Oil leak question

[Guls]

I rode my bike about 150 miles this weekend and saw few drops of oil dripping out of the tubes at the bottom of skid plate. Bike only has 450 miles. Is this normal? OR Is there excessive oil in the engine and should I be worried and have it checked out at my 600 mile service.
Thanks

 

[longride]

Most likely too much oil. It has to go out somewhere, so out the vent tubes it goes.

 

[Karson]

The place any excess oil would go is the little plastic cap/nipple on the LH side of your airbox. To my knowledge there aren't any "tubes".

Those tubes, I believe are 1) for coolant overflow b) gas tank overflow

Most likely the dealer overfilled the coolant reservoir.

 

[Bushyar15]

One of the tubes must be a fuel overflow. I notice with a full tank on a hot day…it drips fuel from it...

 

[Guls]

Just checked the bike, it has 3 tubes. 2 from gas tank and 1 coolant. Maybe it is the coolant.

 

[rotortech71]

I suspect you're talking about the two tubes that route down the left side of the engine, and end by the oil drain plug, not the one on the right coming from the back of the water pump. If so, I was puzzled about that a couple of months ago as well. I noticed dirt sticking to the bottom of my skid plate, and thought I had an oil leak. Took the plate off, and found nothing. Then I touched the end of those two tubes and got what appeared to be oil on my finger. Definitely the color and feel of engine oil. I was thinking, "am I loosing my mind, how is oil coming from the fuel tank??" So I just forgot about it and didn't worry. Haven't really noticed it since, but still makes me wonder, how can tubes that should only drain fuel, have something that feels like oil coming out of them?

 

[Mzee]

Is there such a thing that you can over fill the engine with oil? And what happens in this case?

 

[sander]

Is there such a thing that you can over fill the engine with oil? And what happens in this case?

Yes you can. Resulting into a higher crankcase pressure. You have to overfill by a lot though. Effects of to much crankcase pressure are popped or leaking seals. Or, if you really try, the oil will blow past the piston rings and you get a lot of blue smoke. It can cause a lot of damage so don't overfill.

A place were I used to work put 2 loads of oil in a 4.2L 6 cyl cummins diesel. Since a diesel engine doesn't mind running on oil the oil got past the piston rings and it started to increase the rpm. causing more oil passing the piston causing more rpm. It blew up quite spectacularly.

 

[Guls]

I suspect you're talking about the two tubes that route down the left side of the engine, and end by the oil drain plug, not the one on the right coming from the back of the water pump. If so, I was puzzled about that a couple of months ago as well. I noticed dirt sticking to the bottom of my skid plate, and thought I had an oil leak. Took the plate off, and found nothing. Then I touched the end of those two tubes and got what appeared to be oil on my finger. Definitely the color and feel of engine oil. I was thinking, "am I loosing my mind, how is oil coming from the fuel tank??" So I just forgot about it and didn't worry. Haven't really noticed it since, but still makes me wonder, how can tubes that should only drain fuel, have something that feels like oil coming out of them?

This is exactly what I am noticing.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I suspect you're talking about the two tubes that route down the left side of the engine, and end by the oil drain plug, not the one on the right coming from the back of the water pump. If so, I was puzzled about that a couple of months ago as well. I noticed dirt sticking to the bottom of my skid plate, and thought I had an oil leak. Took the plate off, and found nothing. Then I touched the end of those two tubes and got what appeared to be oil on my finger. Definitely the color and feel of engine oil. I was thinking, "am I loosing my mind, how is oil coming from the fuel tank??" So I just forgot about it and didn't worry. Haven't really noticed it since, but still makes me wonder, how can tubes that should only drain fuel, have something that feels like oil coming out of them?

My guess is that it's because gasoline is as much a petroleum product as engine oil, it is just lighter constituents form the original barrel.
Ever notice the black oily grime beneath the gas cap of cars that never get washed?

Quick Google image grab

 

[rotortech71]

My guess is that it's because gasoline is as much a petroleum product as engine oil, it is just lighter constituents form the original barrel.
Ever notice the black oily grime beneath the gas cap of cars that never get washed?

Quick Google image grab

That definitely crossed my mind. Once fuel makes its way down that rubber tube, past a hot engine, then mixes with road grime and dust, I can see how it can start feeling like oil.

 

[clint64]

It has happened to me a couple of times after long days of riding pretty hard with a fill up late in the day. It does look like oil but it is coming from the fuel tank vent lines.