Oil line shut off valve

[FireAsh]

Anyone have a picture of where to install the shut off valves on the oil lines? I have searched the forum, but didn't see anything. Thanks for any help.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

I have no photo nor do I recall seeing one but there's probably one somewhere for a jet ski. I say place it where it's easy to access and don't forget to open them, you can leave the lanyard in the bilge attached to the valve handle to avoid forgetting.

The valve would go in the line that gravity-feeds oil from the bottom of oil tank to the lower connection of the rotary valve gearbox.

 

[justinsrad98]

Anyone have a picture of where to install the shut off valves on the oil lines? I have searched the forum, but didn't see anything. Thanks for any help.

I just use a shut off valvr bought from my local hardware store. I have been using it for a year now without problem.

 

[FireAsh]

The valve would go in the line that gravity-feeds oil from the bottom of oil tank to the lower connection of the rotary valve gearbox.

Ok, so there are two lines that come out of the bottom of the oil tank, do I need to install a valve on each line? One of the lines, splits and has a filter on each line, are these the lines that go to the Magneto Assy? Does this one need a shut off valve? The second line heads down under one of the engines and I can't see where it goes from there, is this the line that goes to the rotary valve gear box? Thanks again for any help, I don't know much about these engines.

 

[snikwad003]

The ones with the filters feeds the oil pumps for oil injection the larger one feeds the rotary valve gears and is the one that needs a valve

yours should be the same, its the lower line

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Ok, so there are two lines that come out of the bottom of the oil tank, do I need to install a valve on each line? One of the lines, splits and has a filter on each line, are these the lines that go to the Magneto Assy? Does this one need a shut off valve? The second line heads down under one of the engines and I can't see where it goes from there, is this the line that goes to the rotary valve gear box? Thanks again for any help, I don't know much about these engines.

The two lines that split and go to the magneto housing are feeding oil to the injection pumps. The line that goes under the engine is most likely the rotary valve gearbox oil feed.

Generally but not always in every case, the reason for installing a manual shutoff valve is b/c the engine is being drowned in oil as it sits for some period of time (weeks, hopefully), oil flows from the oil tank by constant pressure of gravity into the rotary valve gearbox and through the (aged and slightly leaky) inner crankshaft seals in the lower portion of the rotary valve gearbox and leaks past these crankshaft seals (This isn't supposed to happen but Murphy's law says your crank seals after aging some decade or more might tend to leak a bit) into the crankcase where your expensive oil fills the crankcase and makes life difficult b/c an oil-flooded engine is very difficult to start.

But what are the root cause(s), are crankshaft seals leaking or oil injector check valves leaking, maybe both?

I'm referring to the "not always in every case" explanation.... There's also a possibility the crankcase might be flooded with oil via the oil injection system IF the oil injection ball and spring check valves are malfunctioning. Sometimes these check valves are discovered leaking due to they're dirty internally and need cleaning. In this case oil leaks through the (stuck open) check valves while sitting not running and can flood the intake /crankcase with oil. To clean them, I connect a piece of tubing to the barb fitting and clean them using carburetor cleaner aerosol solvent chased with a bit of compressed air to blow the junk out and restore normal operation.

So you see, if by pinching the oil line leading to the lower crankcase rotary valve gearbox does stop the engine from flooding with oil but the engine runs fine otherwise and doesn't smoke like a chimney due to a gross crankshaft seal failure, the optional workaround would simply involve stopping the supply of oil while the boat is not in use (such as during winter storage period).

If the inner crankshaft seals are very, very leaky you might have too much oil leaking into the crankcase while running thus you'll notice high oil consumption and abnormal spark plug fouling with oil.

BUT IF your injector check valves are leaking (not sealing closed as intended) oil will slowly flow through the injection system and dribble through the stuck-open check valves into the intake manifold and also flood the engine.

So I suggest cleaning those intake manifold oil injection check valves and also it's probably time to replace those small tygon rubber lines that carry oil from the injector pump (this precision metering pump is driven by the crankshaft and mounted on the magneto housing) while you're in there b/c as they age they tend to rot (after a decade or so) and will eventually fail, leading to oil starvation if they fall off the barb fitting or if they crack.

Also make sure to purge the air from the lines and check the mechanical calibration of the oil injection pump lever, the control cable that actuates the pump lever is synchronized with the throttle and might be out of alignment. As per the service manual.

So it has served you well but it's about time for a little bit of maintenance for your oiling system!

Download a factory service manual to help you navigate the oiling system, in my case I use the 2001 jet ski manual b/c there's no factory boat manual and my boat's engine is mostly the exact same as the jet ski engine.

3/32" ID Tygon F-4040-A is the type of rubber oil lines I recommend as replacement for the small factory lines.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!