Howdy,
I just did the second oil change on my 2004 XT225 (49 state).
8,890 miles on the odometer, and bike starts & runs well. No odd noises, etc.

However, this is what the oil filter screen looked like when I pulled it out.

Oil Filter Photo Link HERE

The dark soft fuzzy felt is, I assume, the organic clutch material.
The dark magnetic bits I recognize as what I would get out of the separate gearboxes of my BMW Boxer bikes, and I am assuming is normal gear wear residue as it is in those bikes.

However, the bright flecks of non-magnetic metal bothered me.
Is this normal for these bikes?

I have ridden it rather 'spiritedly' on occasion, as well as having run it about 200 miles in sub-freezing weather over the winter.

I did put fresh oil in the bike, new air filter element properly oiled, and did all of the other service checks when I first bought the bike, and do not remember seeing this on the filter when I did that.
The valves have not moved since I set them at that time. And, as I said, I have not noticed any odd behavior or noises from the bike.

TIA!

I got minor metal flakes at the first oil change during the break-in period. But nothing near as much as what your getting. After the break-in my filter has been clean with every oil change.
On a side note, that is not an oem filter. The oem filters are reasonably priced, just wondering why you aren't using those. Not that the filter is the issue with the extra debris.

While some amount of debris is normal, that does look like more than usual. How long since it was last changed? What kind of oil?

Oil was BMW Motorcycle 10w50. Rated as formulated for wet clutches. Was just over 3,000 after taking it with on a winter trip.

The filter is what was in the bike when I got it. Did not know that it is not stock.

Thanks.

It could be just a loose cam-chain but if that isn't the problem then the next suspect for aluminum is the piston-skirt. You really should tear it down both to find the problem and clean the engine out.

But, if it was me and I could narrow it down to the cam-chain I would take a chance and fix the cam-chain problem and then do 2 or 3 low mileage oil changes to flush the engine out and affirm the particles have stopped. Drain the oil into a clean and shiny container to inspect it....Steel is a little scary but it's still possible it's from the cam-chain. If the cam drive is okay your gonna have to dig deeper.

It's not normal.

patuca

From time to time I've had metal particles in the oil filter. I'd say they are from gear teeth meshing. Starter and transmission gear parts come to mind to include bearing races/cages. The small black particles could be the timing chain guides. I would agree with others, however, on the volume not being normal. I'd change out the oil every 200 miles for several cycles and see if this calms down. I use Mobil I full synthetic 15W-50. If it doesn't clean up, it's best looked into as such things can lead to serious repair problems if left go unattended.

3000 miles is a pretty long interval for these bikes, especially if there was a lot high speed riding. Its an air cooled bike and it only holds 1qt of oil, so any debris is going to look magnified. I'd consider cutting that down to no more than 1500 miles, less if it's "spirited".

3,000 miles is the recommended oil change interval in the manual, and I pull the filter on ever change versus every-other change as called for in the manual.

I did check for oil flow to the top end by removing the bleed screw per the service manual, and I got a big mess for my trouble...
Next time I will just loosen it and check for oil seeping past the threads versus completely removing it. ;-)

I do not believe that there is any debris in the bottom end, as the pickup screen was clean, the only swarf was in the filter.

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From what I see, the cam-chain has an automatic tensioner so there is no adjustment possible.
Do those go bad to let the cam-chain get loose?
I suppose that it would be easy enough to take the upper cam-chain sprocket cover off and take a look.
It is hard to believe it would be stretched out after less than 9k miles.

Similarly, it is difficult to imagine that the piston/bore would wear enough in 9k miles to start rocking in the bore & shedding the skirt.

One thought that I had is that I did recently need to lube the clutch cable.
It was dragging and not letting the lever return all the way without help.
It is possible that was letting the clutch slip, which would account for the organic felt/fuzz, and possibly the metal bits as well. But I do have a digital tach installed, and was not noticing any change in RPMs at speed.

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The current plan is to check the top end of the cam-chain, and maybe even pulling the cam to check for any damage. That is easy enough to do without needing to tear down the engine and replace gaskets.
If I do not see anything obvious, I will put an OEM filter in there and then drop the oil again in a couple hundred miles to see what the oil and filter look like.

If there is similar swarf on the filter at that point, then I will consider pulling the top end to inspect things further.

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Thank you for your input.

I have been loving this little mule.
The light weight is great off-road as well as when hustling around the twisties. It really turned me into a hooligan at Deal's Gap.
Was dragging the pegs and passing many other bikes, including some full-on sport bikes.

[img:left]https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...amp;oe=5B51EBA2[/img]

Just wish it has another 5-hp. I don't need any more than that, but it does have trouble maintaining highway speed going uphill or into a stiff headwind.

The cam chain guides are known to come apart. Typically not catastrophically, just little bits at a time, and they're a brown plastic material. The tensioner is automatic and typically isn't a problem.

Could just be a little flashing that came loose somewhere in the case. I've found similar bits of aluminum in mine occasionally.

And yes, another 5 hp would be great.

Re: Deal's Gap... Say Hi next time you're in town. I'm about 20 miles from the foot of the mountain.

Well...
Removed upper timing chain cover this morning and the chain/tension seems fine...

HOWEVER...

Discovered that one of the two button head cap screws that hold the crankcase breather baffle into the cover is missing.

Cam-Chain cover photo
Closeup of where screw was

And looking at the location of the missing cap screw more closely does reveal a shadow of where it used to be, so it was there at some point, and probably fell out while the engine was running and went down into the engine.
Judging by the fact that there are some deposits where the screw used to contact the baffle, I am assuming that this happened some time ago.
It is possible that it happened before I bought this bike, and was retrieved by the PO. Unfortunately, the PO sold it because they retired and moved to Mexico, so do not know how to contact them anymore.

It is the location to the rear of the bike, so thought the screw might have fallen behind the cam chain guide rail.
Removed the tank so I could see down into that cavity with a light, and also fished around with a small magnetic wand, but no luck.

Drained the oil to see if I could locate/fish the screw through the oil drain hole, but was not overly hopeful about that because looking at photos of the case halves it appears that the screw could be down there, but inaccessible without splitting the cases due to the baffles.
So fishing around as much as possible through the drain was likewise fruitless.

It looks as if there is no real danger to the engine if the screw is sitting in the bottom of the case because the oil galleys and other baffles shield it from being able to bounce up into the gearbox section or the bottom of the crank.



Since I currently have basically zero money in the bike at this point*, I am going to just button it back up and drop the oil again in another 150-200 miles and see what the filter and drained oil looks like at that time. Will also be adding a couple of ounces of Seafoam to the oil to help loosen up and clean out any deposits.

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* - I hit a 100-lb wild hog at ~45mph while in Big Bend National Park back in January.
The insurance payment for the damage was $31 more than I paid for the bike, and it is still running/riding fine.
(forks were tweaked a touch, but not enough to impair function. Cosmetics? Who cares!)