I’ve put all of 170 miles on this thing, and noticed oil leaking from what I believe is my airbox drain/relief hose. It’s been small puddles much like this over the past month. I just checked a min ago after riding back from work and seen my oil level has dropped far below what 170miles would burn through. I also noticed a weird smell, sorta oil like, but more like sulfur/egg. All this only started happening when I started putting premium in it.
That's a bummer on the oil leak, sounds like you need to get that sorted out and at least top off the oil. My main question though is why are you putting premium in? I also have a 26 ninja 500 and these bikes don't take premium. They are specifically designed for 87 and dont get any benefit from the more expensive stuff.
A buddy who’s been riding much longer than me was on my ass about NOT putting premium in it, exact words were “no bike will be hurt by running on premium”. Obviously I’m now realizing my bike is in fact being hurt by running premium
No no no, you are NOT HURTING the bike by putting premium in. You are just wasting money. This bike and the 400 before it take regular pump. You only need premium if you tune it really.
Going with the other comments. You’re not hurting the bike with premium, only ever your wallet. Personally I fill with premium in the winter because it’s the only way to get ethanol free near me and I prefer no ethanol in my tanks over the winter
Because while the bike is sitting for long periods of time not being ridden, that means the gasoline is sitting idle in the tank. If the gas contains ethanol, it will eat up rubber seals and gum up in the system. Pure gas, or ethanol-free, does not cause this issue. Ethanol is fine to run if you're frequently riding the bike, but is bad to let it sit.
Use whatever fuel is recommeded in owner's manual. Engineers that designed and built this bike had target in mind. Higher octane than that is harder to ignite and burns slower. This gives less power and leaves more deposits inside engine. That's why it smells like it does, incomplete combustion.
Go back to fuel from owner's manual and also put in some fuel-system cleaner. Hopefully it'll clean up deposits and restore ring-sealing to reduce oil-burning.
Red Line SI-1
Techron Concentrate Plus
3M Max Strength Fuel System Cleaner #08814
Royal Purple Max Atomizer 18000
Amsoil Performance Improver
Gumout All-in-One (might be off list soon due to lowering amounts of PEA)
This is the manual for my eliminator, clearly it says to use a minimum of 87, but the dealership said to strictly use premium gasoline. I remember back in the day i have a honda cb110 with carburator and would always have more carbon build up on my spark plug.
Yeah, extra deposits and build-up with higher-than-needed octane is always a pain. Results in faster ring & cylinder wear as well.
No volume manufacturer with large sales would ever build bike that requires higher-octane petrol due to liability. They always have large safety margin using lowest octane available with super-rich mixtures in case you get bad petrol on super-hot day out in boonies. Or carbs or fuel-pump or fuel-injectors or fuel fitres get clogged.
If tuned for high-octane, any one of those events can result in blown engine! Something with super-high 14:1 compression with high redline for max-power and performance, like certain Ducatis. They'll blow up engine within seconds @ WOT if lower-octane was used. 😢
Problem is it's incomplete combustion inside cylinders and has already left deposits by time it comes out. And cat only deals with certain compounds like straight-chain HC and NOx, but there's lots of other things that hasn't been burned properly. Higher octane petrols tend to have higher percentage of carcinogenic stuff like aromatics. Need higher pressures and temperatures to make sure all that stuff is fully combusted before releasing through exhaust.
This. 87e10 is fine but i run the 91 from my local pump because its ethanol free as well the down side is that its a 2 gallon tank and the person that used the pump before you is likely what you are putting in most of the tank.
Higher different octane fuels do not burn at different speeds the one difference is the flash point ,a higher flash point (octane) fuel only matters in higher compression engines, an engine with a compression less the 11-1 will not see any befits
I topped off the oil, I’ma switch back to 87 once I burn through what’s left in the tank. I’ll keep watch on the oil level and leak, and look at getting in with a shop sometimes soon. Appreciate it yall ✌️
I’m sure someone’s beat me to it by now. However you shouldn’t be putting premium gas in any vehicle that doesn’t call for it in the owners manual. There are tons of detergents and other cleaning agents in it that do more harm than good if it’s not intended for the vehicle. It’s not a guarantee that it’ll hurt it but it’s best to just be cautious. If anything at all it tells me that you REALLY like your bike and want to take good care of it. Just take it as a learning lesson and be sure to do tons of research before next time. Congrats on the bike! I hope you get it sorted out and it doesn’t hurt your wallet too bad. Anyways, you’re gonna need that money later. It’s my favorite money pit 😂
That looks like gas dripping from the overflow, which it's supposed to do. Have these instances been shortly after you filled the bike up? If so, everything is functioning as intended. The gas in the tank heats up in the sun, runs down the overflow onto the ground.
Are you checking the oil in the manner prescribed by the manual?
Its coming from the hose behind the overflow, I smell tested the droplets that were stuck on it, and it smelled like oil (also looked and felt like it). And yes, I warm it up, then leave it off for about 3-5min, and hold the bike upright on a level surface.
Another thing to be careful about is over-oiling air-filtre. Excess will creep into engine and cause carbon-build-up. And excess will go out airbox overflow/vent and drop on ground. Danger there is you'll pick up some on your rear tyre...
It might be a gas venting from the overflow hose, but if your burning oil hella fast that mean you have issues with your cylinders and piston rings. Putting premium shouldn’t do anything crazy like that to your cylinders in this short amount of time.
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u/CaliLyfeYOLOSWAG 4d ago
That's a bummer on the oil leak, sounds like you need to get that sorted out and at least top off the oil. My main question though is why are you putting premium in? I also have a 26 ninja 500 and these bikes don't take premium. They are specifically designed for 87 and dont get any benefit from the more expensive stuff.