T160 Oil Tank Breather

[Duck749]

Was able to get everything together and start the bike again today, most fuel issues are resolved and starter turns bike over fine.

What I ran into after starting is gear case oil coming out the adapter-oil tank breather. I confirmed the levels were ok and not overfilled. Does a steady stream of oil indicate too much or do the adapters go bad (act as pressure valve?)?

The diagrams I see also show that this is just the adapter and there are no connections back to gear case or anything as its a vent correct?

It was gear box oil coming out and not engine oil.

 

[Rudie]

gear case oil coming out the adapter-oil tank breather
It was gear box oil coming out and not engine oil.

You better look harder and hope not, or something is seriously wrong ...

The spigot in your photo should have the other end of the oil tank vent hose on it - that allows any vapour and oil droplets vented from the oil tank to drain into the primary, that is linked to the crankcase - helped to reduce emissions.

after starting

Another possibility is if the oil tank was filled (with no more than 3 US quarts) and the bike has been left unused for more than about a week? Unused triples are a bit notorious for allowing oil in the tank to drain into the crankcase. If you did not check the oil level in the tank before starting and the oil has drained from the tank to the crankcase:-

, the crankcase is connected to the primary, so oil draining from the tank to the crankcase will also have filled the primary;

. however, even if the crankcase is emptied by the started engine scavenging the oil there back to the tank, any oil in the primary will not drain back into the crankcase quickly;

. the primary chain spun by the running engine will throw lots of oil around the primary until the excess oil does drain into the crankcase;

. if the primary spigot in your photo. did not have the oil tank vent hose attached, some of the excess oil splashed around by the primary is bound to come out of the spigot;

. however, whatever is in/comes out of the primary must be engine oil ...

The diagrams I see also show that this is just the adapter
View attachment 55168

Look at the parts book "Oil Tank And Pipe Lines" pages (68/69) for pipe #9 that connects oil tank froth tower vent and primary spigots.