Pumping way too much oil!!

[wwguy]

P.S. - I LOVE this bike!

LOL, me too. Sometimes to my own detriment. You might get a kick out of this recent video. The last 3 or 4 minutes are especially "scenic".

[Rut Row]

I wonder what the ratio is of those with problems and those without. People with issues usually mention them; those without don't. The rider convenience aspect is a big seller for me. My riding buddy has a '15 XT and has no problems. He is the one that got me looking at Betas.

[Pieter]

Previous 300rr about 2%. My new 2018 uses 5%, so disabled the system and went to premix

[sasrocks]

you can buy a RE manifold without the oil port for $35-40. that gets you the key piece for 1/3 the price as long as you are ok with not messing with the TPS parts in the carb. tis is what I did no problem. and easier to re install the OI down the road.

[wwguy]

I wonder what the ratio is of those with problems and those without. People with issues usually mention them; those without don't. The rider convenience aspect is a big seller for me. My riding buddy has a '15 XT and has no problems. He is the one that got me looking at Betas.

Good question. I've been following the topic fairly closely here and in other Beta forums and FB groups. For a while I was keeping a collection of links to threads reporting OI problems, but quit updating it after the list grew to 20 or so threads. Many of those threads had input from multiple riders experiencing similar problems. But I have no idea how those reports represent the actual percentage of Beta riders experiencing and/or reporting OI system failures.

Here are few questions that I think are probably more pertinent to the topic:

How do you know that your OI system is injecting the right amount of oil at any given time on any given ride? In other words, how would you know if you're having "issues", sudden or gradual, before they manifest into damage to the engine?

If you don't know how much oil is flowing, and you have no way to verify it yourself, are you really comfortable placing blind faith in a fragile and complex system known to be prone to occasional failures? Even if the failure rate is only 5 out of 100 or less?

Bonus rhetorical question: What level of risk are you willing to accept that the guy in the post below might be you someday?



I covered up the member's username in the post pasted above because after posting he decided to pursue legal action to compensate for bike loss and medical care etc. and asked for the post to be removed. He hasn't logged in or posted again here since that happened.

[wwguy]

you can buy a RE manifold without the oil port for $35-40. that gets you the key piece for 1/3 the price as long as you are ok with not messing with the TPS parts in the carb. tis is what I did no problem. and easier to re install the OI down the road.

I agree. I bought the OI Removal Kit for $120 and ended up only using the intake manifold.

Another alternative is to just put a $0.30 vacuum line cap over the OI port in the stock manifold.

[McKay]

I went one better, removed OI and Put a Lectron on..

[wwguy]

I went one better, removed OI and Put a Lectron on..

I'm running a Lectron too, but how is that "one better" than the stock carb in context of this topic? The 36mm Keihin is a great carburetor with long history of success for several bike manufacturers.

[cnote308]

P.S. - I LOVE this bike!

LOL, me too. Sometimes to my own detriment. You might get a kick out of this recent video. The last 3 or 4 minutes are especially "scenic".

Awesome video, Thanks! That trail looks like so much fun.

Also, I disabled the OI today and went for a ride at my normal spot. Wow, I cannot believe how well the bike worked today; and I never once had to look down and make sure the oil line was still attached and oil was still in the line. My OI must have been acting up for a while and I didn't know it...the bike felt electric today. No more breaking up like I was hitting a rev limiter when I got on the throttle. Just a very slight off idle burble that was barely noticeable.

For reference:
Temp 85°
Elevation 1900 ft
Air screw 1 1/2
N2ZJ 3rd
35 pilot
91 octane ethanol free
45:1 amsoil interceptor

Also for reference, this is what I did to disable OI:
Drained oil tank- I used a syringe with a hose attached to it to suck the oil out; a small amount remained in the bottom.
Pulled oil hose from manifold and pump and removed it.
Capped nipple on manifold with automotive vacuum cap and secured with zip tie.
Unplugged oil level sensor connector, hit it with some dielectric grease and zip tied out of the way.
Unplugged TPS sensor connector, dielectric grease, zip tie.
Note: at this point I left the blue connector connected to the pump figuring if the tps sensor wasn't sending a signal to the ecu, the pump may not work even if connector was plugged in. (connector is sealed so better to leave it connected if possible as I do not intend to remove the pump yet)
Mixed up some gas/oil and started the bike to see if the pump would run. Sure enough, the pump started pumping as soon as I started it; it was pumping short bursts of oil with throttle closed.
So I disconnected the connector and capped the nipple as the final step.

I'll probably order the removal kit or at least the manifold at some point. Or maybe just leave it as is. Only thing I didn't really like was the stupid engine light flashing...I believe I just need to pull the light grey wire from the connector to eliminate the light, correct?

[robw122]

"I believe I just need to pull the light grey wire from the connector to eliminate the light, correct?"
yup. one day I might get around to that part as well.