Topic: How much vapor is normal from the breather?

[jorwesflow]

I know that in stock, the hose goes into the airbox, and you can't really see the vapor. But I've had pods and this breather filter for years now, and have always wondered what amount of vapor is normal. It seems it increases along with the temperature.

[Don R]

 It totally depends on engine wear, state of tune, outside air temp, how hot it gets during a ride. Looks about what I'd expect. On race cars they put a sock over it to catch the oil. Then, change it occasionally.

[PeWe]

You don not feel the smell when standing still with engine running?
A longer hose will not let the fumes to hit the face if routed backwards behind the foot pegs. I have that on my CB750's. My K6 had a long hose all the way to passenger foot peg. My K6 has a n extra breather hose from clutch cover, short hose routed up between carb 2-3 pods.

[disco]

Lots of short distance riding will also increase the amount of vapour.

It regularly needs a good long ride to get the oil up to temperature to remove water vapour.

[Bodi]

This is likely just piston blowby - not terribly bad but a tight engine would have less. Or badly worn exhaust guides, not so good.
Engine hot or cold? I would be concerned if cold.

On a cold engine water vapor in the blowby will condense into the oil but that is not any problem. The amount is trivial and it will boil off when the engine gets to normal running temp.
If that "steam" is condensed water in the oil boiling off... totally normal and no cause for concern. But I don't think it is.

[PeWe]

It will look like more vapor when ambient temp is lower.
Agree on the importance of long rides boiling the water out of the engine.  Oil temp of 100C + needed.

[Bodi]

The other question is - how quickly does that filter get saturated with oil? If it's dripping oil after a couple hours riding I think you have a piston ring sealing problem. I have a similar filter on the 400F and it needs a solvent bath only after hundreds of miles. I do get smoky (and smelly) blowby coming from it when the engine is idling and really hot, nothing noticeable when cold.