Fuel in the crankcase..

[Gixxer]

I’m my quest to get a third bike, and it be a crotch rocket, I found one I’m really interested in but it may be too much of a project for me.

Along with other issues, it has fuel in the crankcase?

Does that mean the piston rings are toast?

Does that mean a top end rebuild?

What would that cost on an inline four?

[MUZ720]

Injected or carbs? fuel is still flowing, floats sticking open if carbureted or leaky injectors.

[Gixxer]

Carbs, which need cleaning.

[PurplePackage]

How do you know it's fuel, and when was the last time someone tried to start it? Fuel can leak down into the lower engine if it's cranking but not starting and someone sits on the start button, sucking fuel down into the chamber and letting it soak down into the crankcase.

[MUZ720]

clean carbs make sure float level settings are correct. drain oil.

[boosten lebaron]

What are you looking at?

Sticking floats can easily dump fuel into the crankcase. Could be level too or several other things.

[zxme]

Sticky float also could be a faulty petcock

[lrrs398]

I was able to get a couple 2012 Ninja 250's that were used for the MSF class very cheap. What happened to one of them is that the fuel petcock let the fuel flow (instead of only when the engine was running) and the crankcase became full of fuel. I bought a used petcock for $40 from eBay, replaced the plugs and drained / refilled the oil and no more issue.

[Kurlon]

If the bike is just sitting and not being jostled around, the floats should absolutely prevent the crankcases from filling. The petcock is just an additional safety. As long as the bike wasn't run much with heavily thinned out oil there shouldn't be any damage to worry about.

[PurplePackage]

Yes, clear the carbs and fuel lines, then drain the oil and refill with cheap motor oil to flush it. Put a mile on the bike, enough to warm it up, then get a new filter and do a 2nd oil change with full synthetic.

[RandyO]

Sticky float also could be a faulty petcock

th

sometimes both fail, I checked the oil in my XV920R once, and drained 7 quarts from a 3quart capacity crankcase