Today I was *that guy*

[Vne]

I have always made it a habit to wipe the mounting surface for the filter clean. Then before mounting the new filter I coat the surface with a film of fresh oil. I usually am just making sure the grime outside the edge of the old filter isn't getting under the new filters gasket. With this situation in mine its probalby been a good habit .

 

[AFM#719]

I'm glad that has never happened to me, what a mess. It's hard to be mad at someone so willing to admit their mistakes, but if that was me out there and I crashed my bike do to somebody not knowing how to change an oil filter I would be pretty pissed. I would hope I too would have the maturity to let it go and be a good fellow biker. I can't give you kudos just for admitting it, but I will give a huge thumbsup to the fellow riders who are being so acceptive! Glad no one was hurt, and a big knock on wood for anyone else who might ever have a problem like this

Also do you think it was possible it was leaking and you didn't notice before it puked it all out since you have the catch with the track fairings? Did you change the oil before the trackday without testing it before arriving at the track?

After following the thread for a few days, I have to say I feel quite opposite. A huge kudos to the author for posting the thread and the evolution of his findings. Everyone makes mistakes.. how many ever admit to them?

There's about ten different lessons in here, and the biggest one is taking responsibility for your actions. This guy is 100% stand-up... and being able to trust the person next to you on the track is at the core of our sport.

 

[Snoggin]

Was the motor damaged? I know i will add another item to my checklist now when doing routine maintenance. I do generally check that the old o ring is on the old filter when I remove it. This also happend to scott on the sv.

 

[ALANRIDER7]

This type of thing could happen to anybody. You're stoked about doing a trackday, you're getting everything ready and time is short. You're rushing to get it all done. It always seems to go like that, doesn't it?

The old filter O-ring bonds to the engine and doesn't announce it to the world. You take the old filter off and at a quick glance, it's hard to notice anything wrong. The new filter goes on and even makes a temporary seal with the old O-ring. Remember- oil pressure is rpm related. It might not leak at all when you start the bike up- but when you hit redline......lookout. The seal ruptures and oil gushes everywhere. If he didn't have Sharkskinz on, he would have crashed bigtime.

This situation could have been a lot worse.

+1 to inspecting and cleaning the filter sealing surface every time. It's the only way.

 

[Yody]

After following the thread for a few days, I have to say I feel quite opposite. A huge kudos to the author for posting the thread and the evolution of his findings. Everyone makes mistakes.. how many ever admit to them?

There's about ten different lessons in here, and the biggest one is taking responsibility for your actions. This guy is 100% stand-up... and being able to trust the person next to you on the track is at the core of our sport.

Thats because you weren't one of the people who crashed because of it. And for the record I agree, this is a great thread and the author does get some kudos, but my point was that one shouldnt' recieve a bunch of props for spilling their oil on the track and causing 3 people to crash just because they admitted it. However its no big deal and I don't want to be the negative guy here and give anyone a hard time. Was just making an observation. I'm glad no one was hurt and hopefully somebody somewhere reads this and double checks their bike and prevents another spill like this Alans right, this could happen to anyone, so lets all make an effort to make sure it doesn't
:thumbup

 

[Lester Green]

Yody if you have this mind set the track is probably not for you..

 

[eeeeek]

Did you change the oil before the trackday without testing it before arriving at the track?

How would you propose testing a bike that isn't street legal? Just warming it up in your garage or even running it up and down the street in front of your house would probably not induce this problem.

 

[ALANRIDER7]

This thing didn't fail right after startup- it failed after enough oil pressure ruptured the extra O-ring. It's not an easy thing to catch. He most likely started it up to check the oil level after refilling. If oil leaks onto the pipes, it's going to smoke like a chimney when it gets hot. This is a case where the failure took place after a short time and enough pressure built up.

Unless he changed it out and didn't start it up after. That's trouble.

Boil it down......... it's a good thing that this news is out there. It shows just how important it is to focus on what you're doing and doing the job properly, no matter how routine it is. Never assume or take anything for granted. If you assume the old O-ring automatically came off with the filter, you're mistaken.

 

[Yody]

My experience with double gasketed filters is that they leak immediately. Of course every situation is different though. I've personally never have done it, but have seen the results from others who have. Starting it up, letting it warm up and a few twists of the wrist could never hurt. The crankcase pressure under load inside the motor is much different than in neutral, but the PSI should still be the same. Apparantly in this situation it didn't blow out till later in the day, so testing it before hand probably would not of shown anything. However I am still wodnering if its possible it was leaking the entire time, and then finally blew out.

If it was leaking the entire time and was not noticed I would call that negligence, but that is a big "if". I'm not trying to point blame as the author already admitted to it. No one is %100 safe against an accident like this, but doing as much as you can to prevent it can't hurt. But like Alan said, there is a lot going on in your head at a trackday and there are a list of things just as important as this to check. Unfortunatly this problem in particular is going to be one of the biggest as its going to affect other riders, not just yourself

 

[Yody]

Boil it down......... it's a good thing that this news is out there. It shows just how important it is to focus on what you're doing and doing the job properly, no matter how routine it is. Never assume or take anything for granted. If you assume the old O-ring automatically came off with the filter, you're mistaken.

Couldn't of said it better myself! :applause :thumbup

 

[ALANRIDER7]

This thread should be copied and put into the Garage and Crash Analysis sections.

 

[Yody]

+1

 

[Lester Green]

The oil pressure under load inside the motor is much different, but the PSI should still be the same.

:wtf If the oil pressure fluctuates under load, how can the psi remain the same, am i missing something here?

 

[Yody]

my point was that a motor will leak oil much more easily when its under load, like when riding the bike rather than just sitting in neutral. However the oil pressure PSI will still be the same or pretty close. The way I worded it was confusing since I used "pressure" to describe both occurences

 

[ALANRIDER7]

The oil pressure under load inside the motor is much different, but the PSI should still be the same.

I don't know what you're trying to say-

Oil pressure is rpm related. It goes up and down with engine speed. It's a sealed loop.

 

[Yody]

I think crankcase pressure is the word I was looking for, fixed the original post.

 

[ReptilianRage]

The bike was started multiple times before the seal(s) blew. It ran for a while in the paddock, we loaded the bike into my truck under power, and in fact he rode the bike during the first session of the day without a problem.

 

[Yody]

Well its a done deal now, hopefully this post will serve its purpose and future accidents will be avoided. I know that I have read about this before and it is always in the back of my mind, but for some reason, this post has really gotten me thinking about it and I for one will definetly be making it a priority to double check everytime.

plus it up'd my post count x10

 

[ALANRIDER7]

Crankcase pressure has nothing to do with any of this.

I upped my post count- up yours.

 

[Yody]

how bout clutches? Do I hear clutches anyone?