replace it. That would definitely keep it from starting.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but wouldn't the oil have drained back down the hose instead of spilling out the top when the box came off if being dropped had been the culprit?

Usually there are two breather hoses that attach to the air box, one that comes from the cylinder head and one that comes from the lower crankcase-transmission area. If the bike was laid over for a long period of time the air box could have become saturated with oil from these hoses. Also if the bike was overfilled with oil, during operation the crankcase pressure would have pushed the oil into the air box. Finally another possibility is worn piston rings which would create blow-by making a smoky mist which would eventually work its way into your air box.

Well, the hose simply ran to the bottom of the bike and was a sort of drain hose for oil spilling into the air box, as far as I understand it. There was a small plastic thing in the middle of the line, like an inline filter or something (?). Not sure if that is supposed to be there. That is what was keeping the oil from draining, as the hose on the opposite side of the plastic thing had almost no oil in it, while the top hose was full.

On another point I got the carb off and the third intake manifold from the left was full of gasoline. Is that a sign of something bad?

Sounds like you have a float needle sticking. The carbs need to be cleaned and rebuilt.

My friend helped me out with the carbs a couple of nights ago. I should say he did it while I watched . He completely cleaned them out, fixed the choke which was just a stuck plunger (I think that's what it is) on the side of one of the carbs. A couple of screws broke, simply from age I think. I've got to reorder those before I can reassemble it. I'll probably get new gaskets too while I'm at it.

None of the floats were stuck. They all moved freely. The PO didn't realize there is a "PRI" (Prime) position on the petcock. He may well have let the bike sit for a long time with gas flowing into the carbs.

On another note, how do you tell if an air cleaner is washable?