Two stroke oil leak

[aceface]

Hi i was wondering is it possible to overfill with two stroke oil as my autolube is dropping oil onto exhaust and garage floor the scooter is a 2007 px 200 disk i know its two stroke oil because its red in colour ,has anybody else had this problem all answers will be greatly appreciated thanks.

[mickey movistar]

never heard of overfilling
im sure you would notice if overfilled it would pee out from under seat lol

where aboouts are you getting the drip

i get a drip towards back of engine but thats gearbox oil

[aceface]

Hi i have noticed that the oil is dripping onto the exhaust and theres a patch of oil on the garage floor some of my mates have said that all vespers with auto lube leak oil because you cant turn the oil feed off but i cant say that i have noticed it before now.

[barry]

Hi, this is a very common problem. You will need to remove the fuel and oil tank which is easy. The oil tank it attatched the the bottom of the fuel tank via a long tube. Inside the base of the oil tank is a nut, that comes loose often. Piaggio have a special tool to get down in there, but loads of extension bars and a socket will do the trick. You need to hold the bolt under the oil tank while you tighten it from inside, hence the need to remove tank. You should find oil in the bottom of your frame if this is the problem.
Also, sometimes the seal betwen the sight glass and oil tank goes, this will also need tank removal.
If your scoot is 2007, then the warranty will cover this and your dealer should know about this too.

[Spence]

Before you do anything - as Barry mentioned if this is a 2007 scooter you should be taking it back to the dealer and getting him to fix it under the warranty, not taking it apart yourself.

[joey]

Spence you're such a stickler ;D
Best getting rid of the autolube anyway, it's more hassle than it's worth when, not if, it goes wrong.
Premix is the new black!

[barry]

any ideas when it goes pop? Mines a 2002 with nearly 25000km and a mates is 2001 with nearly 35000km. Bloke at works got a T5 hes had since 1999 and rides it everyday and not had a problem with autolube.

[Spence]

Hey Joey you know I'm not a mechanic like yourself but I still don't mind getting my hands dirty when needs be!

Barry, there's no sell-by date on an autolube. Some go quickly, some never go at all. Some people just don't want to take the chance and have it go on them in the middle of a long run somewhere so they disconnect it and go straight for pre-mix.

I've got an autolube PX200 and the pre-mix Sprint, and I'll be the first to admit it's nice knowing you've put exactly the right amount of oil into the tank yourself rather than relying on a mechanical gadget to do it for you.

[joey]

The problem with autolube is that you have no idea it's on it's way out until you're skidding on your arse down the road due to a complete lack of lubrication and your piston sticking solid in your barrel. All it takes is for a small amount of swarf from your gearbox to enter the metering spindle housing and your autolube jams solid. I've worked on a few lately where this has happened, and if you read elsewhere on this forum you will see that it's happened to others.

[bogey]

How do you avoid the auto lube then. What needs blocking up etc?? Thanks.

[nat]

I hadn't realised autolube was potentially so problematic!! Is there any warning that it might not be working before it's 'too late'? Could you tell by checking the colour of your sparkplug? Could you pre-mix as well just to be on the safe side??

[joey]

Usually the first sign of your autolube packing in is a sudden loss of power and a long skidmark as your back end locks up. As has been rightly pointed out it may give years of trouble free use, on the other hand, as is quite often the case, it won't.
If your autolube is working correctly then adding more oil to the tank has the effect of weakening your mixture which in itself can cause heat siezure.
In my personal opinion premixing gives you the major advantage of knowing exactly how much oil you have in your tank at any given time.
Better safe than sorry I say.

[nat]

Cheers for that.
Is there any way of getting rid of the oil thats already there in the autolube if you want to 'start from scratch' by pre-mixing? Would the oil/petrol ratio for a PX be the same for a Sprint?

[barry]

I had no idea it was that common a fault, so is there a guide anywhere detailing how to remove it all?

[nat]

I've been scouring various scooter forums about autolube and have got myself dead paranoid about having a heat seizure. I had a look at the sight glass and I'm sure it's changed colour from having a rather greenish hue (for want of a better term) to looking totally white. Is this anything to worry about?

[llew]

Mine also leaks! and i too never considered that the auto lube might pack up..worrying!

[Spence]

nat said:

I've been scouring various scooter forums about autolube and have got myself dead paranoid about having a heat seizure. I had a look at the sight glass and I'm sure it's changed colour from having a rather greenish hue (for want of a better term) to looking totally white. Is this anything to worry about?

When was the last time you topped up your 2-stroke Nat?

[nat]

Cheers for the reply Spence
It was a bit ago, I think I've filled up the petrol tank once since then. I do tend to put quite a bit in and can always see some in the tank when I look in it with the cap off. Also I've never actually seen an air bubble in the sight glass so have always assumed there was enough.
However as the oil itself is red would you expect it to look red in the sight glass?
I've got the fella from Turners picking up my Sprint on Saturday so I might get him to have a quick look.

[Spence]

What you are seeing in your bubble is your 2-stroke, so it will be the same colour.

Oils are different colours depending on the brand. Some are yellowy-orange, some are red, some are even green. Have you changed your brand? This may explain the change in the colour you can see through the bubble, but it shouldn't be totally colourless - I've never seen a 2-stroke that hasn't got some colour to it.

[Devo McDuff]

I've had red, orange and blue so far. Wasn't happy with the red for 2 reasons. 1 it looked like a lipstick poking out under my seat and 2 it didn't tally well with my footballing affiliations

[Robjack]

Hmmmm...now there's a thought (strokes chin), Royal blue 2-stroke...

[nat]

It's not really colourless, it seems there is something in the sight glass i.e it's not clear. It looks white (which continuing the football theme is probably a good colour for a Tranmere Rovers fan!!), I'm assuming if there was nothing there then I owuld be able to see through the glass.
Thinking about it I may have changed the brand which wiil have given it a different colour. I'll have another look over the weekend.
Cheers for your help!
I'm sure it's best to know about these things, I just topped up the oil sporadically and never really gave it that much thought as it was an autolube. When I bought the sccot from the dealer they said just to check you could see some in the tank with the cap off which I have always done.

[joey]

If you look at the sight glass from the side you will see a plastic protrusion (couldn't think of any other description,) popping slightly into your sight glass. When your oil tank is full you will see just your oil whatever colour it is, red, green, blue etc. If you can see the white plastic it is natures way of telling you to top up your oil as you have nearly none left. The white plastic is a purely visual aid. If it wasn't there when your oil tank is empty all you would see is the colour of your floor.
BUY SOME OIL!!!!

[Spence]

Goodness me, lipsticks? Protrusions? Whatever is the world coming to?

[Lucia]

Joey - don't encourage him, he'll only get worse...