oil on pushrod

[scotcher65]

Hello Brothers of the Road,
Had my bike out yesterday for run, noticed some oil on the rear pushrod. It's not a lot, more like a light spray. Can it cure itself? Has anyone had similiar problem?
Is it an easy fix or should i go out and bang my head off a tree?

[Druegeme]

you mean the chrome pushrod cover on the cylinder?

in general 'spray' sounds a bit concerning as it would mean it sprays out from somewhere under pressure. Can you find our where it comes from?

[scotcher65]

sorry, maybe is shouldn't have said spray, but there is a little oil at the base of the rear pushrod cover

[Tcontrol]

Did you change oil lately?

Have you cleaned your air filter…? An oil soaked air filter can drip… (oil comes from crankcase breather hose which is attached to air filter housing)

Running a lot of high RPMs lately….

mileage on bike?
any maintenance performed lately…?

lots of questions befor any advice can be given…

if your asking about how difficult it is to change the rubber o-rings and seals on the pushrod tubes….. easy job… about 1 1/2 hours per tube if you can wrench efficiently….

i suspect your problem lies elsewhere unless you have abused the motor…

[Shores]

I would rule out these two possibilities first. Number one, did you overfill the engine with oil by letting the dipstick to see you? If you did, you may have oil tripping from the bottom of your air and take box. And number two, do you have a K&N intake air filter that you over oiled? If so it could be dripping or blowing out oil.

[davej]

are you sure it is oil? Is it dotted black spots?

[brianmac]

and there is a breather hose on rear cylinder head that goes to stock air filter for CrankcaVentilation gases/oil
to get resucked into carb,

[Shotround]

probably Carb puke. Close petcock

[Brad_G]

Without seeing it, I'm leaning to the crankcase breather putting the oil vapors back into the air box. Unless you've put an aftermarket air intake on and routed the case vent elsewhere on the bike.

[Jclevesque]

Sounds like a blow back or carb puke. Nothing abnormal, keep riding.

[scotcher65]

took my k&N filter off and 1/2 tespoon of oil ran out onto the floor. Also noticed that filter was very dirty, alot of dead bugs!
hope this is the cause of the oil on pushrod. Thank you brothers for all your advice, i will let you know if problem is solved

[Druegeme]

that's most likely from that crankcase breather going back into the air filter. its easy and cheap to solve that with some 3/8 ID fuel line from autoparts store. it's really a sub-optimal design from the factory.

[Shores]

took my k&N filter off and 1/2 tespoon of oil ran out onto the floor. Also noticed that filter was very dirty, alot of dead bugs!
hope this is the cause of the oil on pushrod. Thank you brothers for all your advice, i will let you know if problem is solved

Don't use the dipstick and end up adding more oil. The dipsticks are notoriously inaccurate. These engines don't use oil or leak oil so there's no reason to add more. Overfilling will just get blown out as you have seen.

[scotcher65]

No , I didn't add too much oil..... I learned that lesson last year lol. If you reroute that tube where will it dump the oil ?

[Shores]

Mount one of these behind the ignition switch underneath the tank and run the hose to it.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Brad_G]

There are a couple of popular opinions. One is to route the hose down below the bike. The other is up along the frame rail towards the neck with a small filter on the end.

The other day I saw someone here mention running it up towards the neck and then back down to the air box. Adds length and incline to separate the oil from the air but still pulls the fumes into the intake to burn. No dripping on the floor or smelling fumes while you ride with this method (just my personal thoughts).

[Duke]

The other day I saw someone here mention running it up towards the neck and then back down to the air box. Adds length and incline to separate the oil from the air but still pulls the fumes into the intake to burn. No dripping on the floor or smelling fumes while you ride with this method (just my personal thoughts).[/QUOTE]


I started doing this 20 years ago after noticing oil on my air filter and haven't turned back. With some of the parts stores, I'll ask to look at their pre-bent pcv hoses, and I can usually find a hose that bends 90 degrees then bends another 90 degrees with-in a 4" spacing, using that hose at the neck. I like a minimum of 3/8 id hose going up to the neck.
Like Brad_G said, this gives time for the oil to separate while going up hill, just leaving vapors going to the air box. This works for me, and have done this for several other Road Stars.

[Brad_G]

Thanks for chiming in. I didn't want to apply a name to the comment since I wasn't 100% sure.

[scotcher65]

would it be ok to leave it as is and just keep it clean evey couple of weeks?

[Shores]

Keeping it clean is one thing but keeping oil mist out of the intake seems to be most folks' concern.

[Tcontrol]

I run a BAK air filter… (Big Air Kit)…it has the crankcase breather tube hooked to the back of the housing. Yes it does get some oil from the crankcase breather tube on it….
it has a sponge filter similar to a lawn mower filter that you lightly oil after cleaning it…. I average about 5k miles a year on the bike and only clean it 2x a year…. Typically the bike will feel a little sluggish and tend to show symptoms of being extra cold natured when the filter needs cleaning… your experience may be different depending on your filter element size and material…
leaving the breather tube installed on the air filter housing is just fine… just remember to clean it periodically….