Getting the LMIII (1982 850) out and about. Unfortunately oil is getting out and about too. The bike has airbox removed and K&N pods fitted. A breather/drain tube runs from the frame down under the engine by the gearchange lever. I have noticed this dripping goo. Now that I've got new tyres on the bike and have been out for a few rides, I saw today that oil is spreading itself over the swing arm, rear-brake, tyre etc. When I saw it this afternoon, I did a roadside clean-up of brake disc & pads, with petrol. Had a look to see if there was anything different could be done with breather system. There is a small vertical tube coming from the crankcase beside (to left) the main breather. What is this for? It was capped off. I wondered if the drain tube should maybe be connected to this, to recirculate the oil (and water) coming from the frame, so I removed the cap and put the hose on to see what would happen. On the way home I then thought that probably the hose would normally connect to the airbox, not the crankcase – and possibly another hose would run from the small crankcase pipe to the airbox also. I realised that what I had done was likely to mean that there was now no 'breather' route with any opening to atmosphere and that pressure was going to force oil out somewhere else. Sure enough, when I got home, the other side of the bike was plastered in oil and it had still found its way onto the back tyre, though the brake was ok as it was on the other side.
What have people who have fitted K&Ns to their V.11 done with the breather hose that normally connects to the airbox?
Can anybody with experience of the older Le Mans breather system tell me what solutions there are? Should this oil from the breather system not be getting fed back into the sump rather than blown out to atmosphere/road/tyre/brake?
If there isn't a way of recirculating it, do I need to make a box or bottle to collect the lost oil?
What is that small pipe beside the main breather outlet? Should it have a hose to connect it to anything?