 |
Around my injector was this white milky substance. It didn't look
like oil, and it didn't look like gas... So what is it then?
Well for any of you
that has ever worked on motors before, you know that a white
substance in your motor along with oil can only mean one thing!!!
WATER!!! |
 |
Well
I took apart my fuel filter and air supply assembly and this is what
I found in there! Lots more of the white milky substance! |
My first thoughts
were the cooling system, maybe I had a leak somewhere. But I
really didn't think this was the problem because it wasn't in the
cylinder and there really wasn't any way for water from the cooling
system to get where it was... So I decided to pick up the phone and
make some phone calls...
I called MOTOTEK, AF1 RACING, and 2 of my local dealers to get some
info on possible causes. It turns out that this isn't a very common
problem, but it does happen. You see there is a small air compressor
on DiTech scooters that pressurizes air and injects it into the
cylinder with the gas. Well for any of you that own an air
compressor, you know that moisture can build up when humid air is
pressurized. The dealers I talked to all said they have only had a
few cases of this happening. And apparently, IT IS OIL RELATED!!!
Apparently synthetic oil actually has a moisture content which lets
the moisture condensate and collect in the oil. This collection of
water in the oil is actually a water/oil emulsification which only
occurs with the presence of synthetic oil.
I also learned that
Aprilia does know about the problem and is trying to figure out why
exactly this is happening. Apparently Aprilia has put out a "Quick
Fix Kit" that involves a trap on the delivery line to catch water
particles. Evidently the "Quick fix" doesn't really fix the problem
very well. Most dealers I talked to said the easiest and best fix is
to go to a semi synthetic or pure petroleum based oil instead.
Eliminating or reducing the amount of synthetic base in your 2-cycle
oil will help reduce or eliminate the water emulsification. |
|
So then I took
everything apart, the air injector, air line, the entire injector
delivery assembly and cleaned it all out with gas. I used a
pipe cleaner and pushed it through the delivery hose and I was
amazed how much crap was in there also! |
 |
To
be on the safe side, I was curious as to whether there was any water
in the crank case. So I removed the compressor unit and took a look
inside to be sure. Thank goodness, there was no water in the case.
Which would actually make sense since it is only found in the air
AFTER the compressor compresses it.
But
the compressor itself was full of water. So I took the compressor
completely apart and cleaned everything really good with gas. |
| I reassembled
everything after it was cleaned. Then I drained the fully
synthetic oil and replaced it with a semi synthetic oil. After
running for about a month with absolutely no problems, I suddenly
started having a relapse of my old problem. I tore my injector
apart, and low and behold, there was the milk again. I just
recently switched to running a pure petroleum based oil with no
synthetics. I am also now looking into other possible
remedies, such as putting an in-line compressor filter on the
delivery hose. I haven't ridden long enough to report
anything, but so far so good. I will update once I am
confident I have found a good cure for this problem. |
 |
This is what I have going right
now. I bought an in-line compressor filter and also decided to
add a pressure gauge. I needed a T to split the line so I
could add the gauge |
 |
This is what I ended up with.
The hose pointing up goes to the injection head, and the hose to the
right goes to the compressor. |
 |
This is what the gauge looks
like once I got it installed. The red arrow is pointing to the
filter. It tucked up real nice under the farings. I
really like having the pressure gauge there. It looks cool,
and it is real nice to see what the pressure is doing. |
