Which brings me to my first issue with my DRZ. A little while back I noticed a few ounces of oil coming out of the air box–puking out onto the swing arm–when I would park the bike after a short ride. “That ain’t right,” I said to myself.

I did some searching on the Internet and didn’t find a solid explanation or solution. So I cracked a beer and stared at the bike for a good long while. I poked at some of the hoses, traced their routes with my fingers, and found what I thought to be the source of the problem: I ran out of beer. Kidding.

The oil system in the DRZ400 is pretty dang busy. When the bike isn’t running the oil sits in the frame. When it is running the oil is pumped into the engine, out the top, around the side, into a black box, and recycled back into the bottom of the engine. This process repeats over and over until you shut the bike off. Heck, just to change the oil you have 2 drain plugs, a filter, and a plug with a screened debris catch. Needless to say, oil changes are a pain in the mass, which is like a big thick you know what 🙂 Back to my problem.

After betting I was right, I pointed my attention to this little black box. Its primary function is to catch the oil/air mixture coming off the top of the engine (crankcase) and separate the mixture: send the air into the air box, and put the oil back into the lower part of the engine. Pretty much the only way oil can get into the air box is through this black box.

It’s surgery time. Cool!

First I had to pull off the seat, three hoses, two side panels, oh, and the exhaust. Because the black box, though clearly visible from the exterior of the bike, wouldn’t come out any other way. The DRZ continues to amaze: all of this took +-10 minutes. Loves the DRZ, he does. Say hello to my little friend the “crankcase breather box”.

Oh yeah, it was dripping with oil. If oil had been successfully going back to the engine, this should have been a little cleaner. The replacement box I ordered was lighter by a good bit. Moreover, I found this little black box was also the source of a very incorrect (low) oil level reading. Because of the blockage this thing was creating, oil was not getting back into the frame once the bike was shut off, which coincidentally is when you’re supposed to check the oil level for this bike. This bike only holds 2 quarts of oil. If you think you’re low and put oil in when you didn’t need it you now have a new even bigger pain in the mass.

Fortunately I changed the black box out first, ran the bike for a few minutes, and then checked the oil. It was only a touch low. I had lost some oil from the original problem but not much. Whew! Time for a test ride.

Aww yeah! Problem solved. DRZ is back on its feet and the oil system is happy. This problem likely originated from the bike sitting too long in the garage of the original owner. Though the bike was immaculate, oil was gumming up in that black box and creating a blockage I wouldn’t encounter until a few hundred miles later. See… it’s just a machine, folks. A self-contained system of mechanical parts. Don’t be scared! All of the information to solve its problems is right in front of you. Patience and a desire to learn often lead to success. *thumbs up*