oil injection - 300RR-RE....a good thing?

[sbeec0505]

Hola !! Long time off road rider.....new Beta owner. Just put my deposit down for a BYOB 300 RR-RE. Really excited. Even after lots of research, I'm second guessing one decision.....adding oil injection to the RE model. I have ALWAYS pre-mixed, but with this bike I will add the street kit for US service roads and pavement if needed between trail heads. And I plan to spend a couple trips into Baja and other places and feel that not worrying about pre-mix will be very helpful (I will have the oversize 3.1 gal tank).

I couldn't really find any threads showing that the oil injection has been a problem with reliability or providing the right ratio of oil (too rich or lean).
Is oil injection a good decision for normal trail riding, some desert, hare scrambles and enduro's?
Is any change needed for riding at elevation?

thanks for the input !!
Rich

[webmaster]

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2296

jeff

[wwguy]

Welcome to the Beta club, you're going to love that new 300RR!

First, I think it worth noting (if it's not already obvious) that Beta introduced oil injection (OI) technology into their enthusiast model lineup for rider convenience, Euro 4 regulatory emissions compliance through reduced oil consumption, and rider cost savings associated with consuming less oil. Oil injection offers nothing in terms of increased engine performance, reliability, or longevity. If anything it's the opposite as dyno charts have long shown that more oil in the cylinder yields greater compression, and of course better lubrication results in longer engine component life.

Race pros aren't riding oil-injected bikes, which is probably also why the RE bikes don't come from the factory with it. Many weekend warriors like me have removed it because it's less hassle to premix than it is to worry about being stranded in some remote location with a busted engine. Beta even sells a simple Oil Injection Removal Kit to make it easy to convert OI bikes back to premix. The same can also easily be done without Beta's kit.

Most Xtrainer and 300RR riders haven't had issues with their oil injection systems, but OI does come with inherent and avoidable risk compared to simple premix. Some riders have had serious issues, and some of those have resulted in significant and sometimes severe engine damage. The most severe case I've heard about was a former rider in this forum who's OI failed resulting in his engine seizing and tossing him off of the bike for an ambulance ride to the hospital.

For while I was tracking the OI failure threads here and in the other Beta internet forums, but I eventually gave up because the message was pretty much the same over and over. I posted a few examples in the thread Jeff linked above. I can share more if you're really interested.

I initially removed OI from my 2016 Xtrainer to accommodate a Lectron carb that wasn't OI-compatible. In hindsight I'm glad that I did.

Here are a few possible causes of OI failure that I've gathered after reading firsthand accounts from riders who've experienced them:

• Wrong ECU installed by Beta (resulted in a memo sent to all dealers.)
• Water ingress into capacitor and diode pack causes corrosion and component failure resulting in OI system failure. In response to this Beta issued another internal memo and sent replacements parts to dealers worldwide. But the seals on the replacements appear to be questionable too. At least two different riders are now selling more robustly sealed components.
• Oil tank vent line crimped/kinked during factory installation (Like the ECU above, this was reported on several bikes.)
• Broken wires/connector on the oil pump. The pump and electrical connectors are in the airbox behind the air filter. They're vulnerable to damage by overenthusiastic removal and replacement of the air filter.
• Oil line and/or inlet port coming loose from the intake manifold. Both components are fragile and unprotected.

It seems that there are basically 3 different subsets of Beta Xtrainer/300RR riders:

1. Those who love OI and have had no problems with it. These folks love to rave about the awesomeness of OI and are by far the vast majority of riders. Based on previous experience I can almost guarantee that a few of them will be weighing in here shortly with their opinions of how great it is.
2. Those who were in group #1 right up until their OI systems failed. Most of these riders are now in group #3 below.
3. Those who opted not to use OI and aren't losing any sleep worrying about the possible issues described above.

Two stroke oil injection has been around for decades, so the general concept is solid and proven. My issue with Beta's implementation of it is that it uses a variety of fragile interconnected components connected to a half-assed electrical system jury-rigged at the factory to accommodate OI, all on a dirt bike otherwise designed and built to be used in rough, dirty, and wet riding conditions. The risk or failure is real, perhaps even predictable for some riding conditions, and it's certainly avoidable.

My motivation for writing yet another lengthy post on the topic is that Beta can and should do better in designing this system and owning the causes for failure. The same problems have been around, and unresolved, since the 2015 Xtrainer was released. Until Beta OI becomes more reliable new riders like you need to have the information required to make an informed decision about using OI.

Just my two cents. Or maybe a dollars worth, LOL.

[Kaos]

It’s been documented the ratio is adjusted by rpm . The plus is when running around at low rpm you have a 80:1 ratio . I will say the negative posts will always dwarf positive posts on any matter . 1 bike that breaks on the internet will likely be blown out of proportion . I like the oil injection , biggest drawback is I have a 2015 and 2017 . So one has and one has not making fueling l a pain .

[sbeec0505]

great information from different prospectives. I'll digest over the weekend -

I'm thinking that I don't want the extra risk.........I've pre-mixed my whole life....
We'll see what the out come is....

[hawaiidirtrider]

Don’t add oi. The reason to buy a race edition is because it doesn’t have it and has the cc forks.

[Silverfox]

Love my oil injection

[aj_mariner]

Don’t add oi. The reason to buy a race edition is because it doesn’t have it and has the cc forks.

+1 the extra cost is not worth the extra risk and won’t improve anything.

[rosco]

I love the oil injection. Am I going to talk someone into getting it? No. It's not for everyone. Reasons I love it: I have zero spooge in my exhaust, I get awesome fuel mileage, I can just fill up at the pump when I go riding and I don't have to carry oil with me when trail riding.

[wwguy]

I love the oil injection. Am I going to talk someone into getting it? No. It's not for everyone. Reasons I love it: I have zero spooge in my exhaust, I get awesome fuel mileage, I can just fill up at the pump when I go riding and I don't have to carry oil with me when trail riding.

With emphasis on the technical reasons, what exactly does oil injection have to do with reducing spooge and increasing fuel economy? (Assuming that the bike is properly jetted and the OI system is fully functional.)

I get no spooge running 50:1 premix and I know riders running 32:1 and 40:1 who are pretty much spooge-less too. Spooge is just uncombusted oil and is usually just a sign of rich jetting leading to lower engine temps.

It's hard to normalize fuel economy into any comparative discussion due to so many different riding styles, speeds, RPM, gears, and terrain etc. But I can't see any technical reason why OI would noticeably effect fuel economy one way or the other.

It's a bit different topic but the best thing I ever did to increase fuel economy and range was to replace the factory Keihin carb with a Lectron. For my typical riding the max range for My Xtrainer's 2.2 gallon tank went from 60 miles before hitting reserve up to 80 miles.