[LePetitNick]

Hi there,

I'm a new rider (and no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination) on my 2014 CRF250L.
I'm new to riding bikes (with engines) and owning one (it's been 2 weeks since I got my first bike license and since I got the bike). I've ridden about 500Km on and off-road with it.

After riding today I realised my oil was low, so I went to the shop and got some new high performance 4T oil and put waaaay too much oil in.
It had trouble starting up and it spewed tons of thick white smoke. The oil overflow started leaking heaps and in the oil gage the oil now instead of looking all clear looks a murky brown.
I've let it drip and got about 1/2L of excess oil out, but I suspect there's still way too much in there. I've started the engine up a few times hoping it'd just burn some of the excess oil off, it still spews tons of white smoke and there's even some coming out the front now.

I won't start it up again until I've purged the engine of all the oil and changed the filter and replaced the oil with the right amount... I'm such a dolt...

Did I just wreck the engine or damage some valves?

[Aussiecrf230]

Welcome to the site and your new bike, looks like you are learning already and you will be a bike pro in no time. We all had to start somewhere and I am sure most have done the odd silly thing. Not many will admit that though.


You can suck excess out filler hole.
Most small engines (think B&S for lawn mower) are done this way and can be done with large syringe and small diameter tubing.

It is normal for engines to use a bit of oil when first few hundred kilometres. My biggest concern is you may have displaced an oil seal or gasket, but lets get things back to normal and cleaned up before worrying about that.
How low was the oil and how much did you put in?

Have a good read of you owners manual before doing other maintenance. Don't let this woops put you off from learning, With the willing help at the CRFs Only site we can advise you through most things.

Get the oil level at correct amount on dipstick or sight window with the bike vertical, not on kick stand. I would open the airbox and check if oil has come up a breather hose and made a mess in the airbox. Clean that first with clean rag and may require aircleaner service as well if it is soaked in engine oil.You should then use some degreaser to clean down the rest of the bike but be careful not to spray water at or into air cleaner or down exhaust pipe. A rubber glove over the end of the cold exhaust pipe keeps the water out when washing down.

Keep in touch we are here to help, laugh and cry with you.

[LePetitNick]

I did a complete oil change, making sure to not put more than the 1.8L of oil and the smoke started lessening and now it runs as normal. The oil is now back to a nice clear golden liquid after a short ride.

I'll be taking it in for a service this week... well, I'll live and learn... and I'm going to be quite a bit poorer for it... *sigh*