Over Heating of the TUTORO Auto Oiler
KTM owners please read this!
Symptom - Oil flow is difficult to control - Sometimes not enough oil, sometimes too much
Cause - If the Auto reservoir is placed too near a heat source then the oil inside it will heat up and become thinner.
How it happens and why...
TOO MUCH OIL?
The rider has installed the Auto oiler and has set the flow control valve deliver 1-2 drips per minute. At this point the engine on the motorcycle is cold and so is the oil in the Auto reservoir.
Next the rider starts up the motorcycle and takes it for a ride, as the motorcycle is ridden the engine heats up and whilst the machine is ridden at any speed the air flowing past the Auto oiler keeps the oil inside relatively cool - although some heating of the Auto (and therefore oil thinning) may occur.
Inevitably at some point during the journey the rider will come across some slow traffic or be halted altogether - it is at this point that excessive heating of the reservoir occurs. Once the Auto and its oil have been heated up, the oil inside it thins down and the Auto starts delivering much more oil.
When stopped, the rider ( who has been monitoring the oil flow on the Auto) see's that too much oil is being delivered and correctly responds by turning the oil flow rate down with the flow control valve then continues on their journey.
The rider completes their journey, turns off the engine and parks the up motorcycle.
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TOO LITTLE OIL?
The next day the rider takes the machine out for another journey which consists of a long high speed route at the end of which the machine is parked having encountered very little slow speed riding perhaps only in the last few minutes of travel.
This journey is completed and the chain is inspected and found to have too little oil on it.
In this instance it is because the oil flow was turned down low the previous day but the oil in the Auto had remained cool ( higher viscosity) due to the high speed cool air flowing past it and the engine had little opportunity to heat it up because of the brief period of slow speed riding.
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In summary
Installing the Auto oiler close to a high heat source makes it very hard to control the oil flow rate due to the rapid heating and cooling conditions that the Auto is subject to in this location.
Installing the Auto away from a high heat source makes things very much easier and the rider only has to adjust the oil flow due to the much more modest and infrequent seasonal temperature changes. (Summer/Winter)
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Owners of large V Twins (KTM's in particular) should be aware that the rear header pipe which exits the rear cylinder on the left hand side of the bike is a source of high intensity radiant heat! (up to 400°C!!)
We ALWAYS recommend installing the Auto on a KTM V Twin on the RIGHT HAND SIDE of the bike away from the rear cylinder header pipe. This workaround has proven itself to be a simple and effective remedy against overheating the Auto.
This has been tested for over 100 000 km's on the KTM1190 and has also been found to be effective on the 990 and 1290. If you have any questions regarding this issue or any other issue please contact us - we are only too happy to help.